Kansas City veterinarians seeing spike in disease impacting dogs
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City area veterinarians are reporting a spike in a disease threatening dogs that can also spread to humans called leptospirosis.
Dr. Cynthia Goldston is a veterinarian at Pet Resource Center of Kansas City. She said in the last month or so, they’ve seen two dogs come in with leptospirosis.
She said all dogs are at risk, but there is a vaccine.
Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection spread through contaminated urine.
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“It’s typically transmitted through contaminated water sources,” Goldston said, “usually from infected urine from like wild life, like raccoons, rodents, things like that.”
“Dogs usually get it from soil and stagnant water, “like old puddles that just sit there, or creeks that don’t move,” Goldson said.
Goldston said it can cause kidney or liver disease.
Symptoms include — fever, belly pain, vomiting, muscle stiffness and jaundice.
Leptospirosis can also be transmitted to people through infected urine.
“If you have a younger pet that suddenly starts displaying these signs and notice that they look yellow, you always want to make sure that you wash your hands, especially if you have children around,” Goldston said. “Wash everything that the animal has been exposed to, bedding anything like that, bleach any bleach able surfaces.”
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She said just last week, they saw a puppy with yellow gums and eyes.
Through blood work they found out the dog had liver disease and kidney failure.
The puppy was put to sleep.
“It was very sad,” Goldston said.
About a month ago, Goldston said an older dog with leptospirosis was also euthanized.
“Not good, not good at all,” Karen Love said.
Love can’t imagine a world without her 4-year-old dog.
She plans to call her vet about the Lepto vaccine.
“Zoonotic diseases in general, you don’t want,” Love said,” because it also means that it’s going to be harder to diagnosis in us because it’s not something you normally look for in people. So yeah, that’s a worrisome thing, too.”
Goldston said there are ways to prevent leptospirosis. She said avoid contaminated water sources and get your dog vaccinated.
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“I definitely would recommend getting your dog vaccinated against it,” Goldston said.
You may be wondering about another four-legged friend, Goldston said cats don’t usually get Lepto. She said she’s never seen a confirmed case.
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