Well, friends and fans, we finally found out what is wrong with me! I have a disease called Leptospirosis. My Mom was worried that I might have this nasty bug, because of how suddenly I got sick. Leptospirosis is a bad, bad problem but usually not at all for dogs like me. This is because the "Leptospira" bug (that's it's name and I don't know why it couldn't have a nicer name like Fred or Wilma or Barney - or - well, I forget what Barney's wife was named, but anyway, you know what I mean, I am sure). Oh dear. Now I'm singing that Flintstones song in my head - are you? Please make it stop!!!!
Where was I? Oh, yes - about the Leptospira bug. It isn't just a bad bug, it's a tricky one. It comes in a bunch of types called "serotypes" or "serovars." Like having a lot of cousins who sorta look alike. So you never know what kind you are going to get, and there is no good lab test for all of them, and there is no good vaccine for all of them either. And, if you are vaccinated against Leptospira, you can be OK yourself but can be a carrier to other dogs and make them sick. This is because if you get vaccinated, you can still have the bug living in your kidneys and you spread it every time you pee.
That is how Leptospira bugs are spread all the time. OK. This is making me tired, and I am already sick and it's hard to type, so we are going to call it just the Lepto bug from now on - OK? Carnivores don't spread Lepto only when they pee, though. It is also in semen and in discharges from a female who has had a puppy or has aborted a puppy. And it likes to live in damp places. So it is in water, and wet areas, and damp bedding, and wet doghouses, and around pools, and in gardens that get watered a lot. Really, it can be anyplace that we might like to pee. So if you step in the pee, or in water or damp areas containing that pee, or if you are a person cleaning up dog pee, you can get Lepto yourself. It goes in right through your skin, even if you don't have a cut or a sore or even a hangnail.
What does the Lepto bug do when it gets in your body? Well, like I said, it gets in right through your skin, and it gets into your blood in four to seven days, and then WHAM! It starts hitting all parts of your body. It goes into your liver and kills liver cells and gives you hepatitis. And it gets into your kidneys and makes the cells die and puts you in kidney failure, really, really fast (that's what happened to me). And it can get into your brain and give you meningitis. And into your lungs and give you pneumonia. And into your blood vessels and make you bleed all over. And into your eyes and give you bad eye problems. And into your uterus if you're a pregnant Mom and make you abort your puppies, or else make them very weak when they are born. Usually, the kidney problems are the thing you die from. Is this a rotten bug, or what????
Now, if we pee in a dry area, the bug dies pretty fast. And my yard is completely fenced so that no other dogs or coyotes can get in, and it is always very dry, and I don't like water anyway, so my Mom has always said that I was not at risk. We think about dogs who are in the water a lot as being at risk. Dogs like Retrievers of all kinds, and Newfies, and other dogs who like to play in water. Definitely not dogs like me! But do you remember all the rain we got this year? It was so wet and stormy that we even had a tree fall on our house in May, and my Mom has not had to water the garden at ALL this year. And we think this is how I got it. Just think about all those dogs that live in those areas where there were floods! I worry a LOT about them, and I hope they will read this and will tell their owners to take them to the vet to get tested for this Lepto bug. And really, I hope that all of you who live even in our area here in the northwest Chicago suburbs will quick talk to your people about whether YOU might need to be tested for Lepto, if your yard was wet this spring. Or maybe you should get vaccinated against this awful bug so you don't get sick. If it happened to me, it could happen to you!
We have to treat everyone in our house now. Canuke and Hebert and even Emmett the cat and my Mom are taking ampicillin, and all the dogs got tested for Lepto, too. And everyone will get vaccinated if they do not have it. Except Mom, who will just have to take her medicine and hope that she didn't get it cleaning up all my pee. I pee a lot, because I am in kidney failure now, and we are trying to flush my kidneys by giving me lots of fluids. But Mom wears gloves now and I have to stay in a kennel until I am better and I don't get to pee all over the yard like I want to. I have to pee in a special spot and the other dogs don't get to go there at all anymore. I hate that! I am the TOP DOG in this house, and I usually have to go and pee on top of wherever anyone else pees, and then they have to pee back, and then I have to pee back on top of THAT.....and it gets very tiring but it is a big part of my job and I miss it a lot. But, I'm telling you, Canuke and Hebert - if I get better, payback will be awaiting you!
So now I am on even MORE medication but I must say that I am feeling a little better. I even gave Mom a kiss last night and again today, and I went out into the yard this morning (all by myself, Mom didn't have to carry me this morning) and I barked at a deer. It wasn't very loud, and it really honked me off that the deer didn't move, because I usually scare them pretty good. Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, I will make that deer run fast!
LIZZIE
