Aspergillosis
A mould infection of the nose and sinuses, taken from the environment rather than from another dog.
FungalInhaled mould spores from the environment
19 questions · 16 min
OhMyDog.Rocks: Diseases
The card, and everything the card leaves out
Eight of the diseases documented here can be closed off with a vaccine. Three depend on where in the world you live. The other fourteen have no needle at all. and for those, knowing how they arrive is the only protection there is.
25 records337 questions answered509 minutes in total
| Number | Disease | What it is | Date given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canine Influenza Dog flu. Both circulating strains have a vaccine, and it reduces severity more reliably than it prevents infection. | Dog flu. Both circulating strains have a vaccine, and it reduces severity more reliably than it prevents infection. | Blank, only your vet can fill this in. |
| 2 | Distemper Moves from the airways into the nervous system. There is no cure to fall back on, which is why prevention carries the weight. | Moves from the airways into the nervous system. There is no cure to fall back on, which is why prevention carries the weight. | Blank, only your vet can fill this in. |
| 3 | Infectious Hepatitis An adenovirus that settles in the liver. Dogs who recover may not keep lasting immunity, so the boosters still matter. | An adenovirus that settles in the liver. Dogs who recover may not keep lasting immunity, so the boosters still matter. | Blank, only your vet can fill this in. |
| 4 | Kennel Cough Infectious tracheobronchitis. The vaccines blunt how hard and how long it hits rather than promising to prevent it. | Infectious tracheobronchitis. The vaccines blunt how hard and how long it hits rather than promising to prevent it. | Blank, only your vet can fill this in. |
| 5 | Leptospirosis Spreads through standing water and infected urine, and it passes to people, vaccinating the dog protects the household too. | Spreads through standing water and infected urine, and it passes to people, vaccinating the dog protects the household too. | Blank, only your vet can fill this in. |
| 6 | Lyme Disease Carried by ticks and slow to show itself. A vaccine exists, and is usually offered where ticks are endemic. | Carried by ticks and slow to show itself. A vaccine exists, and is usually offered where ticks are endemic. | Blank, only your vet can fill this in. |
| 7 | Parvovirus Highly contagious gut virus that hits unvaccinated puppies hardest, and is survivable with fast, intensive supportive care. | Highly contagious gut virus that hits unvaccinated puppies hardest, and is survivable with fast, intensive supportive care. | Blank, only your vet can fill this in. |
| 8 | Rabies Attacks the nervous system and is effectively always fatal once signs appear. The vaccine is the whole of the defence. | Attacks the nervous system and is effectively always fatal once signs appear. The vaccine is the whole of the defence. | Blank, only your vet can fill this in. |
The right-hand column is the one your vet fills in, and this page deliberately cannot. These are the ones medicine has closed off. Which of them your dog is given, and when, is a decision for your vet, schedules differ between countries and this page does not prescribe one.
Depends where you live (3)
A vaccine exists for these, but not everywhere, and not always with settled effectiveness. Whether it is an option where you are is a question for your vet.
On no card, 14 records
Nothing here can be prevented with a needle. What protects a dog against these is knowing how they arrive, the water, the soil, the tick, the other animal.
12 13 Blastomycosis
A soil fungus that settles in the lungs, skin and bones. It reaches people only rarely, and not from the dog.
FungalInhaled spores from damp soil near water
15 questions · 17 min
14 Brucellosis
A reproductive infection that spreads through breeding, and one of the few here that can reach people, if rarely.
BacterialBreeding, and contact with reproductive fluids
12 questions · 16 min
15 Canine Minute Virus
The other parvovirus, CPV-1. The standard parvo vaccine does not cover it, and people carry it on shoes without catching it.
ViralFaecal-oral; hardest on very young puppies
15 questions · 24 min
16 Clostridium
Bacteria already living in the gut that turn on the dog. Managed through health and hygiene rather than a shot.
