sickness passed from dog to kids?

[bentneckwine1]

My dad's one year old female dog was very ill last week with gastroentritis...vomiting, yucky poos etc. We ended up taking her to the vet who diagnosed gastroentritis and dehydration. She was treated by injection and after a few days has started to look more like herself.

Unfortunately we were all away on holiday as a family at the time and so had to take dog to a vet in a strange town and I got the job of cleaning up the floor in dad's hotel room (nice!). Because we were all away together all week the kids spent a great deal of time around the dog in the couple of days before she was sick and once she was on her feet again she was happy to be fussed over by the kids.

So now since Sunday my three year old niece, nine year old niece and fourteen year old nephew have all been unwell with similar symptoms...sickness and diahorrea. We didn't all eat the same food when on holiday as the kids were picking what they wanted from the menus. There does not seem to be any bugs going around the school-nobody else off ill that we know off.

Could the kids have picked up the gastroentritis from the dog by being around her so much...especially enclosed car journeys to and from destination? I was going to call NHS 24 to ask but I worried they would laugh at me!! So I have turned to the wisdom of mumsnet for advice.

Each child seems to be unwell for around 48hours before picking up a bit and so we have so far avoided the doctors but I am wondering who will be next to be struck down out of the eight that were away!!!

I think its very unusual for illnes to pass from dogs to people, i'm sure a vet will come along soon and confirm this. The children may have just picked up something from the hotel or a shop that they went into, door handles are notorious in hotels etc for passing on diseases. There are bugs like this going around here at the moment. They are probably passing it to each other too as if they'd caught it at the same time they would all have come down with it at the same time. Hope the rest of you all stay well and the kids and dog are all ok now.

Hi LittleB...that's kinda what I thought. It just seemed so much of a conincidence that they were all sick so soon after being around the dog much more often than usual.

Although I suppose if it had been passed on from the dog then I would have been first to get it as I cleaned up after the sick dog...and so far so good I am managing to avoid the plauge!!

Not impossible but pretty unlikely. Hope everyone is well soon.

Sorry but it is possible...my Dp's dog had bad gastroentritis whilst we were living with them and had to be seen by their vet.
We had recently had the bug and the vet said it was entirely possible for the virus to be passed from us to the dog.

Yes, but not likely!

the thing is, lets say that yes they picked it up off the dog, what can you do about it? nothing really, its unlikely to cause any harm and long as the children are hydrated and start to perk up soon.

I would not worry.
My DP recently has really bad D and V and was eventually diagnosed with campylobacter poisoning which can be transmitted via food, puppies and farm animals. guess what we have a puppy and live next to a farm! Doctors advice, nothing, keep dehydrated and let nature take it course. HTH and try not to worry

i used to be a veterinary nurse and a couple of is caught salmonella from some cats we had in, there was a lot of it going around and a cattery seemed to be the root of it.
frogs and toads also carry salmonella on their skin so ALWAYS wash your hands after touching them!!

reminds me of the time my brother had a bigmac, ate half and didnt like it so out it in the bin, over night the dog raided the bin and then next morning they were both being sick and the runs!!!

Hi everybody,

Thanks so much for all your replies...my sister thought I was daft when I suggested that the kids might have picked something up from the dog so I will be sure to let her know that it is possible although unlikely. (I do like to be proved right every now and then!!).

The three kids that have been unwell since Sunday are starting to pick up a bit now but will still be off schol again tomorrow. My nephew must have been feeling really sorry for himself as he did not even ask to play the games console until this evening. Two whole days with no Xbox is unheard of for him so he has been genuine and not some teenage boy version of man flu!!
Thankfully all the adults have managed to avoid being ill and I am keeping my fingers crossed that my son stays clear of it athough usually he would be the first to succumb to these sort of things. My own dog spends a lot of time with dad's so although she was not on holiday with us I will keep an eye on her over the next few days.

Thanks again...it never ceases to amaze me the wealth of information and advice to be found on here.

bentneck