Those new fairly to dogs may not be aware of the dangers of letting dogs drink, swim, paddle or play with other dogs which have been in still water traps/ponds now the weather is becoming warm.

Blue green alga is a spore which has spread throughout UK still waters over this past 20 years or so. Some councils do put warnings up by some of their ponds but not all and almost never at private land or country ponds/water traps such as those shallow water holding dips which only hold water for a few days.

The spores become active in the first few warm days of spring, sooner in the south than the north. If your dog is affected there is no antidote and the spore attacks the liver heart, spleen and more which I do not know about, an excoriating death is the only outcome-there is nothing anyone can do if a contamination occurs and death can take an agonising couple of says, shock usually occurs first.

So, if you do not have a reliable recall then your dog is at risk and needs to be kept away from still water as a safeguard or put on a lead if near still water ponds/traps.

A very useful and timely reminder Davedee.

Contact with infected water and then ingestion is also a threat to humans:

"Symptoms include stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea,sore throat, dry cough, fever, headache, pains in muscles and joints, and weakness as well as skin, eye, and throat irritation and allergic responses"

Wash your hands after walking your dogs!

I am not new too dogs, but i didnt think about that until i saw your post. Very good info for all dog lovers and owners out there.
Jane

Does this include any water features one may have in the garden that, say, hasn't had the pump switched on for months and that still has the same water in it ? Like the barrels with the tap fountain? Just curious

Dee

Here are a few of the past topics about this :)

Blue Green Algae
Check your dogs feet

I think it does, I got rid of my water feature a few years ago because the cats next door were drinking out of it and i was worried if i didnt keep it clean enough.

Is it visible in the water or not??

Or should you just avoid swimming in all water?

The spores are not visible, usually the alga is conspicouous but not neccesarily so and one small bit can give of millions of spores.

Because of the combined high risk of infection and 100% fatality factor I never let my own dogs into any still water after the weather warms up in spring, rivers are ok but about 3/4 years ago the weather was so hot and prolongued some of them were contaminated for a short while as well.

My bitch will sometimes play a little while with some dogs and I never allow her near dogs which are wet and near a still water facility this time of year.

Hi Davedee,

I haven't got our dog yet, but I think it was very nice of you to warn people who do not know (like me).

I am fed up of people moaning on about this site, saying that it is just a way for people to 'gang up' on others, but this just absolutely proves that most people on here just want to help others.

Well done!!!

Natalie

Hi Natalie1212

Thanks, I'm glad this post is of help to you and others.

Yes there are some internet freaks who hang out here but really it should be seen as nothing more than an interent thing.

This board did go down because of many of them but I am quite new here and I am here to stay for as long as I want and I will post what I want within the terms and conditions of posting, most people see net freaks for what they are anyway, don't let your friends be put off by them.

Thanks, and I think you too have passed an important message.

It's always them and never us though isn't it DD ;) :p

OK but where can one take one's dogs to swim safely? One of my puppy owners takes hers to a hydrotherapy pool - not for therapy, just to swim - but it's rather an expensive option..:-(

Yes I would like to know where we CAN take them safely as well please :D

Natalie

Flowing water such as a river or a large lake should be OK.  If you are unsure you could check with the British Waterways as they are the ones who put up the notices usually.

Gawd,

I'm glad I read this davedee.

Our 7 month old lab goes swimming / paddling everyday, sometime twice a day, So its just still ponds, where rainfall fills them up is it. (ie where the water has no where to go) Streams are ok and rivers.

Alix

Hi Morganalfie

Yes its just still waters, one of the things people were missing though, when this started or at lest became public, was the rain trap type pools, water in them just for a couple of days, no generaly looked at as a pond and many of them get full of the stuff.

Rivers and streams are fine under normal circumstances but if we get prololgued hot weather they can become infected temporarily, about 3 or 4 years some were slightly infected but it was on the news.
I first rememebr it in the mid 80's and that year it was a common theme on the news, these days its hardly mentioned untill a human is affected.