 |
Caution fishermen!
RAW TROUT can make your DOG
very
sick.
|
4.7.11
In the past five years, more than 15 dogs in Los Angeles
County became severely ill after eating or licking parts
of raw trout. Two of them died. These dogs were sick
with an illness called Salmon Poisoning Disease (SPD).
What is Salmon Poisoning Disease (SPD)?
SPD makes dogs severely ill. Symptoms can include fever,
vomiting, diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, lethargy, enlarged
lymph nodes, physical collapse and death. Dogs need to
be treated by a veterinarian. Illness usually
starts about 5-7 days after the dog eats the infected
fish.
SPD is not caused by a poison, it is an infection. SPD causes no harm to fish. A parasite (called
Nanophyetus) infects trout at the fish farm. Inside
these parasites are bacteria
(called Neorickettsia). Dogs can catch the illness very
easily when they eat raw or undercooked trout. One dog
caught the disease after licking the ground where water
had dripped off of a trout.
Do people get Salmon Poisoning Disease?
Humans can get infected with the parasite (Nanophyetus)
only if they eat raw fish, or if they do not practice
good sanitation in preparing fish. When humans are
infected, they experience mostly mild diarrhea. Safe and
sanitary fish handling prevents this problem.
What Should I Do?
• NEVER ALLOW DOGS TO EAT ANY RAW FISH OR FISH PRODUCTS.
• REMEMBER – Dogs can smell fish that have been buried
to use as fertilizer! Keep dogs away from buried fish!
• Fisherman should always use excellent sanitation when
cleaning and preparing fish.
• If your dog has eaten raw fish caught from a local
lake and becomes ill, mention the fish to your
veterinarian.
Printable version of
this page. En Espanol
2007
Alert about local Salmon Poisoning Disease
