The British Veterinary Affiliation (BVA) has issued a robust reminder to members of the general public in regards to the severe illness dangers from importing dogs from overseas and is urging all potential canine house owners to guard the well being of dogs and people within the UK by rehoming dogs from throughout the nation as a substitute. BVA can be re-issuing its calls to Authorities to tighten pet import guidelines.
The recommendation follows news earlier this month a couple of optimistic Brucella canis check in a rescue canine imported from Belarus in March this 12 months. The Stoke-on-Trent girl fostering the canine was hospitalised after coming into shut contact with it, within the UK’s first confirmed dog-to-human transmission of this zoonotic illness. The foster animal and 4 pet dogs who had been uncovered to the illness all needed to be euthanised.
Stray dogs in some European international locations and different components of the world usually reside in harsh situations. Together with Brucella canis, they could harbour different undetected and probably life-threatening unique ailments not discovered within the UK, equivalent to leishmaniasis, rabies, canine babesiosis and heartworm, with out exhibiting any outward medical signs. When imported into the UK, such chronically contaminated ‘Trojan’, or service, dogs threat passing on the infections to inclined pets and, within the case of some ailments, to people as effectively. These infections could be troublesome to detect or efficiently deal with in such service dogs.
Knowledge launched by the Authorities* reveals a steep rise in confirmed Brucella canis circumstances because the begin of 2020, rising from simply three earlier than that 12 months to 107 until July this 12 months. The dogs had been all both imported from international locations equivalent to Romania, Bosnia, Greece, and Belarus, returned from vacation abroad, or been bred with an imported canine.
The Brucella canis bacterium causes canine brucellosis, an infectious illness that results in usually painful and power sickness in dogs, in addition to severe well being dangers to people and different dogs uncovered to them. Signs in dogs embody reproductive points, together with miscarriages over the last trimester of being pregnant in females and irritation of the prostrate and testicles in males, in addition to spinal issues in power circumstances. Therapy is commonly unsuccessful, and, in lots of circumstances, vets will advocate euthanasia retaining in thoughts the welfare of the canine.
British Veterinary Affiliation President Justine Shotton mentioned:
“This current case of Brucella canis in a foster canine is extraordinarily tragic and highlights why vets have lengthy raised considerations over the true and severe dangers of importing ‘Trojan’ rescue dogs with unknown well being histories into the UK.
“We’re a nation of animal lovers, and so the will to rescue stray, uncared for or abused animals from different international locations and provides them loving houses on this nation is totally comprehensible. Sadly, as this case reveals, the hidden consequence of this may be disastrous for the well being and welfare of different pets in addition to people right here. This contains the danger to veterinary groups who deal with and deal with these animals.
“With 1000’s of dogs needing houses throughout the UK, the British Veterinary Affiliation is strongly urging potential house owners to undertake from a UK-based rehoming charity as a substitute. You may as well help organisations in international locations overseas to rescue and rehabilitate any stray animals regionally.
“If you already own an imported dog, be vigilant to symptoms of Brucella canis and other exotic diseases and call your local vet for advice on testing and treatment for any underlying conditions.”
Whereas rescue dogs are a selected threat group for Brucella canis, importing any canine from international locations with excessive ranges of stray canine populations and recognized presence of the illness will carry a threat. This contains puppies bred for industrial sale in such international locations. BVA advises anybody seeking to undertake or purchase an imported canine to verify it has been examined for this illness and neutered earlier than being introduced into the UK.
A BVA survey of vets in 2018 confirmed that greater than 9 out of ten companion animal vets within the UK had been involved in regards to the import of rescue dogs. Worryingly, 40% of those vets had seen new or uncommon situations of their apply over the earlier 12 months which might be related to canine import. BVA calls on the federal government to impose strict restrictions on the motion of pets, together with testing in stray dogs for any such ailments as a compulsory earlier than journey to the UK. It additionally requires the strengthening of enforcement provisions and checks on dogs introduced in by way of the industrial route.
Dr Shotton added:
“Whereas some charities do perform some pre-import well being exams, there’s at the moment no requirement to check for ailments not generally discovered within the UK. We might ask all rescue charities to check dogs for Brucella canis and different unique ailments of concern earlier than importing them to the UK, and to hunt recommendation from a vet right here to make sure compliance with import finest apply.
“We at the British Veterinary Association continue to call on the Government to take urgent action to introduce stricter pet import measures, including mandatory pre-import testing for dogs coming into the UK, so we can minimise the spread of such emerging diseases.”
BVA’s suggestions on tightening pet journey laws can be found to learn at:
The Animal Welfare Basis has produced a pet journey leaflet with extra data on harmful unique ailments:
