You may have heard about the recent sea lion deaths along the Oregon Coast in the Oregonian and other sources.  An alert has gone out that sea lions are dying of a zoonotic disease called Leptospirosis - we call it Lepto in the biz. Our own nurse, Melissa had a scare a few weeks ago when her sweet little dog Billy went to pee on "log" on the beach that turned out to be a dying sea lion. Thankfully there were volunteers out to warn people to keep dogs and people away. Leptospirosis is a contagious disease that can affect dogs and people too. It is a bacterial disease that is spread through the urine of infected animals usually through water sources. The disease can enter through mucous membranes so splashing water in the eyes or drinking the water can lead to exposure. The disease causes severe liver and kidney disease and pets require days of hospitalization, antibiotics and supportive care for treatment.

DeeDee on the Beach

The most common place we'd see it back in vet school in Illinois is from cattle farms (I was treated multiple times for exposure to these dogs - ah the memories...I won't even go into details about the rabies suspect cow on pathology rotation!) Here in Oregon we see Lepto from wilderness areas and even in the city. A recent study found 15% of rats in Portland are infected and now we have this sad rash of deaths in sea lions at the coast. A few years ago a few people were even infected after exposure to Fanno Creek in Beaverton.

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The good news is that there is a vaccine against the disease. It's the "L" in the classic DHLPP. Back when I first started practicing 13 years ago we used to vaccinate for Lepto all of the time but the reaction rate was so high veterinarians started to think they were doing more harm than good. Lepto became a non-core vaccine and since the disease incidence was way down we stopped vaccinating against it. Now it's on the rise again and thankfully the vaccine companies have reinvented their vaccines to be much smoother and less reactive. We recommend that dogs at risk receive the vaccine. If you take your dog to the beach, hiking, swimming, camping, or fishing the vaccine should be considered. Even dogs that live in the city that have exposure to yards with rats are considered at risk. We use the Pfizer vaccine that is given separated from any other vaccine. If your dog has never had a Leptospirosis vaccine we will need to give one and then a booster 3 weeks later. The vaccine is then good for a year. 

Contact us if you aren't sure about the vaccine status of your dog and we can advise you on how to keep your dog safe.