Leptospirosis: A Wet-Season Risk Worth Understanding

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection spread mainly through the urine of infected animals, rats above all. The bacteria survive in warm, wet conditions and in standing water, which is why cases climb with rain and flooding.

It damages the kidneys and liver, it can kill, and it infects people as well as dogs. That last point makes it a household matter rather than only a canine one, and it is the reason this is worth ten minutes of your attention.

How dogs get it

• Drinking from puddles, gutters, ponds or floodwater
• Swimming or wading in contaminated water
• Contact with rats, or with ground where rats urinate
• Through broken skin, or through the mouth, nose and eyes, so a dog does not have to drink it

Urban dogs are not exempt. Rats are most concentrated where people are, and blocked drains and standing water in a compound are ideal conditions.

Symptoms

Vague at first, which is part of the problem.

• Fever, lethargy, loss of appetite
• Vomiting and diarrhoea
• Muscle pain and reluctance to move
• Increased thirst and urination, or the opposite, producing very little urine
• Yellowing of the gums, eyes or skin, indicating liver involvement
• Bleeding, including nosebleeds or blood in urine, in severe cases

Signs usually appear within a week or two of exposure. The combination of fever, lethargy and a change in drinking or urination after wet weather is worth mentioning specifically to a vet, because it points them straight at this.

Treatment

Antibiotics, and they work well when started early. Alongside that, treatment supports the kidneys and liver: intravenous fluids, anti-nausea medication, and monitoring of kidney values.

Severe cases need intensive care and some develop lasting kidney damage. As with most things on this site, outcome tracks how early it started rather than how good the drugs are.

The human risk

People catch leptospirosis the same way, and also from an infected dog's urine. If your dog is diagnosed:

• Wear gloves handling urine, and clean it up promptly
• Disinfect surfaces the dog has urinated on
• Wash hands thoroughly after handling the dog
• Keep children away from the dog's urine entirely
• Tell your doctor if anyone in the household develops fever, muscle pain or jaundice

Your vet will advise how long the dog remains a risk on treatment. This is not a reason for panic; it is a reason for gloves and hand-washing.

Vaccination

A vaccine exists and is included in some combination products, the L in DHLPP, and not in others. Protection is shorter-lived than for the core viral vaccines, so it generally needs annual boosting.

It covers the serovars included in the vaccine rather than every strain, so it reduces risk substantially without eliminating it.

Worth discussing if your dog:

• Has access to standing water, gutters or drainage
• Lives where flooding occurs
• Is in an area with a visible rodent population
• Swims, hunts or roams
• Lives rurally, or around livestock

Ask your vet specifically whether the vaccine your dog receives includes leptospirosis, because many owners assume it does when it does not. It is a short question that resolves a common misunderstanding.

Reducing exposure

• Do not let dogs drink from puddles, gutters or floodwater. Carry water on walks so there is an alternative
• Keep dogs out of floodwater entirely
• Control rodents, while keeping bait where pets cannot reach it and remembering that a poisoned rat is itself a hazard
• Clear standing water from the compound: buckets, tyres, plant trays, blocked gutters
• Store food and rubbish securely, since what attracts rats is the root of the problem
• Wash paws after walks through wet ground

What to say to your vet

Mention wet-weather exposure explicitly: puddles drunk from, floodwater waded through, rats seen. Leptospirosis can look like several other illnesses, and that history is often what puts it on the list early enough for antibiotics to do their best work.

This is a disease where prevention is a vaccine and a habit, and where treatment is fluids, hospitalisation and sometimes permanent kidney damage. The gap between those two costs is enormous, and it is decided long before the dog is ill.

Core vaccinations and the consultations around them are covered on Skeepy Pet HMO plans, and treatment at any vet clinic in Nigeria is covered too, so both ends of that gap are handled.