Leptospirosis-another dog thread

Our sweet lab was diagnosed with this last week. It was pretty touch and go for the first few days but he has been on antibiotics and it looks like he is going to be okay. We had never heard of this bacteria. It was a Saturday when we first took him in and went to another vet. One of the first things they asked was had he been vaccinated for Lepto. He had not and our regular vet had never suggested it. When the bloodwork came back positive for Lepto the emergency vet told me to keep him away from my D’s dog for a month and that my D needed to take her dog to get vaccinated. When my D called her vet they said they don’t recommend the vaccine.
Our dog will be on antibiotics for another 21 days. At that point they want to retest and vaccinate. Any opinions on this vaccine. Our other D lives on a ranch and her vet does regularly give the Lepto vaccine. Our dog lives on 2 acres and is mainly an outdoor dog. The emergency vet said with all the rain they are seeing more cases of Leptospirosis this year whereas the other vet said they hadn’t had any cases this year. Both vets in same city.
Would love to hear other peoples experience and opinions.

Our vet recommends it but our dog had such a bad reaction to the vaccine the first time she received it that she does not get that vaccine anymore.

I’d never heard of the vaccine but when I switched vets last year, they recommended it and my dog is now vaccinated. I’m glad your dog is doing better and wish him a full recovery.

Our dog got lepto about 10 years ago, nearly died and was never quite as healthy (he was already 8 and a big dog), they speculated it was from raccoon urine.
We have been doing lepto since then, as that was horrid, but also the vaccine is rough on some dogs, catch 22

Seeing the title of this thread brought back sad memories because Leptospirosis caused the death of my first dog, Angus, about 50 years ago, when I was eight or nine. Please give your dog a vicarious hug on my behalf.

My vet says that there is a newer version of the vaccine less likely to cause serious side effects, but they still don’t recommend the vaccine for all dogs. Vet says the pros/cons depends on the dogs “lifestyle”. Dogs tend to pick it up from drinking standing water. So outdoor dogs like the OP’s are at risk. My dogs spend most of their time sleeping indoors, always on leash when walked anywhere outside our own very small back yard, and water doesn’t pool in our yard. So I am thinking my dogs are at low risk and haven’t vaccinated them as of yet, but I’m definitely thinking about it.

My dog had a bad reaction to it when we first had him vaccinated. Evidently, dachshunds (he’s a doxie mix) are known to have particular problems with it. We always pretreat with Benadryl, and haven’t had an issue since the first time. Kennels here won’t board without the vaccine…

Thank you for all the great feedback. It confirms what I’ve read and my D has read about the vaccine. What kind of reaction did those who had a bad reaction experience?
We are hoping he has a full recovery but the vet has warned us it isn’t a guarantee of a return to full kidney function. He is 9 and 65 lbs but has been healthy and strong. We aren’t sure how he got it. My H found a dead young bunny on our driveway earlier in the week but we didn’t think anything of it. He had vomited up his kibble that day but again that wasn’t so unusual and he promptly ate it right back up. A few days later he stopped wanting to eat and he seemed sore. Saturday morning he wouldn’t eat or drink and his eyes were swollen and shut closed. Conjunctivitis can also be a sign of Leptospirosis. The vet we took him to kept him for the day and they gave him fluids and a shot of antibiotics. After we took him home my H found another bunny behind our garage. It didn’t look like he ate them but he could have carried them. He also loves to drink standing water and we had a lot of water around from the rains. He also likes to wander and dig in a field on our property that has a lot of tall grasses and weeds. We have skunks, gophers, rabbits, opossums in our yard. My D BF works for an agency that deals with animals and the pathologist said it was likely he got it from contaminated water or soil versus from carrying the dead rabbit.
In the meantime we are keeping him inside. He is eating again and finally drinking water. He is more energized but still not back to himself. He likes to stay close to us and we are giving him lots of hugs.

My dogs have never had a reaction and have been getting it for years.

I am so sorry your dog is so sick. Such a worry!

It’s one of the things my dog is routinely vaccinated for. She hasn’t had a reaction. I assume that my other dogs got it also, and they had no issues. All of my dogs have spent significant time running around in the woods and fields in off-leash areas.

The only vaccine we generally discuss at all is bordatella. Since she isn’t boarded and doesn’t go to a groomer, I decided to skip it for now.

When we got our beagle from the pound he had it. He was pretty sickly. He took antibiotics for it once he was done he was vaccinated for it. No problems with the vaccine.

I hope your pup makes a full recovery, mom60 - so hard when they are sick.

Sabadog and Sabapup both get the combination DHLPP vaccine - and I just noticed Sabapup will get a booster for lepto so they might have changed her vaccine or the protocol. Neither has ever had an adverse reaction. I recently added bordatella. We have a wide assortment of wild visitors to our backyard where they dogs spend a fair amount of time and our neighbor has a “pond” (to use the term loosely) that they will get water from any chance they get. I believe there are multiple varieties of lepto and the vaccine may only protect against a few.

The reaction my dog had to the vaccine was fever, extreme lethargy to the point that she couldn’t walk, breathing fast and she may have had bloody diarrhea though I may be confusing that with another illness she had early on. We live in the suburbs, sometimes have standing water though she doesn’t seem to drink it in the yard. We have a few bunnies each spring but not a lot of wildlife.

Humans can also get lepto from going into freshwater bodies, I believe. Am not aware of humans getting vaccinated against it. Fortunately, we didn’t learn about lepto until after our days of wading in ponds catching guppies and don’t appear to have gotten it.