What is Neospora Caninum?
There are many silent killers in this world, and cancer is usually the first one we think of. However, that is not the only silent lurker when it comes to pet disease. Neosporosis is a very deadly parasite that lives in infected cattle, mostly. This is important to note for pet owners that feed their pets raw diets or possibly live on ranches.
Neosporosis parasites start as unsporulated oocytes, which are passed through feces, water, food, or soil. Once ingested, they live in the body and become sporulated. The final, and deadliest, is when they are fully grown into tachyzoites.
Neosporosis can affect any species of animal, whether they are domestic, captive, or wild. Neosporosis is also widely known to affect unborn animals, just like toxoplasmosis.
Canine Neosporosis is a microscopic protozoan parasite with worldwide distribution. A disease similar to toxoplasmosis, it attacks animal’s brain and spinal cord and slowly shuts down their body. Neospora caninum is a very deadly parasite that should not be taken lightly. Be aware of your dog’s whereabouts and do not feed them raw beef if at all possible. It could be a simple step in saving their life against a tragedy. If you are the owner of cattle as well, vaccinate your livestock to help prevent the spread of this deadly disease.Neospora Caninum Average Cost
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Symptoms of Neospora Caninum in Dogs
As with most parasitic diseases, symptoms may not always be prevalent until it is too late. When symptoms do show, they come on very quickly and progress rapidly. One account of a pet owner whose dog received Neosporosis after eating raw hamburger mince was that the symptoms showed up after only two days. Symptoms include:
- Hindlimb paralysis (commonly in puppies)
- Ulcers
- Pneumonia
- Peritonitis - an infection of the lining of the abdomen after a rupture
- Hepatitis
- Staggering
- Slow reflexes or reaction time
- Blindness
If you recognize any of these symptoms, take your pet to the veterinarian immediately. If it is caught in early stages, they can give your dog medicine to help treat the symptoms of neosporosis.
Types
There is only one kind of neosporosis, and that is neospora canum. Even though the disease is mostly spread by infected cattle, there is no other form of this parasite. It is very closely related to Toxoplasma gondii, which made it difficult to diagnose for years.
Norway was the first country to distinguish the difference between the two in the mid-1980s, naming Neosporosis as a muscular degeneration type disorder. Since its increase of cases and further studies, veterinarians now have the ability to tell the difference between Neosporosis and toxoplasmosis.
Causes of Neospora Caninum in Dogs
As previously mentioned, Neospora canum is transferred mostly by infected livestock, particularly cattle. This can be because a dog eats an infected, aborted placenta or from eating raw beef. Dogs will contract the parasites from eating tissue of an infected animal that has the parasite cysts in it.
Once the dog eats the infected flesh, the oocytes bursts and the life cycle starts all over again. The parasites create new oocytes in the dog’s body, which are shed through feces and then the cattle eat the infected soil which causes a full circle.
Diagnosis of Neospora Caninum in Dogs
There are many steps to diagnosis Neosporosis as it must be checked with complete accuracy. Without careful scrutiny, your pet could be misdiagnosed and not given the proper treatment. When in the hospital, your vet will perform tests such as:
- Biopsy
- PCR/Immunohistochemistry
- Serum Antibodies
- Smears
The veterinarians will use a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to check for disruptions in the pet’s DNA due to parasites in the tissues. This is the most common and effective way to check for Neosporosis, although some veterinarians will do various biopsies to check tissues for parasites as well.
Treatment of Neospora Caninum in Dogs
Unfortunately, there is no full treatment for Neosporosis. If in small puppies, young dogs, or senior dogs the paralysis has already set in, it is too late. There are a set of drugs that can be given to help ease symptoms and provide comfort for your pet, but it is likely they will not recover.
The drugs that are commonly prescribed for Neospora caninum are clindamycin for about 4 weeks up to 8 weeks. They may also prescribe trimethoprim-sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine. For puppies, if one puppy is diagnosed, it is important that a pet owner distributes treatment to littermates before symptoms start showing.
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Recovery of Neospora Caninum in Dogs
Puppies have a very low prognosis as do senior dogs. For them, it is better that you just keep them comfortable and give them their full medication until the end. The pet owner in the previously mentioned story made the decision to put her pet to sleep to reduce its suffering.
