Leptospirosis

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My Vet has recently started to recommend the Lepto vaccine because she is seeing more cases of dogs in our area with this disease who are not regularly around water.  They must be picking it up from drinking from puddles or even licking wet contaminated paws.  While we are not in a real rural area, there certainly is a lot of wildlife that we see every day.  Apparently that is the problem.  Anyway I came across this write-up and thought it presented some good information.  I'm wondering how many of you are hearing the same thing from your Vet....and does your Doodle swim regularly?

DOG CARE

Leptospirosis Disease in Dogs

By Dr. Kristy Conn

Leptospirosis. It’s a pretty big word for a little dog (or even a big dog, for that matter). It’s one of the fastest-growing diseases in the canine community, and left untreated can result in liver and/or kidney failure. And if that weren’t scary enough, humans can also catch the disease from their dogs. The good news is that it is very preventable and very treatable if you know what signs to look for. Veterinarian Dr. Kristy Conn talks about what the disease is, how you can get it, diagnose it, treat it, or in the best-case scenario, prevent it altogether. A must-read for every dog owner.

Leptospirosis: an emerging zoonotic disease

Leptospirosis is caused by spiral-shaped bacteria from the Leptospira genus which can infect many animals including dogs and humans. Therefore it is a zoonosis, a disease that is transmissible from animals to humans. Incidence occurs worldwide and frequency of incidence is increasing therefore it is considered an emerging disease in humans and in dogs. Leptospirosis was once considered a disease of rural dogs but is being increasingly seen in urban dogs due to urbanization of rural areas and increased contact with wildlife species such as raccoons, skunks, opossums, and rodents.

Transmission

Dogs typically become infected by drinking or swimming in water contaminated with Leptospira organisms shed in urine by the local wildlife. Although leptospirosis can occur anywhere in the United States, it is more common in areas that experience high rainfall areas such as the Northwest, Great Lakes area, and South-Central states. Dogs that swim or drink out of rivers, streams and lakes have the highest risk but transmission can occur whenever there is a contaminated water source no matter how small—such as a puddle in the backyard. Rats and mice can shed the organisms and there are reports of dogs that are mostly indoors contracting leptospirosis from being in close proximity with infected rodents.

Most human cases of leptospirosis are contracted by recreational activities with contaminated water. However, with the increasing incidence of leptospirosis in dogs there is also an increased risk of direct transmission from an infected pet. The incidence of pet to human transmission is currently low but the risk is there and care should be taken when dealing with potentially infected dogs.

Disease

Once infection occurs the bacteria spread throughout the body in the blood over the course of a week. Then the bacteria settle down in the liver and kidneys resulting in hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) and nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys). The bacteria particularly like the renal tubules in the kidney and replicate extensively there, resulting in new infective organisms being shed in the infected dog’s urine. Eventually kidney disease (may be acute or chronic) and liver disease result. Clinical signs will depend on which organ is most affected but can include vomiting, diarrhea, excessive urination and increased thirst, loss of energy, fever, and yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eye. If untreated then sudden liver failure or renal failure can occur and more dire complications such as bleeding disorders and pulmonary hemorrhaging can develop.

Diagnosis

Indicators of liver and kidney disease show up readily on routine blood work such as a general chemistry profile. Leptospirosis should be suspected and ruled out in dogs with liver and/or kidney disease especially if there is a history of possible exposure. The test of choice is the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) which tests for antibodies produced by the body to combat the bacterial infection. If the illness is very sudden, then the MAT will be negative since the body does not have enough time to produce detectable antibodies. Therefore in acute cases PCR testing is more reliable since it can detect the bacteria itself.

Treatment

Antibiotics are the standard treatment of leptospirosis since it is a bacterial infection. Since the bacteria are spread through the urine, caretakers must take great care not to come in contact with the urine. Wear gloves when handling bedding and when taking your dog out try to have the dog relieve themselves in a restricted area. Wash your hands thoroughly after touching an infected dog.

