Leptospirosis in Dogs

You might see your dog flinching from your touch or be unwilling to move very much. It is vital to contact your veterinarian if your dog manifests symptoms after being in contact with a large number of other dogs or with wild animals as this disease is highly contagious and potentially very damaging to their health.

Leptospira bacteria can infest multiple tissues including kidney, liver, spleen, eyes, the genital tract, and the nervous system. Therefore, the symptoms will vary with every animal, but some of the more common manifestations include:

• Fever (103-104º)
• Shivering
• Muscle spasms
• Muscle tenderness
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Increased thirst
• Unwillingness to move
• Jaundice
• Dehydration
• Loss of weight
• General appearance of pain
• Blood in the urine
• Hypothermia
• Eye and nose (oculonasal) discharge

Types

• Acute - An acute infection will manifest very quickly. The bacteria rapidly spread to vital organs and symptoms will begin soon after initial contact with the contagion. This means muscle pain, high fever and in some cases, hypothermia severe enough to kill before the infection reaches the kidneys or liver.
• Subacute - A slow growing problem which may show as dehydration, vomiting, fever or jaundice. It is also possible your dog will not present symptoms at all, but will still result in them spreading the disease through their bodily fluids and shedding leptospira for weeks or months. Unfortunately, the majority of leptospiral infections are subacute with the damage to the liver or kidneys undetected.

Leptospira bacteria are spread through contact with infected tissue. This can be done through:

• Ingestion of infected tissue
• Contact with infected bodily fluids such as urine, saliva or blood
• Contact with infected water
• Contact with infected bedding
• Contact with infected food
• Contact with infected wildlife such as raccoons, mice, rats, skunks or hedgehogs.
• Contact with infected livestock such as cows, horses, pigs or sheep.
• Across the membrane while in-utero.

Freezing reduces the survival of the bacteria. As a result, infections are more common in summer, fall and temperate climates.

To diagnose this condition, be certain to give your veterinarian a full history of your pets health, condition, symptom manifestation and effects of their illness. Your veterinarian will be able to diagnose this disease through:

• Blood culturing - The blood can be agglutinized which will examine the presence of specific antibodies. This will determine the strain. However, if the condition is acute, it is possible the blood test will come out inconclusive or negative within the first 10 days post-infection. Therefore, it's important to submit multiple samples to be certain of ruling out a false-negative test.
• Urine culture - If your dog has a chronic condition, shedding of the bacteria may be intermittent. The urine culture can be also contaminated by additional bacteria either from within the body or in the external environment.
• A third testing option includes examining the samples microscopically. The bacteria are visible under a microscope, and it is even possible for your veterinarian to determine which strain through this method. However, like the other methods, if the bacteria aren't in that particular sample, it's best to provide additional samples.

Each of these methods has flaws due to the nature of the bacteria and the testing processes themselves. However, the combined examination through all three tests presents a far stronger statistical likelihood of accuracy.

If your dog has become dehydrated due to excessive vomiting, diarrhea, kidney or liver disease they will need to undergo fluid therapy using an IV drip or subcutaneous injection. Once it is established your dog has leptospirosis, your veterinarian will prescribe a round of antibiotics regardless of strain. The most recommended antibiotic for either acute or chronic conditions are doxycycline. Initial treatment may be penicillin for those dogs sensitive to doxycycline. These are often administered in a two-week time frame. Your veterinarian will discuss more specific strain treatment options with you once the strain is established. Additional medications may be needed to make your dog more comfortable if they are displaying additional symptoms of pain though of course the main focus should be the antibiotic course so that your pet does not become a lifetime carrier of these bacteria.

Dogs being treated for leptospirosis need not be completely isolated, but it is vital to minimize exposure of skin, mucous membranes and bodily fluids, especially blood and urine for the typical two-week treatment period. Additional visits to the veterinarian will be necessary to establish treatment efficacy.

To prevent this disease, it's important to limit your dog's contact with wildlife, livestock and with stagnant, still pools of water such as shared water dishes or closed ponds. If these are conditions to which your dog risks regular exposure, there are some vaccines for leptospirosis, so it is possible to minimize infection effects, especially the colonization of the kidneys. Unfortunately, most of these vaccines offer a year's worth of protection, they cannot be administered to puppies under eight weeks old and it is estimated that they only exist for four strains of leptospirosis which leaves multiple other varieties to be countered. It is possible for a dog to contract this bacterial infection again if exposed to the same sources, so the best prevention is to figure out the source and avoid it if possible.