For puppies, it is hard to prevent the disease as it is contracted congenitally, however, you can help prevent it in older dogs by keeping them away from livestock and not feeding them raw beef. This reduces the risk of them contracting the disease accidentally.
There is a vaccine that livestock owners can give their cattle to help prevent the contraction of Neosporosis. It is 81% effective, which is a great deal better than leaving cattle unvaccinated. This could be the future of keeping both cattle and canines safe.
While there have been no reported cases of Neospora caninum affecting humans, it is probably better that pregnant women should have minimal contact with infected dogs or cattle. Because it is related to toxoplasma gondii, which is transmitted through cats, there is a chance it could have the same effect on unborn humans as well.
Neospora Caninum Average Cost
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Neospora Caninum Questions and Advice from Veterinary Professionals
Staffordshire Terrier
Toby
1 Year
1 found this helpful
1 found this helpful
My pet has the following symptoms:
Paralyzed In All 4 Legs
Jaw Is Not Opening As It Should
My dog has been in Vet for 4 days. 1st day 2 front legs where unusable. By 2nd day had locked jaw. 3rd day was able to drink and eat again. 4th day seems there having trouble opening mouth again and confirmed all 4 legs he is unable to use. He is in pain when touched. Is on steroid treatment, pain relief and some type of Antibiotic. Vet rang said it could possible Neospora Caninum. Said she can get blood tests and other tests on spine etc. She said these blood tests for Neospora will take 2 weeks to come back and he is paralyzed in all 4 and in horrific pain. She suggested to take normal blood tests and immediately administer the tablet to help with suspected case of Neospora. I truly do nt understand it. Believe this is a very serious condition and she said 30% of dogs come through the other % the dogs don't. I am hitting myself about the decision of putting him to sleep or letting him come home on the meds his on. ?? Can anything else be done to completely save him his my life.
Aug. 30, 2017
1 Recommendations
Neosporosis is a terrible condition for any dog to have and if a dog is suspected of having neosporosis treatment with clindamycin should be started immediately before confirmatory testing has been done along with any supportive therapy. The prognosis for dogs showing neurological signs is unfortunately poor. Regards Dr Callum Turner DVM
Aug. 30, 2017
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American Pit Bull Terrier
dutchess
10
0 found this helpful
0 found this helpful
My pet has the following symptoms:
Walks In A Circle
my dog just turned 10. she walks in circles, goes in the corner an cries, walks around with her head down an looks like she is really depressed, tongue hanging out, drinks a lot of water, takes forever to eat her food. she can no longer jump up on the bed ,she falls down some times when she walks. All this has happen in the last few months.
July 26, 2017
0 Recommendations
There are a few causes for the symptoms which you are describing, these include: protozoa parasites, other infections, poisoning, vestibular disorders, tumours, stroke, liver disease, kidney disease or autoimmune disease (to name a few). You would need to visit your Veterinarian for a neurological examination and for blood tests to help determine a course of action. Regards Dr Callum Turner DVM
July 26, 2017
My 11 month old American Staffordshire Terrier/Australian Cattle Dog mix, Jack, was diagnosed at 8 months old with a liver shunt with hepatic encephalopathy. Prior to his diagnosis, we noticed excessive water consumption (like he could never get enough), aimless wandering around in circles in the house, decreased appetite, excessive urination, leg tremors and excessive panting and drooling. Not to say that your baby has a liver shunt, but everything that you are describing are characteristics of a liver disease of some sort. I would check with your vet and have some tests run. We are now controlling Jack's symptoms with a vegan diet and medication and there has been such a change in him. He's more active and the load on his liver is much less.
Aug. 30, 2017
Stephanie P.
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Greater Swiss Mountain
Kabu
5 Years
0 found this helpful
0 found this helpful
My pet has the following symptoms:
Weakness
Spleen Mass
Neospora
Inflammation Pancreatitis
Hi,
I have a question.
We have our dog diagnosed 3 days ago with Neospora. We discover weakness in back legs in December last year which gets better and symptoms dissapear. and now again after 5 months time our dog is weak, depressed and back legs are getting weaker. He got cough and runny nose. We found mass in the spleen- it has been removed 3 days ago at same time when neosporosis has been diagnosed. At same time after surgery cough has stopped and never return after. Other issues was changes in prostate and lymph nodes. Biopsy did not described anything serious. Doctors were diagnosing haemangiosarcoma or lymphoa. We found also mass in the heart in aortic valves size 1.5cm when aortic is 3cm wide.
