By Luther Brady
Canines are also susceptible to leptospirosis
Basset Hound

A bacterial infection not commonly known, but carrying a lot of potential danger for our dogs is leptospirosis. Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection that affects the blood, liver and kidneys, and is commonly seen in rodents, however can be passed to a dog which in turn can pass it to another dog and so on. Transmission of the infection is usually done through the ingestion of infected urin however cases have been documented in which the infection was spread through damaged or thin skin. There are three types of leptospirosis:

Hemorrhagic Leptospirosis

This type, tends to start with a high fever, loss of appetite, and general lethargy. Small hemorrhages start to occur in the mouth and eyes and the dog may develop extreme bloody vomiting and diarrhea. This form of the disease is often fatal.
Icteric Leptospirosis

Will often start the same way as the hemorrhagic form; with fever, lethargy, and loss of appetite. The mouth and whites of the eyes will take on a yellow appearance, similar to victims of jaundice. In some cases the dog’s skin may also appear yellow and jaundiced.
Renal Leptospirosis

This also starts with fever, appetite loss, and lethargic depression, but eventually leads to kidney failure.

For those knowing nothing of the infection, telling if your dog has it or not is difficult. Some dogs will show no symptoms of the disease at all. In cases such as this, the body’s immune system will usually be able to fend off the infection. In other cases, infected dogs will show symptoms ranging from fatigue, and fever, to loss of appetite.

Antibiotics are used to treat the infection, whichever type the animal presents with and if caught early enough, full recovery is generally the case. There is now a vaccine that dogs and cats receive annually to prevent the risk of infection which in turn has drastically reduced the reported cases in North America.

via dogflu.ca