Mold Symptoms for Pets

MoldSprayers LLC
www.moldsprayers.com

Why are my pets
always sick?

At MoldSprayers LLC, we care about you and your pets health and wellbeing!

Click here for the
reason We Do
Not Use Mold
Dogs and Neither
Should You.

Controlling Pet and Animal odors . . .
Pet area odors are very difficult to control. In residential homes, veterinary offices and
kennels ozone generators can treat odor holding surfaces and make the presence of
animals hardly noticeable. The use of high ozone "shock treatments" helps remove foul pet
odors. Disinfecting pet areas of molds, and bacteria is beneficial for pets and their
owners alike.

Controlling Insects and Vermin. . . Insects and vermin are driven away from high levels of
ozone. Ozone not only helps remove their odors it keeps them from coming back. Ozone
used in a basement can retard mold growth, as well as keep insects and mice out. Ozone
used in the attic can keep birds, squirrels or other critters out of your house.

The number one place mold can be found in your home is usually your carpeting!

*Note: After your mold remediation is complete, Moldsprayers LLC treats your
home with a high ozone "shock treatment", it will help remove any existing odor.

Moldsprayers LLC carries a Million Dollars in Mold Liability Insurance.

Animals have
mold problems too!

Minnesota State
University
Moorhead
Department of
Environmental
Health & Safety

WHAT ARE THE
PET-ANIMAL
SYMPTOMS OF
MOLD
EXPOSURE?
What is an Allergy?

An allergy is a disease
in which the immune
system over reacts or is
hypersensitive to
everyday substances.
The substances are
called allergens and can
include dust mites,
pollen, grasses, molds
and certain food or
chemicals.

What Are the Signs of
an Allergy?

The signs vary with the
individual animal Dogs
typically scratch, bite
and chew their feet,
flanks, tail area and
face. Cats usually lick
excessively. Both cats
and dogs will develop
rashes, skin infections,
sores and scabs. It is
common for dogs to
develop repeated ear or
paw infections. Severe
allergies are very
uncomfortable for your
pet.

-Allergy is not a curable
disease. It is only
controllable or we can
only control its
symptoms.

Blastomycoses: A Dangerous Pet and Human Fungus Among Us
Pet Column for the week of November 1, 2004

by Kim Marie Labak
Information Specialist
University of Illinois
College of Veterinary Medicine

When your dog is coughing and has a fever, it could have pneumonia. Unbeknownst to many,
pneumonia is not caused only by bacteria and virusesit can also be caused by fungi from the
environment. Blastomyces dermatitidis, or "Blasto," is a disease-causing fungus that can cause skin and
respiratory infections in dogs, humans, and occasionally cats. In some individuals it can spread to infect
other organ systems.

Blasto is natural part of environment. According to Dr. Thomas Graves, veterinary internist at the
University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Urbana, it is very common in acidic soils of the
Midwest and central south. The fungus exists as a mold in the environment and becomes a yeast at body
temperature.

According to Dr. Karen Campbell, a veterinary internist and veterinary dermatologist at the teaching
hospital, animals can get infected only by direct contact with mold spores: spores can be inhaled or
enter through broken skin when a person or animal rolls in contaminated soil. An infected animal cannot
spread the disease, since the yeast form is not contagious.

Signs of blasto infection depend on the body system infected. The three forms of
blastomycosiscutaneous, respiratory, and disseminatedoften occur at the same time.

Cutaneous infection appears as skin lesions, resulting from spores entering the skin directly through a
sore or cut or as part of a disseminated infection that originated in the lungs. The lesions are very itchy
and wet. Although these infections can stay contained, according to Dr. Campbell, they can seriously
damage nearby muscle and bone tissue if untreated.

The most life-threatening (and most common) form of blasto is pneumonia, since respiratory infection, if
left untreated, can lead to severe inflammation of the lungs and eventual death. As with other respiratory
diseases, infected dogs often cough, lose their appetite, become lethargic, and have difficulty breathing.

In some individuals, especially those with weakened immunity, the respiratory infection can disseminate
to the kidneys, eyes, or skin, and occasionally the spinal cord and brain.

Blastomycosis is very treatable with antifungal drugs, and improvement is usually seen within a few
days, but the treatment can take a long time (up to six months) and gets expensive. Treatment is most
effective when the disease is caught early, however, so proper treatment requires proper diagnosis.

Dr. Graves explains that when an animal is misdiagnosed with a bacterial infection and receives
antibiotics, the fungal infection is allowed to progress, and by the time the animal is properly diagnosed
with blasto, it may be too late, especially in pneumonia cases.

He explains that the best way to diagnose blasto is to look for blastomyces organisms in the body.
Discharge from a skin wound can be swabbed, the trachea or lungs can be rinsed with saline, or fluid
from organs such as lymph nodes can be extracted with needle; these fluids can be then examined
under a microscope to identify blasto yeast cells.

Blasto is more common in larger dogs, males, young dogs, and sporting and hunting breeds. Dr.
Campbell and Dr. Graves suspect that these correlations may be due to certain behaviors, since these
dogs may spend more time outdoors, sniffing soil. Disease signs may not show until 5 to 12 weeks after
exposure to blasto.

While blasto infection is virtually impossible to prevent since the fungus is a natural part of the
environment--"You can't ask people to keep their dogs indoors all the time," says Dr.
Graves--blastomycosis can be overcome if diagnosed and treated early.

For more information about blastomycosis, consult your veterinarian.

Link to: VISIT THE
MOLD AND PET
HEALTH YAHOO
GROUP SITE

Moldsprayers LLC is
your pet's best friend.

Moldsprayers LLC carries One Million Dollars of Mold Liability Insurance.
5 STAR RATED
Licensed and Certified Mold-Home Inspectors & Mold Remediation Experts.
Call 850-499-2227

Pet Food Recall
Go to Pet's and Allergies page

Weather Channel