By JESSE GRAHAM
A VET has been left with few answers after two dogs were paralysed over the new year period and a rare infection is being named as the cause.
Healesville resident Chrissie Vincent believes that her dog, Tess, contracted botulism after swimming in the Don Road Recreation Reserve’s lake on Christmas Eve.
She said that four days after swimming in the lake her dog was unable to pick herself up off of the ground and couldn’t walk and that by the following week the dog was completely paralysed.
Ms Vincent then went through a $1600 ordeal going to various specialists and clinics to have Tess checked over for snakebites and to have blood tests done.
Meanwhile, Tess was unable to move and had to be transported in a trolley specially-made by Ms Vincent’s husband.
The tests came up negative, though Ms Vincent said the specialists believe the affliction may have been botulism, which she believes was caused by Tess drinking the stagnant water at the recreation reserve.
She said that a neighbour had a similar experience with her dog, after taking it to the recreation reserve around the same time.
However, Healesville veterinarian Brett Chester said that the chances of developing botulism from drinking at a large, infected water body were “next to nothing”.
He said the symptoms for botulism are similar to that of polyradiculoneuritis, also known as coonhound paralysis, and that dogs have less susceptibility to botulism.
“The chances of a dog getting it (botulism) are very remote,” he said.
“There’s no direct proof – no tests that we can run to prove it was one or the other.
“There’s no way we can differentiate – if we had more cases, suspicion would increase.”
Dr Chester said there are few tests for either affliction – and fewer ways of differentiating the two – but that botulism is caused by a toxin in bacteria that is occasionally found in rotting carcases and food.
He said that both animals were recovering well from their paralysis and Ms Vincent said that Tess is walking around properly now.
