When Helen Da Silva’s six-year old Maltese Charlie refused his dinner one recent Friday night time, she couldn’t have anticipated how shortly the state of affairs would escalate or the harrowing ordeal that was to comply with.
When he nonetheless appeared unwell the following morning, she determined to take him to the vet.
“He was looking very mushy, just not like himself at all. Because he was a very playful puppy,” she tells CityNews.
Initial checks confirmed some irritation within the canine’s abdomen and bowels so a blood take a look at was finished and a broad-spectrum antibiotic was prescribed.
That night time, Charlie continued to refuse meals and by midday the following day, Da Silva acquired information that his kidney ranges had been “elevated.”
A go to to the emergency clinic and ultrasounds adopted together with extra bloodwork which revealed that Charlie had contracted a illness known as leptospirosis.
“I’d never heard of it,” says Da Silva.
“[Thereafter] we were referred to the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) Animal Hospital in Guelph because I was told that they’re the only ones that offer kidney dialysis and that there was a good possibility that Charlie would require [it.]”
Charlie spent two weeks on the OVC hospital and had two dialysis remedies there.
“Just when we thought that he was going to make it, unfortunately he didn’t,” she says.
“My family’s heartbroken, but aside from that, I’m just so angry. I’ve now been reading articles from 2018 about people who went through the same thing. And here we are in 2023 and there’s no one making the public aware of this bacteria.”
What is leptospirosis?
Leptospirosis is a bacterial an infection that may have an effect on each people and animals.
Dr. Scott Weese, infectious illness specialist and professor at OVC, explains that the bacterium that causes the illness is carried by cattle like goats, pigs and horses and wild animals like raccoons, rats, skunks and possums.
“They eliminate the bacterium in their urine and humans can get exposed, dogs can get exposed through contact with urine-contaminated areas,” he says.
“We can get a wide range of disease in dogs — we can see kidney disease, liver disease which would be the most common combination.”
Other signs might embrace fever, a low platelet rely, bleeding and lung issues.
The micro organism thrive in moist and moist environments like water our bodies and moist soil.
“So if the bacterium is peed out and it’s an area that stays fairly moist, that bacteria will stay there and a dog can encounter it,” says Weese.
How frequent is leptospirosis?
Dr. Weese says a number of many years in the past, solely dogs in rural and farm areas had been thought-about at excessive danger for leptospirosis as a result of the possibility of coming into contact with wild or farm animal urine was greater.
However, it’s now additionally frequent in small city dogs.
“The main reservoirs [for the bacterium] we see in Ontario are probably raccoons and rats. There are a lot of those in cities, particularly around Toronto. So these small dogs that live in a condo tower, for example, they’ve got a small green space where they go out to run around and pee. And what happens at night? A lot of raccoons come out and do the same thing,” explains Weese.
“So we’re really condensing the contact between wildlife and our pets — even though they don’t have direct contact very often, they’re living in very close environments.”
He provides that there might be seasonal spikes of leptospirosis.
“This is a disease we see more often in the spring and the fall because it likes moist environments. So in the dry summer, the bacterium dies really quickly, in the winter it doesn’t survive as well either. It doesn’t go to zero, we can see it all year, but we see waves of it,” he says.
Given the annual climate situations and presence of wildlife that make it conducive for the illness to unfold, Weese says he considers leptospirosis endemic in Ontario.
Treatment and vaccination in opposition to leptospirosis
Toronto Humane Society’s Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Karen Ward says the illness could be very treatable if caught early.
“If you’re on board early, it currently is still responding well to antibiotics,” she says.
If the illness progresses, hospitalization might be required for remedies like dialysis. If the canine recovers, it might undergo from long-lasting kidney injury.
There is a vaccine to guard dogs from leptospirosis and Dr. Weese explains that canine vaccines are broadly categorized internationally as “core” and “elective.”
Core vaccines are these wanted by all dogs in all places — like distemper or parvovirus. Electives are primarily based on the chance of publicity.
“For leptospirosis, there are some really dry areas of the world where it’s not much of a concern. That’s not Ontario. So anywhere in Ontario, we’ll see leptospirosis. So I consider it a core vaccine for any dog in Ontario,” he says.
“There’s always going to be risk. If your dog never goes outside, there are still actual risks because rodents can bring leptospirosis inside. And we’ve seen that where someone finds a mouse in their dog food bag and that’s how the dog got it. So there’s not a good way to absolutely prevent exposure.”
Dr. Ward says previously, there have been some issues about giving the leptospirosis vaccine to smaller dogs.
“Smaller dogs have a higher incidence of vaccine reaction than larger dogs … and we used to think that the leptospirosis vaccine was more likely to be a vaccine that you would have an adverse reaction to. Those vaccines have really evolved over time and now they are very, very safe. So that is no longer a concern,” she says.
She provides that the leptospirosis vaccine is a “killed” vaccine versus a “modified live” one.
“Modified live vaccines, which is like distemper and parvo, they have a really strong immune response and it lasts a really long time. So those are the vaccines that once [dogs have] had all of their appropriate initial vaccine series, it can be given every three years,” she explains.
“The leptospirosis one is different because it’s a killed vaccine. So we give it the first time, and then we give [a booster] two to four weeks later, and then it’s once a year thereafter. So, unlike some of the other vaccines, it does need to be repeated more frequently.”
Dr. Weese provides that whereas pet house owners are free to evaluate their very own stage of danger and take prices into consideration, “the cost of a leptospirosis vaccine really pales in comparison to the cost of having to treat leptospirosis, which can run into the thousands if they’re really sick.”
Guidelines and consciousness of leptospirosis
Da Silva says the shock of her beloved canine’s demise was made that a lot worse by the truth that the illness she misplaced him to was preventable.
“How did I not know this? How did I not help him not get sick?” she says.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a poster in a clinic, any of the clinics — my regular vet, the emergency clinics — about leptospirosis and the dangers of it. All you see is ticks, fleas, and heartworm.”
Her different canine, Charlie’s littermate Mia, is now vaccinated in opposition to leptospirosis. She feels that because the learnings in regards to the illness, in addition to the vaccine, have developed, extra must be finished to unfold consciousness amongst each vets and pet house owners.
“There has to be a larger body that takes responsibility for this and brings awareness to the public,” she says.
Dr. Weese explains that there is no such thing as a single authority that units out canine vaccination necessities in Canada.
Experts look to the rules set out by organizations just like the American Animal Hospital Association and the World Small Animal Veterinary Association and collect pertinent info related to Canada to assist folks make knowledgeable selections for his or her pets.
The solely legally required vaccine for dogs and cats is rabies.
“[The province is] doing that for the public health component. We don’t have things that cover more of the animal health component. We have recommendations, we have guidelines, we have information that we put out, but we don’t have ‘requirements,’ just because there’s no real body that’s gonna take that on from an animal health standpoint,” says Dr. Weese.
