My dog had lepto, Doxycycline. Is he a risk to other dogs and people?

I'm sorry to hear about Kobe's current issues. Leptospirosis is typically treated with Doxycycline unless it is some extremely uncommon strain. The only way to know the strain with absolute certainty is with a culture of the urine or blood. In general however, Doxy is a fine choice. The platelet count that you are seeing isn't terribly low. I would also be curious to know whether or not your vet is relying on the the machine's read out or if he is manually reading a platelet count on a slide. These machines are notorious for misrepresenting platelet counts due to the cells clumping together (known as platelet aggregates). I would not say that this platelet reading is indicative of successful or unsuccessful treatment of Lepto. I would base that on Kobe's clinical response, clinical signs, and serology sent out to a laboratory. Continuing Doxy for an additional 14 days isn't going to do any harm more than likely if Kobe handled it fine the first go around. However, I would recommend having serology sent out next time before embarking on a third doxycycline regimen. Hope this helps!

Leptospirosis is easily spread to humans from contact with any and all excretions and secretions from an affected dog (urine, vomits etc). I would keep her in crate in a room or shed which is not used and only enter in order to treat her wearing disposable gloves, apron and shoe covers which are thrown away or fully disinfected with bleach before being allowed to dry. Do not allow any contact with other dogs or children and vaccinate all in contact dogs as soon as possible. Monitor all people for even minor flu symptoms or fever and report immediately to a physician informing them of the contact with lepto. If handling is difficult and he cannot be hospitalised in isolation I would consider euthanasia in order to protect the household

I'm so sorry to hear that Oreo has leptospirosis. Fortunately, most dogs (80-90%) do very well with treatment and fully recover. Dogs that are sick from leptospirosis should start to improve quickly once they are started on antibiotics, so if Oreo is not starting to feel better within 24 hours (or feels worse at any point), be sure to contact your veterinarian in case he needs additional treatment. I am also including a handout below with more information about leptospirosis. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951453 Good luck! I hope that was helpful and that Oreo feels better soon. Thanks for using PetCoach.

If Oreo is still sick from Leptospirosis, then I would not recommend bathing him. It is never recommended to bathe a sick dog unless medically necessary. The other concern with Leptospirosis is if Oreo is still shedding the organism in his urine, then it is possible that he can spread the disease to you, so you need to be very careful handling him and may need to use gloves and a mask to bathe him if he has urine on himself. When Oreo seems to be feeling back to normal, I would recommend asking your vet about when to bathe him and what precautions to take. I am attaching a handout with more information about Lepto below that may be useful for you. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951453 Good luck! I hope that was helpful and that Oreo feels better soon. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Lepto is transmitted in the urine of other animals (foxes, other dogs, smaller wild animals). Many dogs are exposed and have no signs whatsoever. But an unlucky 10% or less develope kidney damage requiring hospitalization. Occasionally the damage is irreversible. For me and my pets, it’s not worth that risk. But if your Twix will be almost entirely indoors (no camping, dog parks, etc.) it may not make sense to vaccinate. Also Depending on how common lepto is in your area, it may be more or less likely that Twix is exposed. With the newer lepto vaccines, we are not seeing any more anaphylactoid reactions than any other vaccine (<1%). However, I AM seeing more pain and lethargy associated with this vaccine than other vaccines. Since Twix shouldn’t be out and about yet anyway, I’d probably hold off and do it by itself after his other puppy vaccines are finished. Best of luck to you and Twix!

If Rufus is still testing positive for Lyme disease, then yes he should continue to take the doxycycline. If you stop it and he's still positive for it, then the symptoms of it will come back. He needs to be treated until he is cleared of the disease. Studies have shown that some animals do not clear the organism after 30 days, and will relapse once the antibiotic is discontinued. While there can be side effects of antibiotics, the symptoms of Lyme disease can be quite severe and lead to fatal kidney failure. Not treating him will lead to much worse symptoms that the side effects of long term antibiotic use.

It usually takes 10-14 days before a reasonable level of protection is established. I would wait 2 weeks before I took him around dogs with an unknown vaccine history. He should be fine around dogs that have been properly vaccinated.