pet yellow lab dies from drinking algal bloom water in Minn.

[donsu]

this is from an email alert from RSOE HAVARIA Emergency and Disaster Info Serv.


A dog's death in Montrose, Minn. has officials at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency pointing to potentially toxic blue-green algae. Jim Cebulla's 16-month-old yellow Labrador died two days after drinking water from a lake with algae in it. "He just took two mouthfuls (of algae). I see him go gulp, gulp, and I didn't think anything of it," said Cebulla. Cooper, the yellow lab, died after the toxic algae attacked his kidneys and liver. The lab went swimming in Fountain Lake, a lake Cebulla said was coated with blue-green algae. "We had a think green scum, it was at least an inch think in places, the ducks could walk on it," he said. According to the MPCA, the recent hot and dry weather is causing the formation of this type of algae in some Minnesota lakes. The algae blooms can look like pea soup, spilled green paint or floating mats of scum. The algae can also smell very bad. "Normally this becomes a concern later in the season. But the fact we're seeing toxic blue-green algae in early summer in not that unusual, and show how unpredictable is can be," said MPCA lakes expert Steve Heiskary in a statement. The MPCA said harmful effects of the blue-green algae blooms are not usually reported because the unpleasant appearance and odor keeps people out of the water. However, dogs and livestock sometimes venture in, ingesting the water which can be toxic. "As long as somebody learns from this, maybe we can save another dog or two, then it's worth it," said Cebulla.
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[a kennedy]

1. D*mn.

my dog drinks from an inlet to the Mississippi River.....and it doesn't look that great either, but there's no blue-green algae in it though.

[jilln]

3. Maybe you should talk to a local vet

I had a puppy die mysteriously a couple days after drinking from a stream in a park. Didnt' get an autopsy because the emergency vet was incompetent and misinformed, so I don't KNOW what killed her but I have always suspected that water.

Be on the safe side.

[tbyg52]

2. K&R for the pet people. nt

[kestrel91316]

4. Some info on blue-green "algae":

http://www.btny.purdue.edu/Pubs/APM/blue-green_factsheet.pdf

http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/clmp-toxicalgae.html

Bottom line: Don't drink icky, mucky, murky, stinky pond water. And don't let your animals drink it, either......

[EFerrari]

6. Omg! Thank you, kestrel. I'm watching my 9 month old YL

like a hawk because you know how puppies are. I'm lucky she didn't hurt herself when she ate my iPod.

There's a gas station around the corner that I MUST report to some agency because there's always some horrible toxic liquid running down their parking lot, onto the sidewalk and into the gutter. People will do anything. :(

[CreekDog]

8. She's adorable and apparently likes "Everybody Loves Raymond"

Probably wondering how to eat the camera.

I love Labs.

[EFerrari]

9. Yes, she's especially fond of Robert.

:)

On edit: Hi there, neighbor!

[uppityperson]

5. We had this happen last yr here in W. WA also.

had a lake closed after a dog died and another got really sick. They already closed the lake this yr because the algae is growing and back majorly. All the dogs did was lap up some water.

[EFerrari]

10. Oh, no!

:(

[uppityperson]

14. 2 dogs killed, here's article for closure this yr with info about last yr.

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070622/NEWS/706220302

[AwareOne]

7. Red Tide causes massive fish kills in the ocean

it is actually a red planktonic algae that is toxic.

[Sadie5]

12. Backyard ponds

can get scummy too and we don't allow our two dogs to drink from the pond, something to watch out for.

There is a YL, extremely well behaved who keeps escaping from her yard in my neighborhood and always heads straight for my fence to socialize with my two dogs. The neighbor kept her for two days the last time she was wandering around. If this keeps happening I think I might put her in my backyard and keep her. It's obvious that the owners don't care if it takes them two days to start looking for their dog. Looks just like the one in the pic above.

[StarryNite]

11. Thanks for posting this.

This really scares me. Should we keep our dogs from all lake water to be safe?

[MasonJar]

13. That is a heartbreaker. So sorry, Jim, about Cooper.