Dog’s Death Reportedly Caused By Deadly Toxin In Blue-Green Algae
Some dogs, like us humans, love going for a refreshing swim when the weather is unbearably hot.
On Sunday (11 Aug), an American lady named Morgan Fleming thought her dog Arya would enjoy playing at a lake given the excruciating hot weather.
But what was originally an enjoyable day out soon turned into a tragedy. After playing ball and swimming in the lake, Arya fell ill and died shortly after.
Doctors suspect that she came into contact with a deadly toxin at the lake.
The very same day, Morgan penned a touching Facebook post paying homage to her beloved canine companion. The post has since gone viral with over 250,000 shares at the time of writing.
Here’s the post in full.
Owners brought their dog to the lake to escape the heat
According to the post, Morgan and her husband, Patrick, brought their dog Arya out to the lake to escape the scorching hot weather.
The trio had an enjoyable time “playing ball and swimming around” for around 30 minutes by the lake.
Dog was brain dead when brought to the emergency room
However, on the way back home, Arya allegedly started making weird noises, vomited, and defecated in the car.
Soon, Arya had trouble standing, and the couple was advised by their vet to bring the dog to the emergency room immediately as she was in “critical condition”.
However, by the time they reached the ER, Arya was apparently brain dead.
While no autopsy was done on Arya, the vet said that her death was “most likely” linked to a deadly toxin in the lake, which could have been found in the blue-green algae.
Arya’s death was a devastating blow to the couple. Morgan even wrote poignantly in the post that “no dog will ever replace you in our hearts”.
Deadly toxin responsible for killing dogs in the US
This isn’t the first time that a toxin like the blue-green algae has claimed a dog’s life in America.
Just last Thursday (8 Aug), 3 dogs fell ill and later died after playing in a pond containing toxic algae.
There has been no such reported case in Singapore, as of the time of this article.
Be careful when bringing your dog out to swim
Even though there hasn’t been such cases here in Singapore, dog owners taking their pets for a swim should be on the lookout for blue-green algae floating on the surface.
Water which contains blue-green algae is described as having a layer of scum floating on the top which makes it look like spilt “green paint or pea soup“.
MS News sends our condolences to Morgan and Patrick for their loss.
We hope Arya is in a better place now where there are endless treats and toys to play with.
Featured image adapted from Facebook. Â