Prevention

As with any disease, prevention is much more effective than treatment. A vaccine is available and should be given to dogs whose lifestyle puts them at risk, such as those that spend a lot of time around water or live in areas where wildlife is common. If your area has a lot of skunks, raccoons, opossums, or rodents then you should consider vaccination. Ask your veterinarian for their recommendation and whether or not leptospirosis is common in your area or not.

People can prevent leptospirosis by taking care not to come in contact with animal urine or bodily fluids, avoiding water that may be contaminated and by wearing footwear around soil that may be contaminated with animal urine.

Awareness and a few simple precautions is really all that is needed to prevent this emerging disease from becoming a greater threat to our pets and ourselves.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Thanks Carol. I'm going to bookmark these and read them when I have some time.

[Rachel and Ollie]

My vet recommends it too, BUT she advises Ollie to not get it because he has vaccine reactions. She said the reactions are most common in little dogs and so they don't give it to little dogs. If your dog gets any sort of reaction from shots, this one will most likely trigger it. I would have Ollie get it if he did not have reactions to shots. 

[Trudy Harlow]

I heard it could be spread by squirrels, too, although this article doesn't mention them specifically.

[Kim/Mark and Sierra]

This is one of the vaccines that my vet has suggested to me.  Sierra hasn't received it yet but it's scheduled for her next round which is two weeks.  I am one who tends to be cautious when it comes to vaccinating and actually sought out a vet with holistic training.  She vaccinates carefully by spreading them out....but still recommended this one.  Reading this description it sounds a lot like lymes.....is it?  Now I'm a bit nervous about doing this...  Thx, Kim

[F, Calla & Luca]

No, the organism, transmission and disease are different . Leptospirosis is often fatal before it it diagnosed. I have vaccinated my dogs without any problems.

[Bonnie and Kona]

All of this made me nervous about giving my dogs the vaccine and made me feel like they needed it. I told my vet on Monday that my husband runs the dogs near a creek and they go into it often. He said they definitely should have the shot. He also said that he has seen bad reactions in only Dachshunds and Yorkies. interesting. I decided that I wanted them to get it when they were given no other shots so that it would be obvious if they had a reaction. Kona got the shot on Monday and has had no reaction. 

[1np1tlyyqzo7v]

We're 99% sure now that Lepto is what Sadie died from.  She never swam and we live in town, not rural.  Whether she got it from our backyard or on a walk, we'll never know.  It can be a nasty vaccine with bad side effects and vaccinated dogs can get it too because the vaccine only covers 4-5 strains and there are dozens.  We were never informed about it or offered the option of having her vaccinated.  If we ever get another dog, I think I would opt for the vaccine.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I'm so sorry that you lost Sadie. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I am very sorry about Sadie.

[Sue & Lily Grace]

I am so sorry Sadie is no longer in your life.

[Sue & Lily Grace]

Cassie always had this vaccine but so far Lily Grace has not. I am in a city environment now and really don't see anything but a few squirrels. I will talk to my vet as the dog to dog transfer concerns me. Lily Grace is is sniffer.

[Julie and Max]

I also have read a lot of vaccination information, especially about how we over vaccinate our dogs. I did opt for the lepto vaccine for Max because we walk on a nature trail about 5 miles every day, and he drinks from puddles and loves to eat dead things if I don't see them before him. He had a very bad reaction to the first set of vaccines but it was a combo vaccine so I can't be sure it was just the lepto. He had a fever, had the shakes, appeared to be in severe pain (we could not even touch him for about two hours) and his muzzle was soaked from excessive drooling and he never drools normally. I took him back to the vet, and he was fine the next day but it scared the life out of me, as I haven't had a dog in 10 years, and our last dog was pretty much indestructible.  When we went back for the last set of shots Max was given a shot first to help him and I was told to give him benedryl every four hours for the next twenty four hours. He did have a very small reaction the second time but it only lasted for an hour. When he goes to get his one year booster I will ask them to space the different vaccines out. Just be careful like a few other people have said, and really watch your dog (I also will only make early morning appointments for vaccines from now on.)