Cottage Q&A
QUESTIONMy dog drinks from the lake all the time but he never seems to get sick. Don't dogs get beaver fever?
ANSWER
My dog drinks from the lake all the time but he never seems to get sick. Don't dogs get beaver fever? ?Vivian Rule, Crosby, Ont. Yes, dogs can get beaver fever, or giardiasis, a nasty disease whose symptoms include fatigue, stomach cramps, and diarrhea. It can be pretty unpleasant, but typically will run its course without intervention. Dogs get it the same way humans often do: by drinking water that contains Giardia, a single-celled parasite that is transmitted through the feces of infected animals. (Since beavers live in the water and, ahem, go in the lake, they are one of the chief transmitters, hence the name.)
However, just because dogs (or humans, for that matter) ingest infected water, it doesn't necessarily mean they will get sick. According to Murray Kennedy, a parasitologist with Alberta Agriculture's Food Safety Division, it takes anywhere from 10-100 Giardia cysts to establish an infection, and your dog's natural resistance to disease can ward it off before symptoms manifest, just as yours can. In addition, research is beginning to show that different strains of the parasite are restricted to different species, says Kennedy. Water that makes you sick might just leave your dog thirst-quenched.
But even if your pup has ingested a significant amount of an infecting strain, it's very possible that you'd never know, simply because dogs aren't as good as humans at communicating that they are ill. A dog may experience stomach cramps, but who can tell? Or he may sneak off into the back forty and leave some telltale traces, but he certainly won't be in the outhouse for hours like an infected human.
* Published in the June 2006 issue of Cottage Life
