Fur-Mongering: the Curious Case of Canine Hysteria

Source: Dall-E/OpenAI

In the summer of 2023, dog owners across the U.S. began to express concern on social media over a mysterious new disease that was sickening their pets. By the fall, media outlets were abuzz with alarming reports on the spread of a potentially fatal respiratory ailment that was dubbed “Canine Mystery Illness.” Once the story started to circulate, dog owners began closely watching their pets for any signs of the condition.

The problem was—many of the symptoms were common and vague, such as lethargy, coughing, nasal and eye discharge, dehydration, fever, and rapid breathing. As dogs can’t speak, it was up to their owners to subjectively assess their pet’s health. On any given warm summer’s day, it would not be unusual to see a healthy dog panting rapidly or having discharge around their eyes or nose. Ordinary owners would not pay much attention to something as mundane as panting or resting, but now such actions were being seen as ‘difficulty breathing’ and ‘malaise’—confirming evidence that their pet was, indeed, the victim of a strange new ailment.

Reports of the mysterious illness soon spread to other countries, such as the U.K. The events in southeastern England were typical. A report appeared in the Kent Messenger on November 9^th, noting that several dogs in the area had been unwell or were acting strangely, and there was concern that the mystery illness was affecting them. Social media spread reports of dogs falling ill in nearby communities, prompting a spokesperson for the Maidstone Council to warn dog owners to be vigilant: “We continue to monitor the situation and advise dog-walkers to stay vigilant, keep their dogs close, and if they are worried about their dog’s health, to take them to the vet for investigation into the cause.” In a move reminiscent of the Covid lockdowns, by late fall, some government agencies began urging dog owners to isolate their pets. The actions of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management were typical, imploring dog owners to stop their pets mingling with other dogs until the disease was identified.

Then, shortly before Christmas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that their investigation into the mystery illness had failed to uncover “any new pathogens or any common cause for the wave of infections…” They also found that many cases could be traced to the usual “common causes” of respiratory diseases in dogs.

This case is reminiscent of episodes of mass sociogenic illness by proxy, where the tensions and fears of dog owners were projected onto their pets. Proxy cases have been known to involve parents who begin projecting their anxieties onto their children. For instance, in 1988, a group of parents from an elementary school near Atlanta held a gathering where they began to make observations on the visible health of their children, suggesting that they may be unwell. These signs included looking pale, appearing tired, having bags under their eyes, and several common health conditions. This led to concerns that a series of recent natural gas leaks at the school were making their children sick. As a result, some of the children became convinced that they were unwell, but only after the prompting of their parents.

As the dogs in the canine respiratory scare were oblivious to the kerfuffle surrounding their health, this case is perhaps best described as social contagion by proxy, which was spread by anxious pet owners. While the Covid pandemic may have passed, this event is still fresh in peoples’ minds, and many have become hyper-sensitive to news reports about the appearance of new viruses, weary of another pandemic. Social media platforms served to legitimate and spread fears of a mysterious new illness striking down dogs, while many new Facebook groups formed, which further spread the alarm as media outlets picked up the story, which in turn, drove more social media postings.