Dog walkers warned to avoid Yorkshire coast as mystery disease hits

Dog walkers and owners have been warned against letting their dogs walk on beaches in the north east, after multiple vets report incidents of mystery illness that causes vomiting and diarrhea.

The issue first came into dog walkers’ attention via Facebook, where a vet nurse posted a warning on the popular Yorkshire Coast Pet Care group.

“I work within several practices up and down the North East coast and we have recently been inundated with dogs coming off the beaches with vomiting and diarrhoea,” the nurse wrote.

“Personally until the local authorities have got to the bottom of it I would not recommend taking your pets on the beach for the foreseeable future.I have been in touch with governing bodies and they are currently looking into it.”

Hundreds of commentators posted their own stories underneath the post, with many of them reporting the same symptoms after visiting beaches in the region.

So far, there doesn’t appear to be any correlation between the symptoms and the beaches, with the East Riding council noting that the inspections team had not noticed anything unusual on the beaches.

“From reports from local veterinary surgeries, the illness they are seeing within dogs and the tests carried out have not provided any direct links with the use of beaches,” Kirsty Salisbury, the council’s General Manager (Coastal) said.

“We would advise that, if your pet becomes unwell and has continuing sickness and diarrhoea, you should make an appointment to have your pet seen. It appears that many dogs are becoming unwell even though they have not visited beaches, so it may be that this is a general illness amongst dogs.”

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is aware of the incidents and is in contact with the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

If you are unsure of anything whilst using the north east’s beach areas, you can contact the Coastal Services team on 01262 678255 or email foreshores@eastriding.gov.uk