Leishmaniasis is a serious disease that dogs can suffer from and is incurable . What can be done is to put all the means to prevent it and, if it occurs, control it so that the animal can lead a totally normal life. The earlier it is detected, the better the diagnosis.
How is leishmaniasis caused? The bite of the Phlebotomus mosquito transmits the flagellated protozoan of the genus Leishmania to our animals. Any dog can be bitten by a mosquito carrying this disease . For this to happen, the mosquito has had to bite an animal sick with leishmaniasis before and thus become a carrier of the disease.
The Phlebotomus mosquito is a nocturnal insect , so its time of greatest activity and, therefore, dangerousness, begins at dusk and continues until dawn. It tends to itch at night . The one that stings is the female, as she needs to ingest blood for her eggs to mature. Sandflies are small, have a kind of hair on their body and do not emit the typical buzz of mosquitoes when flying .
There are two types of leishmaniasis: visceral and cutaneous. The first attacks the internal organs, can cause weight loss, injury to the kidneys, livers, bones (lameness), eyes, muscles … The skin causes hair loss, change in skin color, cracks in the muzzle and pads, dry skin, abnormal nail growth …
The symptoms of canine leishmaniasis are varied:
– The dog lacks hair around the eyes.
– Presents eye injuries.
– He is listless and weak.
– Loses hair.
– You have dandruff.
– You have nosebleeds.
– He has fever.
– His skin is dry.
– Presents ulcers on the skin.
– He’s lame.
– Your nails grow abnormally.
– He has lost weight.
– You have swollen lymph nodes, liver and spleen.
– You suffer from arthritis.
– He has wounds that do not heal.
– His muscles are progressively atrophying.
If the dog presents some of these typical symptoms of leishmaniasis and, above all, several at the same time, we must take it to the veterinary clinic to establish a diagnosis as it is possible that it has been infested. If you have the disease, the sooner it is detected, the sooner you can start treatment, which will stop the symptoms and reduce the risk of relapses (they are difficult to quantify).
There are different ways to prevent leishmaniasis in dogs but before listing them, we must say that none protects our animal completely . You should not believe the brands that sell their products as totally effective , in fact, if they are advertised like this, we advise you to choose another preventive, that is not reliable from the same container.
To protect our animal we can follow the following indications:
– Put on an antiparasitic collar .
– Keep the calendar of the preventive pipette up to date .
– Vaccinate our furry against leishmaniasis. We recommend that you talk to your vet about this method and thoroughly educate yourself on it.
– To increase prevention: do not allow your pet to sleep outside in summer or spring , cover the windows with mosquito nets and watch your dog when he is in the garden or on the terrace in hot season. Avoid walks from dusk to dawn , the period of greatest mosquito activity.
– Leishmania test . It involves doing a blood test to the dog to see if there are Leihsmania antibodies, which would test if it has been bitten by a carrier sandfly or not. However, up to six months may elapse between that moment and the appearance of the first symptoms and it is undetectable in the test.
We have bad news and that is that we can find the sandfly in practically the entire country . Only some areas of the Cantabrian coast and the Canary Islands as a whole are fought . The areas with the highest risk are: Madrid, Catalonia, Aragon, Castilla La Mancha, Andalusia, Valencian Community, Murcia and the Balearic Islands.
A dog is more likely to contract leishmaniasis during the times of the year when female sandflies bite, that is, in the warmest season, in the months between late spring and early fall. In winter, sandflies are in the larval stage, so they cannot transmit the disease . However, in recent years, sandflies appear each time before it is possible to see them at the beginning of March.