From 3 days i can see his back is looking more round. 2 days ago he got lincomycin.Yesterday we have started treatment with clindamicinum.
His legs are getting weaker, can antibiotic be the case?
May I ask you would you describe those symptoms as being advanced already? How long being on antibiotics I should start seeing the difference? He is in pain and I dont want him to suffer so long, he can barely make his toilet and is eating very little. :( He is my soul and I will do everything to cure him but now options are very limited. Please can you tell me do you know some mature dog that has survived it? There is different articles regard neosporosis, but the problem was never diagnosed properly, lack of informations in the books.
We were feeding raw diet food. We have one other dog- should she been treated with clindamicin anyway if there is none symptoms in her?
Thank you so much for your reply,
All best,
Malwina
July 26, 2017
0 Recommendations
Neosporosis is best treated immediately when symptoms first develop and is positively diagnosed; treatment of choice in dogs is with clindamycin (or other similar) for a period of no less than four weeks. Unfortunately once paralysis, weakness or limb rigidity has set in; the prognosis isn’t favourable, but this would be something to discuss with your Veterinarian based on Kabu’s case along with his general health. Regards Dr Callum Turner DVM
July 26, 2017
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Yellow Lab
Thumper
3 Months
0 found this helpful
0 found this helpful
My pet has the following symptoms:
Rear Leg Stiffness
A breeder was dumping a puppy because of rear leg paralysis from birth. He is now 3 months old and we have a Neosporosis Diagnosis. We are doing Clindamicacyn now, and I'm just curious, can he live a long life if we are able to address the rear legs? Once the antibiotics are complete will the dog continue to deteriorate? I was hoping we could stop it and he can use a wheel chair to help with mobility, but what I'm reading is very discouraging... What happens next??
July 26, 2017
0 Recommendations
Each case is different but once neurological symptoms have presented there is no reversal of the symptoms and a treated dog may remain persistently infected for life. Trying to stop the symptoms and offering good nursing care can lead to a reasonable standard of life; however, there are no guarantees and progress should be checked regularly by your Veterinarian. Regards Dr Callum Turner DVM
July 26, 2017
He is 8 weeks, has only rear leg stiffness, full hip and urinary and bowel control, has not reached anything else. Neurologically he is of sound mind and body, with the exception of the stiff legs (he can move his toes and hips) he has been on clyndamiacin for almost a week and is otherwise smart, active, and playful. Once the clind. is complete for 30 days, how can we make sure the parasite is gone? If we can address his mobility issues, can he live a relatively long life? We will spare no cost to achieve this. Any advice on how we can proceed medically would e helpful! Thanks!
July 26, 2017
Thumper's Owner
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Bloodhound
Jed
2.5 years
0 found this helpful
0 found this helpful
My pet has the following symptoms:
Neospora
I'm currently waiting on a bloodhound litter (bitch isn't due into heat for another month, this will be a show pup from very reputable kennel) but in the meantime I'm considering adopting 2 rescue bloodhound. The younger, 2.5 years was diagnosed with Neospora at a young age and is in rescue currently on Clindamycin. His companion is 3+ years and neospora negative.
My main concern is the transmissibility of neospora. If it's like Toxoplasma gondii, I know it's transmitted thru feces when shedding the parasite.
What are the chances of neospora passing to other bloodhounds (All would be living together in a home/outside when wanted environment.
Basically, is he safe to adopt?
July 26, 2017
0 Recommendations
Transplacental transmission is the usual method of transmission, oocysts can be shed in the faeces of dogs but the quantity shed and the duration of shedding is different on a case by case basis; oocysts are similar to toxoplasma and can remain infective in the environment for months or years. There is no approved treatment for Neosporosis; but clindamycin is the usual course of treatment for a period of four weeks. Dogs may remain persistently infected and may shed oocysts in the faeces. Regards Dr Callum Turner DVMwww.capcvet.org/guidelines/canine-neosporosis/www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?meta=Generic&pId=11196&id=3854169
July 26, 2017
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Neospora Caninum Average Cost
From 367 quotes ranging from $200 - $500
Average Cost
$250
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