Leishmaniasis in dogs: treatment and prevention
Leishmaniasis is a classical Mediterranean disease. In contrast to infectious diseases such as Lyme disease, which are widespread in Germany, the risk of infection with leishmaniasis in dogs is, currently, still high, especially in Southern Europe.
Untreated, an infection with leishmaniasis is usually fatal for dogs. In order to prevent this, it is therefore important that you recognise possible symptoms as soon as possible and ideally avoid your dog contracting leishmaniasis from the outset. How you can do this is explained in the following.
Leishmaniasis in dogs: what is it?
Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease. It is caused by unicellular blood parasites (Leishmania). If a dog is infected with leishmaniasis, the leishmania nest in the macrophages.
There they begin to multiply and destroy the cell walls so that they can penetrate further into the dog's organism. As the disease progresses, they can then attack the cells in the dog's lymph nodes, bone marrow, liver and spleen, for example.
There are three different forms of leishmaniasis. In Europe, dogs are mainly affected by visceral leishmaniasis, which primarily affects organs such as the spleen and liver.
How does a dog become infected with leishmaniasis?
While Lyme disease is transmitted to dogs by ticks, infection with leishmaniasis occurs through butterflies or sand flies. If a mosquito infected with Leishmania bites the dog, the parasites can enter the organism of the quadruped while sucking their blood.
Since sand flies are currently widespread mainly in the Mediterranean region, the probability of infection with leishmaniasis is correspondingly high in dogs in southern Europe.
However, due to rising temperatures, sand flies are also increasingly becoming native to our region. For this reason, it is now quite possible that dogs in Germany can also be infected with leishmaniasis.
What symptoms does leishmaniasis cause in dogs?
Directly after infection with leishmaniasis, dogs do not show any symptoms. Only after an incubation period, between two months and several years, the disease becomes noticeable, firstly by unspecific symptoms.
At this stage, leishmaniasis in dogs can manifest itself through the following symptoms, for example:
- Lassitude
- Weight loss
- Fever
- Diarrhoea
As the disease progresses, if treatment is not carried out, the leishmaniasis in the dog will become apparent with the following further symptoms:
- Bloody excrement
- Painful abdomen
- Hair Loss
- Scaly rashes
- Nosebleeds
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Excessive claw growth
If a dog with leishmaniasis is not treated in time, in many cases the disease leads to fatal kidney failure.
In the typical risk areas of southern Europe, however, many dogs have antibodies, so that infection with leishmaniasis does not cause any discernible symptoms in them.
How is leishmaniasis diagnosed in dogs?
A dog with leishmaniasis is a case for the veterinarian. If you have a legitimate suspicion that your four-legged friend is affected, you should consult a veterinarian immediately.
They will examine your dog and ask you if your dog has been to Southern Europe. In the next step, the vet can take a tissue sample from the lymph nodes or bone marrow. Alternatively, the veterinarian may perform a blood test to diagnose leishmaniasis in your dog.
How is leishmaniasis in dogs treated?
Leishmaniasis nests firmly in the cells. For this reason, it is not yet possible to cure a dog with leishmaniasis completely. Therefore, the treatment aims to reduce the symptoms as much as possible and to avoid too great a limitation on the quality of life.
If diagnosed early and therapy is started immediately, this usually works well and the leishmaniasis does not cause any permanent damage to the dog.
Various drugs are now available abroad for the treatment of dogs with leishmaniasis. However, due to the lack of approvals, veterinarians in Germany have had to resort to alternative preparations until now. These include allopurinol and miltefosine, which are administered to dogs with leishmaniasis, either individually or in combination.
Caution with Allopurinol against leishmaniasis in dogs
If leishmaniasis in dogs is treated with allopurinol, it is necessary to ensure that the diet is as low in purine as possible. As the drug prevents the breakdown of purines, urinary stones and cystitis may otherwise occur.
We, therefore, recommend our low-purine dog food with insect protein from the larvae of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), which is available as dry food and as wet food.
In addition, we recommend supplementing your dog's diet with Bellfor Immun. This natural preparation provides your four-legged friend with valuable nutrients to support his defences and can thus help your dog survive the infection with leishmaniasis as well as possible.
Counteract diarrhoea in dogs with leishmaniasis
Diarrhoea is very often a problem in dogs with leishmaniasis. To counteract the digestive problems of your four-legged friend, a dietary supplement with Gastro Relax from Bellfor can be useful.
Gastro Relax is a natural food supplement that we have developed especially for dogs with diarrhoea. The easily digestible product can therefore be a useful supplement to the veterinary treatment of leishmaniasis in your dog and support the digestion of your four-legged friend.
How can I avoid an infection with leishmaniasis in my dog?
In view of the serious consequences that infection with leishmaniasis can have for your dog, you should definitely pay enough attention to the topic of prevention.
In particular, we recommend that you avoid travelling to Southern Europe together and advise that you leave your dog with relatives or friends for the duration of your holiday.
If taking your four-legged friend with you cannot be avoided, please observe the following rules of conduct:
- Keep windows closed at night or attach a mosquito net for protection.
- Since sand flies are nocturnal, you should avoid spending the night outdoors.
- An insect repellent with a replicating (deterrent) effect can help to keep sand flies away.
- Talk to your vet about the possibility of vaccinating your dog against leishmaniasis.
If you want to protect your dog with a well-tolerated insect repellent, we recommend using ZEComplete Spray from Bellfor. The natural preparation contains insect fat and various oils with a high content of the medium-chain fatty acid lauric acid.
This is known to have a deterrent effect on mosquitoes, which reduces the risk of sand flies biting and thus the likelihood of the dog being infected with leishmaniasis.
As Bellfor's ZEComplete contains only natural ingredients, the spray is absolutely safe even when used regularly and does not put unnecessary strain on your dog's health.
Vaccinating dogs against leishmaniasis
A vaccine against leishmaniasis in dogs has been approved in Germany since 2013. The basic immunisation requires three vaccinations and is effective for a total of about 12 months approximately four weeks after the last vaccination.
The vaccination against leishmaniasis can be administered to dogs from the age of six months, provided they have not already contracted leishmaniasis.
Although it is quite effective, it does not provide complete protection. A combination with a natural insect repellent is therefore recommended despite vaccination in order to protect dogs on holiday trips from infection with leishmaniasis.
The most important facts about leishmaniasis in dogs at a glance
Leishmaniasis is a widespread infectious disease, particularly in southern Europe. It is mainly transmitted by sand flies and can be fatal without treatment.
So far, dogs with leishmaniasis cannot be cured. For this reason, dog owners should definitely try to take appropriate preventive measures.
Bellfor ZEComplete, which is available not only as a spray but also in the form of delicious dog biscuits, can naturally help to prevent sand flies from biting.
We have also put together a special food set for dogs with leishmaniasis. Our Leishmaniasis Set can help to strengthen the immune system and thus support the medicinal treatment of your four-legged friend. In most cases, an early start of therapy ensures that leishmaniasis in dogs does not lead to an excessive reduction of the quality of life and that the occurring complaints can be reduced very well, with a little luck.
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