With so many people traveling for the holidays, veterinarians are warning against a mysterious respiratory illness infecting dogs across the country. So far, there haven't been many reports of the disease in the Tampa Bay area. But as folks take their pets with them to other parts of the country, or leave them around other dogs at boarding facilities, there's concern the illness could spread. “If anything would happen to them, I would be heartbroken,” said Angelina DeLorenzo, visiting a dog park in Tampa with her three dogs. DeLorenzo says her dogs love the park and socializing with four-legged friends. But she just heard about a mysterious, highly contagious virus impacting dogs, so she said this might be it for a while. “And I think it’s just time to be safe and, you know, stay home a little bit more,” she said. Doctors say the illness is similar to kennel cough but worse. And so far, traditional medications haven’t been effective. “Usually those work with kennel cough, influenza, but these are not doing the job,” Veterinary Dr. Grace Chang said. She says the illness appears to be a virus, spread through close contact, possibly sharing water bowls. Florida is among those states reporting some cases of the respiratory disease, but it’s still so new that some pet owners we spoke with hadn’t heard about it yet. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/life/pets/holiday-dog-respiratory-illness-warning/67-42fc2524-fd75-49dd-85de-caef71cbdc59 ►Subscribe: https://on.wtsp.com/youtube ►Website: https://www.wtsp.com/ ►Facebook: https://facebook.com/10TampaBay ►Twitter: https://twitter.com/10TampaBay