Can my new puppy get leptospirosis from the garden before shots?

Leptospirosis is frequently spread via the urine of infected rodents and other mammals. If your dog spends time outdoors or "in the field", the lepto vaccine should be considered. There are many strains, or serovars, of leptospirosis that can infect dogs. It is important to confirm with your veterinarian that the vaccine protects against the 4 most common serovars as opposed to a vaccine that has only 2. An initial vaccine is administered and followed up with a booster 3-4 weeks later, then yearly afterwards.

That would depend on the brand of the vaccine but generally speaking it is done once a year, a part from the the first time that is usually repeated two times. He can have it at 9 weeks (first shot) which can be repeated at 12 weeks of age and then at 1 year. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I call these vaccines "life style" vaccines, so it depends on what you plan on doing with Jax. If he will be outdoors a lot hiking, swimming, you live near wooded areas where ticks are prevalent or there is free standing water on your property then I recommend the vaccines. If Jax will barely be outside then his risk may be small. Leptospirosis is contracted from drinking water contaminate by wild animal urine that contains the bacteria. It makes the dog (and people) very sick by causing liver and kidney failure. I think it is a under diagnosed disease and is more prevalent than we think. I hope this helps!

The vaccine manufacturer will typically make a recommendation about the age at which to start the vaccine, and there are some leptospirosis vaccines labeled for ages 9 weeks and older. Even if the vaccine was labeled to start later many veterinarians will start vaccines earlier than labeled for dogs at high risk for infectious diseases like those in shelters and do not seem to experience an increase in side effects.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Correct, you are all set with this year's booster. While the lepto vaccine is not a core vaccine and probably never will, it is important to consider it in areas where the disease incidence is high. If there have been some cases nearby, I would not take my chances and I would recommend the vaccine. Keep in mind that even though there may not be cases reported just exactly where you are at, that does not mean that there has not been any leptospirosis, it just means that it has not been reported. I think you are better off going forward with the vaccine especially if recommended by your veterinarian who knows the area well and also knows Ivy well. Have a great day!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Tiny. All leptospirosis vaccines are only licensed for one year. So unless he receives this vaccine again soon, he may not have adequate immunity. Furthermore, there are 4 common strains of leptospirosis that should be in a vaccine. Some of the combination vaccines will only include two strains of leptospirosis. This would also leave him less adequately protected. No vaccine offers 100% protection. However, vaccinating at yearly intervals for leptospirosis with a vaccine that covers 4 strains will offer him the best immunity. I hope this information helps!

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.