Posted on 08/16/2017 8:53:56 AM PDT by bgill
Our veterinarian told us that Leptospirosis (Lepto) is back in the area. He hasn't seen it in decades until a local dog died of it a couple of weeks ago. He gave our two slobber buckets a shot for it this morning and they'll be back for a booster in a month. He's very trustworthy about not prescribing more than is needed and was concerned about it.
The bacteria grows in standing water so don't leave buckets or containers outside. We drained the fountain. Years ago, cattle would get it with water sitting in hoof prints on the ground. Hardly the case with 100 degree temperatures this summer but tells how small an amount of water it requires to shut down a cow's kidneys and kill it. It is also spread by raccoons, mice and other such creatures.
My mutts get a lepto shot every year, vet recommend it cause they spend a lot of time at the public dog parks
PING
FYI
It’s so common here that our vet gives all dogs and puppies the vaccine. For the small breed puppies she give the Lepto vaccine split into two doses and advises Benadryl prior to the appointment. The vaccine can be hard on some dogs but not nearly as bad as the disease. I had to put a horse down once because he caught Lepto from my neighbor’s unvaccinated cows. It’s a big problem in states in the South. Some dogs are exposed and never have symptoms but by the time they get symptoms it’s very hard to treat. Caught early is it treatable. It’s also able to be passed to humans through contact with urine. Wildlife like deer, rabbits, rats, raccoons, etc. spread it. After a rain it passes into ponds, and other bodies of standing water. My dogs are all vaccinated yearly against it. Bad disease!
Vet said in the past, the oral vaccines caused too many problems and caused some dogs to become sick for months. Since there hadn’t been lepto in so long, he quit giving it. Now days, the injection version doesn’t have the same reaction but to still be on the lookout for a couple of days after the shot.
He doesn’t know why it’s back. Texas is always hot and dry in the summer but it has rained a bit more this year. With daily 100 degree temps, it’s hard to imagine any standing water but who knows.
Lepto killed my beloved Golden, Sherlock, after digging in the sand on the Oregon coast. This disease is no joke; get your dogs anti-lepto shots annually.
My vet said that all it takes is for an infected rabbit, deer, etc. to pee on wet grass or in a small puddle and another animal to come into contact with it. Extremely cold climates don’t have it because it doesn’t normally survive extreme cold dry conditions. From what I read about it, if an infected animal urinates on the ground and it rains it can survive in minimally wet conditions. Even if we go two weeks without rain, the grass near the ground is always wet when the grass is high due to our extremely high humidity. Tennessee gets a lot of rain so infected ground water washes into ponds. It’s very easy to spread. It’s kind of like mosquitoes. They can breed and mature in a thimble. :-) It doesn’t survive in fast flowing water but will in standing water.
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