The vet who cares
Since passionate pig hunter William McCarthy took his ailing dog Reb to the Okaihau-based Norvets for ‘ go slow’ two years ago, our local vet, Jenni Petersen, has been hard out tracking the cause. Go slow is very much a Northland disease, found in scattered pockets. Dogs, while hunting, run out of energy and get this uncontrollable shaking and fall flat, sometimes within five minutes. Working dogs can get it from eating contaminated frozen pork.
Way beyond the call of duty, Jenni has become a legend for the effort that she has put into investigating the go slow mystery. She has personally paid heaps for pathology tests. Fortunately she is getting huge help from Dr Hayley Hunt, a PhD research scientist at Massey University in Palmerston North.
Go slow has all the hallmarks of poisoning. The serious implication is that people who eat the affected pork may also be affected. It is of grave concern that pathology tests of Mid North dog owners, whose dogs have go slow, have had similar test profiles. Animals suffering from go slow exhibit changes to their muscle structure, or to be precise, to the muscle cells mitochondria. The slides show cell collapse and muscle wasting. Alarm bells rang when this information was presented by Jenni to the Northland Regional Council Environmental Management Committee, and the matter was referred to the Minis- try of Primary Industries and Northland Health.
When MPI had pulled a researcher off go slow a decade ago the pointers were at it being caused by a toxin. Considerable concern was raised about whether the toxin was a residue from a substance like brodificoum, that is lawfully used to control pest invertebrates like possums and rats. Brodificoum is an unrestricted toxin that can be bought easily and is used a lot, which sort of explained why go slow was popping up seemingly randomly. However, the link to approved invertebrate poisons seems less likely now.
Given the seriousness of go slow we are very lucky that Jenni and Hayley are so committed to discovering the cause. I would opt for some of my considerable Beef and Lamb levy being made available to them.
By visiting the web page en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_sickness, readers will see a similarity with the milk sickness tremetol, vomiting that killed thousands of early settlers, including President Abe Lincoln’s mother on the Ohio River. The link to the plant white snake root was made in 1830 after advice from a Shawnee woman.
Kerikeri, Northland and Mangamuka pig hunting clubs have supported active research by Jenni Petersen (phone (09) 401-9167) and Hayley Hunt (027 341-0874), our best contacts for information and advice.