Leptospirosis in dogs: What are the symptoms and is blood work needed?

I'm sorry to hear that Oreo is sick. To answer your question, Leptospirosis often affects both the liver and kidneys, and it can potentially make them jaundiced (appear yellow) if the liver is that severely affected, though Lepto would not be my first thought based on only the information you've given above. Was a urinalysis done as well? What were his liver values? Was Oreo tested for leptospirosis? Has he had an abdominal ultrasound (sonogram of the belly)? A consultation may be very helpful for us to better help you with Oreo. If you previously submitted a question on the forum regarding Oreo and this followup, unfortunately the forum doesn't list your previous question, and I cannot filter through and search to see if you've already asked about Oreo--- it is truly a one question, one answer format. With a consultation we can go back and forth. If you want to try resubmitting a question so one of us can try to better help you and you still don't incur a charge of any kind, you can take a picture of the lab work results, and/or pictures of any other tests or treatments that have been performed. Again it will still be limited in comparison to what we can do with a consultation. I

How is Oreo doing now? If he isn't improving at this point, please take him to your vet ASAP. At this point (over 1 week) he should definitely be showing signs of improvement. As for his temperature, it is not typical to see a low body temperature with leptospirosis. We will occasionally see a fever. When dogs are very very sick their temperature will often drop and this is concerning. However, He may "normally" be a closer to 37 degrees (most dogs are about 38-39 degrees Celsius. Please feel free to post on the forum again if you have further questions, typically you will get a faster response than we were able to provide for you this time. I apologize for the delay.... we've had a bit of a backlog! For more immediate assistance and to be able to go back and forth with information, consider requesting a consult. Thank you for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If you are referring to the infection leptospirosis, then yes this can be cured though it normally requires a long course of therapy and patients unfortunately can die from this condition if not treated appropriately and in a timely fashion. Some patients need to be in the hospital if they are doing poorly most of the time when the liver is severely affected. Good luck and have a great day!

While not considered a "core" vaccine, the leptospirosis vaccine is highly recommended for dogs who may be at risk for contracting leptospirosis, as it is a disease that can lead to agonizing deaths in both animals and humans. See the links below for more information: https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/Leptospirosis.aspx https://ebusiness.avma.org/files/productdownloads/LR_COM_ClientBroch_Leptospirosis_022616.pdf

Hi there and thanks for posting this morning! Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that comes from widlife urine and causes kidney failure as you already understand. It is an important bacteria to vaccine against every year, especially if you live in a area where there is an increased risk. I would recommend Oscar get vaccinated against leptospirosis. He will need a series of two vaccines- one initially then a booster in 3-4 weeks. After that, he should be vaccinated against letpo every year. Thank you for your question and I hope this has helped!

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.