When you get a dog, the first thing you do is envision all the adventures you will experience together, and all the fun you will have with your new best friend in the future.
Some activities you will probably be doing with them is go for long walks in the city or the countryside, travel around the country and- possibly- abroad, play fun games at home and in the backyard, and of course go to the beach in summer months.
Now, everyone knows that not all dogs love water. But those who do can safely accompany their owners to the beach and even swim with them, but their humans should always bear in mind a few things. One of those being that they should never let their dogs drink late or pond water.
It seems that lake and pond water can prove fatal for animals. First of all, there can be pesticides in there, which can lead to poisoning, but what is less known to the public is that it can have certain bacteria that can kill if ingested.
One category is cyanobacteria, which can produce toxins that can lead to a quick death of the animal.
“It is amazing how fast [neurotoxin] can act; it kills a dog within an hour or two,” explains Dr. Jeff Werber.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened a few weeks ago in Zion National Park, Utah.
A 10-year-old went swimming with his mother and puppy and he was excited to be sharing this experience with his new pet. 5-month-old husky named Keanna was a birthday present for the young boy earlier this year and they already shared a wonderful relationship.
However, the decision to swim together in that pond would prove fatal for the poor dog and nobody saw it coming.
As the boy’s mother explains, the boy and his dog swam together, but just minutes after they were out of the pond, the dog showed signs of not being able to follow the family, and her whole body was trembling.
“She started seizing,” the mother explained, “her whole head and body was shaking. She had no control over anything in her body. Within about a minute she went a little frantic.”
The dog soon couldn’t stand on her four paws anymore and her front paws folded underneath her. This made Vanessa, the boy’s mother, carry her in her arms like a baby.
The family by then was very alarmed and knew something was wrong with the dog and they sought help, but by the time they got to the vet, it was already too late.
“She passed away in my arms,” the woman recalled.
Apparently, poor Keanna died of a toxic allergy caused by bacteria that can be found in ponds especially this time of year.
According to Zion National Park’s spokesman, Jeff Axel, the cause of the dog’s death was Anatoxin-A, known as VFDF (Very Fast Death Factor), of which tests run on the water found the pond contained 550 micrograms per liter. The particular bacteria, as he explained, “can kill a dog in as little as 15 minutes after consumption”.
Unfortunately, Keanna’s family had to learn this the hard way, but thanks to this sad story hopefully pet owners will be alarmed and they will be more cautious when taking their pets along to swim together.
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