The Norwegian Food Safety Authority says they were informed an additional six dogs have fallen ill, with two of them already dead – all of them with the same symptoms of vomiting blood and diarrhea, according to the Associated Press.
According to News in English – Norway, the first cases of the mysterious illness appeared in the Oslo area, then promptly spread north to Trøndelag and to the east in Hedmark, with more now coming to light in Rogaland and Aurland in Sogn og Fjordane in Western Norway.
The disease seemed “very serious for a dog. But we don’t know yet whether this is contagious or just a series of individual cases,” dog owner Ole-Herman Tronerud told public broadcaster NRK. He had been out running with his seven-year-old Vorstellung (pointer) named Lexi last Monday.
Lexi started throwing up and having diarrhea on Tuesday. The family got her to their vet and she was put on intravenous therapy for several hours before the family was told they could take her home but bring her back if her condition worsened. The next morning the Holten family found Lexi dead in the hallway.
CTV News Canada is reporting that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute said on Friday it had detected two unspecified bacteria in necropsies but was unable to clarify whether that was the cause of the outbreak.
“To have healthy and great Norwegian dogs die so quickly is naturally serious. It’s a very special situation I haven’t been involved in before,” the institute’s emergency and safety director, Jorun Jarp, said Friday.
In neighboring Sweden, the National Veterinary Institute has been swamped with calls from concerned pet owners, with questions about the possible spread of the unknown disease. According to the Press Herald, the institute said it currently had no information “to show that it is an infectious outbreak or that it would pose a risk to dogs in Sweden.”
