***Warning! road grit mixture causing dog fatalities

The following was posted on a greyhound forum, but as it affects all breeds of dogs I thought I would re-post it here.

We had a phone call today from a vet giving us information about a problem that is affecting of all breeds of dog. Apparently the grit they are using on the roads this year is different to previous years and is attacking the immune system of dogs causing at least 15 deaths, this is being researched at Cambridge vet school. He recommends washing the dogs pads and drying when you get home after walking through grit.

Funny you should say that, both of mine have had problems with the grit this year, yelping when it gets between their pads, even though we try to avoid it, so just a tiny bit is causing them to limp etc, it has never bothered them so much in previous years..

Thanks for cross posting

Goodness what a worry. If it wasn't for the fact that the roads were not gritted here and Ollie was walked on the field in the snow till he became ill I would be worrying about what has happened to him might be due to this as it seems his immune system is struggling.

Well done for posting it Bev.

Flipping hell! Whatever next?



Thanks for cross-posting, Bev x

OMG!!! Thanks for the warning. I dont walk my dogs anywhere that has been gritted, but I know of people that do. So will be warning them.

Ohhh - that explains how when I had to pick "ice" out of Louie and Sadie's paws there was never any there! Thanks for cross posting, I did think it was the grit but didn't think it would harm them any more than a stone would with us...

Thanks for that tip Bev, I'll be watching out for that now, it's horrific to think it can harm our dogs

When I drove down to the town yesterday, they had freshly gritted, and you could see all this grey grit on all the pavements, which I had been intended for the roads but had overshot them, coz it really stood out seeing it on the pavements, all grey like that, as usually, the grit is more yellow. Now I know why then!

Thanks for the info , I will be washing paws now when we get back altho its usually required anyway cos they like to sniff in the most horrible places !

I wonder if it is not so much the grit but the salt mixed in with it which has caused a problem.

Finally I`ve found the upside of Southend Council`s non-gritting policy.
I always thought you had to wash the grit off paws because of the salt anyway.