[Oliveview]

The dog we have been fostering and adopted just recently has suddenly come down with a rash, his head is scabby and his stomach looks like he has sat in a bed of stinging nettles. We took him to the vet today and the vet is quite sure, after looking at a skin scraping under a microscope, that he has Leishmania    A blood test was taken and on Friday we get the result back.  His sister was put to sleep about 6 weeks ago, she was diagnosed and was very ill. He looks fine, apart from the skin condition, I just hope he has been got in time.  The chances are he had it when he arrived here from the refuge, he was covered in ticks, around 200 or more, he was shaved to the skin, he looked dreadful!  He had very long fur, he had been treated, along with the other refuge dogs, but this year was a really bad year for ticks.   He was found, with his Mum and sister, living in a drainage ditch.  Poor boy, has had a rubbish start to his life.  I know, once treated, it can be controlled, but it will eventually kill him (I think)  I feel so sad.  His weight is good (much fatter than when he arrived here) he is using his ´bad´leg now, he hops just now and again.  He is a fabulous dog, he looks at us with such love in his eyes, no way could we consider putting him to sleep.  There is a vaccine available now against Leish, but it is not 100% and for our 5 dogs to be done (blood test and 3 jabs for the first year) it would cost over 1,000 pounds - I need a fall down in shock man!!
If the test comes back as positive there is then another test to see how high the infection is in his blood and for his  kidneys etc.  I would love the vet to be wrong, but I suspect he is right

Pamela

[snowdrops]

Oh Pamela that is very sad & such a worry for you with your other dogs too,sending hugs.

[Oliveview]

It is not contagious as in dog to dog, just from the dammed sand fly.  I will ask the vet if cats can get it too, we only ever hear about dogs.

Pamela

[snowdrops]

Oh that's a bit better news then,I'd never heard of it until I heard you mention it.

[mumofstig]

This info is a bit frightening

It is important to note that leishmaniasis is a zoonotic infection, and the organisms residing in the lesions can be communicated to humans.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_dg_leishmaniasis

[Oliveview]

Some places on the web say it can be transferred to humans some say it cannot.  The vet as said no. The mosquito/fly can give it to humans, but thankfully it is rare.
It has been known about for over 100 years, and still no cure. It can be fought and as long as the dog responds to the treatment it can be held back, I am not sure what the first course of medication is, but after that it is a gout medication I think.

Pamela

[Goosegirl]

When any animal looks at you with such love in their eyes, that means they trust you completely to do what is best for them. My fingers are crossed that, if the test proves positive, that he will not be too badly affected.

[Aunt Sally]

If the infection is severe and the dog is suffering it is sadly best to put them so sleep 

The chemotherapy for the disease is very harsh and unpleasant too.  Really not fair to a dog in my opinion 

[Oliveview]

Well bad and good news...... Tibet has Leishmania, so that was no surprise, he had another blood test and his kidneys are perfectly normal, so no nasty chemo type medication.  He has injections for 30 days and then a tablet used for gout, for the rest of his life.
The vet had taken skin samples and had them on slides, he showed us photos of the leishmanis infection, he said the skin samples were great, the best they have ever seen and that there was a big seminar early next year in Barcelona and Tibet will be have a starring role- well his slides will and the vet took photo´s of Tibet too.  I should have asked if he needed him at the seminar- we might have gotten a free trip!!  He said the slides will help other vets with diagnosis. So Tibet and his infection will be famous 

I asked if he could infect us, he said if a mosquito bit the infected dog and then went on to bite us yes, but it is very rare, he said there was just as much chance of being bitten by a sand fly if Tibet was not here.
He said for a dog with leishmania he is very healthy, we have got to it fast.

Pamela

[Goosegirl]

At least you know now, but glad it was caught early on and that he is in good condition. Though I'm sad he has this parasite, at least he will be helping others. Just giggled images of it and remember when I worked at the Path Lab in Haematology during my basic training, we had a case of human L and used the same basic stain to demonstrate it as used in the pics.

[Oliveview]

We picked up the injections for Tibet this morning, we were expecting a big bill, it was under 5€ so very happy.  A dog at the refuge has Leishmania, he had it far worse and his medication for the first month was well over 300€  He weighs in at about 40kg or more though, Tibet was 7kg

Jim gave the injection, Tibet did not even squeek, a brave boy!

Pamela

[joyfull]

so pleased you have caught his in time and pleased your vets bill was so low.
At the moment I dont think we have Leishmania over here, fingers crossed we never get it.

[Oliveview]

I guess we need really cold winters to kill the flies    Scalibor collars ordered online, we will get the dogs injected for Leighmanis, one by one, they have to have a blood test, if negitive then 3 jabs- after the first year it is just 1 jab a year.

Pamela

[compostqueen]

Well done Pamela. You're doing a good job in difficult circumstances.  I've never heard of Leishmania. Thank goodness we don't have it here.  Poor dog, what a start for him 

[Oliveview]

He is so much happier in himself, playing with the other dogs, not ignoring them as he had been doing.  He takes his injections with no bother and his pill morning and evening. Fingers crossed the disease will go. He can't have the leishmania jab, so hopefully the scalibor collar will keep the mosquito away. I found them on-line, £56 for them all, had I bought them here it would have been around £80 I bought worming tablets too with postage it was still less than buying the scalibor collars here!

Pamela