DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – A suspected case of the mysterious dog illness infecting dogs around the country has appeared in Royal Oak. According to CBS News, and other media outlets, the illness is an infectious respiratory disease that has been seen in dogs in 14 states with symptoms that include coughing, sneezing and lethargy as well as difficulty breathing, discharge from the eyes or nose, dehydration, fever, weight loss and loss of appetite. The cough is a lingering one and can last six to eight weeks. Although the illness doesn’t have an official name, it’s often referred to by veterinarians as “canine infectious respiratory disease complex” (CIRDC).

In Royal Oak, the suspected case appeared in seven-year-old Labrador Retriever, Tucker. His owner, Amanda House, originally thought Tucker had kennel cough but his cough wasn’t getting any better. She said he hadn’t had any severe symptoms and the lab work came back clear from the vet clinic. However, the extended cough that Tucker couldn’t shake is one of the symptoms connected to the mysterious illness that has affected hundreds of dogs all across the country. Her vet helped Tucker get rid of his cough by giving him steroids.

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The Oregon Dept. of Agriculture has documented more than 200 cases of the disease in their state since mid-August and they have the most reported cases after the illness showed up in several western states this summer. States with confirmed cases currently include California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Dr. Gracen Chang, a veterinarian at Southfield Veterinary Hospital in Michigan says about the infected dogs, “They cough for three weeks, four weeks, and sometimes they result in pneumonia.”

Veterinarians across the country have been trying to identify the causative pathogen and figure out a way to combat the illness with media reports claiming that it does not respond well, or at all, to antibiotics. However, in Los Angeles, the Oliver family whose Golden Retriever, Ike, came down with the illness is speaking out about about a treatment they believed saved their dog. They say that Ike was treated with chloramphenicol. Within hours, the dog was breathing better and a few days later he was able to go home.

Chloramphenicol is a very strong last-resort type of antibiotic. According to VCA Animal Hospitals’ web page, it is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used to treat many different gastrointestinal, pulmonary, and urinary bacterial infections. In humans, it’s used as an eye ointment to treat conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye.

Because the illness is contagious and possibly deadly in severe cases, vets are recommending that owners have their dogs up-to-date on their vaccines and if possible, keep them away from other dogs I.e. in doggy daycares, dog parks, boarding kennels, pet stores and groomers – and to avoid contact with other dogs from outside of their own households.

Chang says to keep an eye on your dog if it starts coming down with symptoms. She says, “If the cough doesn’t go away, if they start having fevers of greater than 103 or they’re not eating, or they’re coughing large amounts of phlegm…They need to go in as soon as they can…Jump on it as soon as you can, because if this virus is coming toward our way you don’t want your pet to be so sick that they have to be hospitalized.”

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Kimberly Dodd, MSU Director of Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, says, “What we know is nationwide, there has been an increased number of cases of canine respiratory illness. It’s generally characterized by coughing, sneezing, and lethargy.” She adds that with the new disease, the coughing goes on longer than expected and in some cases progresses into pneumonia which in rare cases can be fatal.

The MSU College of Veterinary Medicine recommends that in addition to keeping dogs away from other dogs outside of their households, dog owners should make sure their dogs are fully vaccinated, including for parainfluenza and bordetella (kennel cough) – a vaccine not always given to dogs unless they are boarded. Canine vaccines can reduce the risk of contracting an illness and reduce the severity of symptoms should infection occur.

Dr. Marta Vidal-Abarca with petkeen.com spoke to USA TODAY about the treatment for dogs who contract the illness. She said that the current treatment is symptomatic and supportive and “aimed at mitigating clinical signs and facilitating the dog’s recovery.” That includes oxygen therapy; use of a nebulizer (a drug delivery device used to administer medication in the form of a mist inhaled into the dog’s lungs); antibiotics (to treat secondary infection) and measures to ensure that the dog has “adequate nutrition” and hydration (including the use of intravenous fluids).

An NBC News report out of New Hampshire shows us that we might be a little closer to figuring out what’s going on with the illness. Dr. David Needle, pathology section chief at the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture at the University of New Hampshire told the news network that he believes the culprit for the illness is a “bacterium.” Dr. Needle says, “It’s smaller than a normal bacterium in its size and in the size of its genome,” he said, adding, “Long story short, it’s a weird bacterium that can be tough to find and sequence.” Needle has been studying the illness for more than a year and has looked at samples from different states.

The disease remains under investigation by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) who says the exact number of cases, including fatalities, is currently unknown.