What Happened In Michigan? As most of us have most likely heard through various media outlets, there has been an outbreak of a fatal virus in dogs who have been residing in Michigan. It has been reported that dozens of dogs, most less than 2 years of age, have presented with vomiting, diarrhea, and severe dehydration. These symptoms are the hallmark of an unfortunately common illness in dogs called canine parvovirus (CPV) which is all too often fatal. What makes the situation in Michigan particularly concerning is that all of the dogs that died were tested for CPV in the clinics and shelters using rapid tests and all of the test results were negative. What We Know Now Due to nature of the illness it didn’t take long for The Michigan State Veterinarian, Dr. Nora Wineland to get involved in looking for the cause. On August 23rd she released an update stating, “We are still in the early stages of this investigation, but some of the first samples submitted to the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (MSU VDL) were positive for canine parvovirus.” The MSU VDL was able to use more sensitive testing than that available in the shelters […]