How contagious is Leptospirosis?

[weezee12]

Hello all. I am new to these forums and I have a question. My daughter's dog, Kendra, a beautiful siberian husky is critically ill. After 3 weeks of testing at an emergency clinic and a few thousand dollars we now know that Kendra is suffering from kidney failur. We also just found out that her Lepto test came back positive ( 2 weeks after she was released from hospital). Kendra will say goodbye to us all tomorrow afternoon.

My question: Kendra has been at my house odd and on all of her life and particlarly for the past 2 weeks. I have 3 dogs, 14 yr. old Shep./Hound mix, 13 yr. old Maltese mix and a 3 yr. old Lhasa/Spaniel mix. How concerned should I be for their health and their humans?

Thanks

[Rottielover]

yes, lepto is very contagious, to both humans and animals alike. It can be transmitted by saliva, drinking water...call your vet, and call your doctor and let them know you have been in contact with this disease.

[jawert1]

Agreed w/ Rottielover, highly contagious and your vet needs to know that your poor pup has come into contact with other animals in your household. They should be able to tell you how to proceed to clean/disinfect/sanitize as well as potentially test your other pets. I'm sorry about your girl

[erykah1310]

Yup, Lepto is very contagious, best bet is to call your vet and doctor.
We have many confirmed cases in my area as well ( North Bay/West Nippissing) I get the dogs vaccinated for it.
Although there are different strains of lepto, I just feel safer knowing they are vaccinated. Talk to your vet about this too.

I really hope your dogs and your family will be alright, and so sorry to hear about your daughters dog.

[Melinda]

I kept my dog alive and comfortable for almost a year after being diagnosed with Lepto, long story, long study done on her, yes it is very contagious, myself, my family and anyone in contact with my dog had to be tested by the board of health, all my daycare had to also be checked. In humans the symptoms are similar to the flu and not deadly, just damn uncomfortable. Please have blood tests done on your dogs immediately, the sooner a dog is diagnosed with lepto, the sooner they can be saved, I was too late with Daisy. For now, put all their dishes, plastic toys etc in the dishwasher if you have it and add 1/2 a cup of javex. Wash all their material toys or toss them out, clean any stools in the yard, if it was a male dog that lifted it's leg in your yard, make sure all the urine spots are dry, dry urine will not hold the bacteria that causes lepto, outside standing water can. Do they know where the dog contacted it? Ours probably caught it from sniffing (Lab) deer urine in the bush where we'd hike, deers, fox, wolves, skunks, any wild animal can carry lepto.

[marko]

Just in case you hadn't seen it there are 2 articles on this site on that topic.


http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-...tospirosis.htm
http://www.pets.ca/encyclopedia/leptospirosis_cat.htm

I hope they can help.

Good luck!

Marko

[weezee12]

I'll speak with my vet tomorrow.