BacterialGut overgrowth; contaminated food and environment
10 questions · 14 min
17 Coccidioidomycosis
Valley Fever. Breathed in from dust in dry country, which makes knowing the ground the only real protection.
FungalInhaled spores from dust in arid regions
11 questions · 16 min
18 Cryptococcosis
Favours the nose and the nervous system, and is slow enough that it is often well established before it is caught.
FungalInhaled environmental spores
14 questions · 23 min
19 Ehrlichiosis
Hides for weeks after the tick is long gone, then surfaces as fever, bruising or nosebleeds.
Bacterial, tick-borneBite of the brown dog tick
10 questions · 10 min
20 Histoplasmosis
Breathed in from contaminated soil. People catch it from the same ground the dog did, never from the dog itself.
FungalInhaled spores from soil, bird and bat droppings
24 questions · 42 min
21 Mucormycosis
Rare, fast and serious. No vaccine exists and none is close; the record lists one only as future research.
FungalEnvironmental moulds, usually where immunity is already down
14 questions · 14 min
22 Pseudorabies
Aujeszky's disease, and not rabies despite the name. The vaccine that exists was made for pigs, not for dogs.
ViralContact with infected pigs or raw pork
5 questions · 24 min
23 Ringworm
Not a worm at all but a fungus of the skin, and it travels between dogs and people in both directions.
FungalDirect contact, bedding, and grooming tools
13 questions · 25 min
24 Sporotrichosis
Enters through broken skin. It passes from an infected dog to human skin through cuts and scratches, so handling matters.
FungalSoil and plants; contact with an infected animal
12 questions · 21 min
25 Trichinosis
Comes from raw or undercooked meat. People get it the same way, from the meat, not from the dog.
Parasitic roundwormEating raw or undercooked infected meat
13 questions · 12 min
What this sheet is not
It is not a diagnosis, and it cannot become one. Every disease on this page shares its early signs with several others and with a dozen ordinary things that are not infectious at all, a dog who is off her food and quiet this morning has told you almost nothing yet.
What a page like this is genuinely good for is the conversation you are about to have with your vet: knowing that the puddle matters, that the tick was three weeks ago and not yesterday, that the litter is newborn rather than weaned. Bring the reading with you. It makes the appointment better.
If your dog is showing signs that worry you right now, stop reading and call a vet. Nothing on this page is worth the delay.
About this collection
Why is this page organised around vaccines rather than symptoms?
Because it is the one division that changes what happens next. Early signs overlap so heavily between these diseases that a symptom list would send you to five records at once, but whether a vaccine exists is a fixed, checkable fact, and it tells you whether the thing you are worried about was ever preventable. If you did arrive with a sign rather than a name, type it into the finder: it searches every question inside all twenty-five records.
Does a vaccine on this page mean my dog should have it?
No. This page states only that a vaccine exists for that disease. Which vaccines a particular dog is given, at what age and how often, differs between countries and between individual dogs, and it is a decision for the vet who can actually examine yours. You will not find a schedule here, and you should be sceptical of any website that offers you one.
What does "depends where you live" mean?
Three of these records describe a vaccine that is not universally available, either it is licensed in some countries and not others, or its reach and proven effectiveness are limited. Rather than record those as a plain yes or no, they are kept in their own band, because both simplifications would mislead a reader in exactly the places where the answer changes at the border.
Which of these can my family catch?
Several, and the records say so individually rather than as a blanket claim. Rabies, leptospirosis, ringworm and sporotrichosis are described as passing between dogs and people. Brucellosis, blastomycosis and pseudorabies are described as reaching people only rarely. Others, histoplasmosis and trichinosis among them, reach people from the same soil or meat the dog met, never from the dog. Each record carries its own answer.
Is this a substitute for seeing a vet?
No, and it is least of all a diagnosis. These records describe diseases in general; they cannot examine your dog, read her bloodwork or account for her history. Use them to ask better questions at the appointment. If something is worrying you right now, call a vet rather than finishing this page.