Canine Leptospirosis: Your Dog and Leptospirosis Infection

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection caused by Leptospira bacteria, which are present worldwide.

It can infect many types of animals, both wild and domestic, including:

dogs
rats, and other rodents
raccoons
skunks
deer,
and many others

Because leptospirosis can also infect people, it makes the disease even more troublesome. On the other hand, infection in cats is uncommon and often mild or subclinical.

Canine Leptospirosis: Your Dog and Leptospirosis Infection

What causes leptospirosis?

The bacteria responsible for leptospirosis are Leptospira, a spirochaete (spiral-shaped bacterium). It gets its name because of its distinctive spiral shape. The infection typically spreads through water, soil, or surfaces contaminated by urine from infected animals.

The ways in which dogs can acquire the infection include:

drinking, walking through or swimming in contaminated water
contact of damaged or abraded skin with contaminated soil, water, or other objects
contact with reproductive secretions
ingestion of infected tissue
bite wounds

Leptospirosis may affect the kidneys and/or the liver of the infected dog. As a result, the effects can range from mild flu-like symptoms to severe, life-threatening disease.

Symptoms seen with canine leptospirosis include:

fever
lethargy
weakness
decreased appetite
joint and muscle pain
nausea and/or vomiting
diarrhea
excessive water consumption
excessive urination
jaundice or icterus (yellow coloration of the skin and mucous membranes usually resulting from liver failure)
low platelet counts leading to abnormal bleeding
stiffness or reluctance to move
bleeding tendencies
sudden collapse

Canine Leptospirosis: Treatment and complications

Leptospirosis in dogs is treatable with antibiotics.

However, early diagnosis and treatment are essential. Catching the infection early can minimize the amount of damage to the kidneys and/or liver. Further, it will also reduce the length of the recovery period.

More advanced cases require aggressive treatment and may include:

fluid therapy to combat dehydration
dialysis to remove toxins from the bloodstream while the dog recovers

Leptospirosis can be fatal in some cases.

Zoonotic in nature

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease. That means it can infect people as well as dogs and other animals.

The risk of exposure to you is minimal with normal day-to-day contact. However, if you handle urine, blood or other tissues from an infected dog, you may expose yourself to leptospirosis. Take proper precautions including wearing gloves and using thorough hand-washing techniques.

Transmission through contact with contaminated water, food, or soil is also possible in humans. This may happen by

eating contaminated food
drinking contaminated water or
through contact with broken skin or the membranes in the eyes or nose

Prevention

Older vaccines covered two serovars; most current vaccines cover four.

However, no vaccine provides protection against all naturally occurring serovars.

Because the leptospirosis vaccine is a non-core vaccine, it is important to determine your dog’s risk of exposure. Evaluate your dog’s lifestyle and weigh the risks versus the benefits of administering the vaccine.

Further, your veterinarian can help you determine the incidence of leptospirosis in your geographic area. Together, you can decide whether vaccination is appropriate for your dog.