AVMA – Leptospirosis – Click HERE

ZephyrJoe, my 7-year-old male Border Collie, died on November 1, 2021 of kidney failure secondary to Leptospirosis. He was not vaccinated.  Lepto is not a core vaccination. Lepto was confirmed by PCR blood/urine tests, but it is unknown what serovar destroyed him.  Zeph’s veterinarian said nothing about Lepto at any of his annual physicals, including October 2021, and vaccination was not discussed.

Zeph was fit, athletic, in optimal condition, and had no underlying medical conditions. I do not know where he contracted Lepto. He never swam in or drank standing water in ponds, steams, or places normally associated with Lepto. I always carried bottled water for him. He was at six potential infectious places in southern Maine. All are wide-open fields but are located near woods or water. I thought they were safe. Lepto was not on my radar. I never dreamed that he would contract Lepto, let alone die from it. He had the best care possible beginning the same day that his symptom appeared:  lack of appetite and not eating.

His veterinarian was not available to see him that day, but I took him to the clinic for blood work to begin a diagnosis. The next day he had an appointment with his veterinarian, and based upon his laboratory results, she sent us directly to Portland Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Care where he spent two days receiving treatment that included intravenous fluids. Upon his PVESC veterinarian’s recommendation and referral, he was then transferred directly to Tufts Cummings Veterinary Medical Center Foster Hospital for Small Animals, North Grafton MA, where he received intensive care and treatment for eight more days that included six hemodialysis treatments, a blood transfusion, and antibiotics. His kidneys failed, he was jaundiced, and there was hemorrhaging around his muzzle and other places. Nothing worked to save Zeph.