Hamilton dog owner warns of deadly illness after walk near shuttered Delta high school
A Hamilton woman is cautioning dog owners to be wary of their pet's whereabouts after her Scottish deerhound contracted a rare bacterial disease that left the animal with permanent liver damage.
Elizabeth Walker didn't know what to think when her nine-year-old hound Aliyah fell violently ill, throwing up a brownish bile and rapidly shedding weight, following a routine walk around the now-shuttered Delta Secondary School about three weeks ago.
She ate some grass, but we take her around there all the time and thought nothing of it - she always eats grass," said Walker, who attributed the dog's illness to the grass.
Within days of the walk, Aliyah's symptoms got worse: she was more lethargic and sluggish, more thirsty, and there was more vomiting despite a dissipated appetite.
I thought, This isn't normal,'" said Walker, and I took her to the vet. They ran tests which said her organs were failing."
It took another two weeks before one vet suspected Aliyah might have been exposed to leptospirosis, a bacterial pathogen transmitted through the urine of an infected host, most commonly rodents such as rats or raccoons.
By that point, Aliyah had lost 15 pounds - which is a lot," said Walker, considering she's already skinny to begin with" - and sustained significant liver damage. Walker said unawareness of the disease, and the few weeks it took until her dog was tested and diagnosed, could cost Aliyah precious years of her life.
If I had known about leptospirosis, immediately she would've gotten tested. And it would have saved us a lot heartache because, eventually, my dog is going to die of liver disease," she said.
Leptospirosis' symptoms run the gamut from fatigue and frequent urination to vomiting and diarrhea. It can be spread through drinking water or eating foods contaminated with the bacteria. Once infected, the disease is highly transmittable to other pets and even humans.
A relatively early diagnosis, like Aliyah's, can mitigate and slow the disease by the prescription of antibiotics, painkillers and IVs. But, in some cases, if left untreated, the pathogen can cause death.
The likelihood - with the hot sun we've had - of the disease being on grass is not very high, because the urine would dry out," said Jane Murrell, supervisor of Hamilton's health hazards and vector-borne diseases program, adding the common sites of transmission are typically water sources.
But despite the risk level of leptospirosis spread in Hamilton currently being very low, Jennifer Merry, a veterinarian at the Clappison Animal Hospital, said the disease is still out there - just in places you wouldn't expect.
People say, Oh, my dog comes in at night and never meets any wild animals.' Well, he doesn't have to (in order) to get the disease, and that's why we're concerned about it," said Merry, who vaccinates hundreds of dogs to fend off leptospirosis each year.
If an infected raccoon comes into your backyard, pees around your barbecue and leaves, the urine is still there even though the raccoon has gone home. It doesn't matter where you live, in the country or the city, there are raccoons."
Humans can contract the disease if its bacteria enters through skin cuts and scratches, the nose, mouth or eyes. That risk is easily minimized by simple hygienic practices, like hand washing, but for pets, it takes a closer eye.
We hear a lot of cases where a dog (contracts it) from their water bowl in the backyard," Merry said. The infected animal has to urinate in the bowl, and if it does and it isn't rinsed out, there's risk of infection."
***Correction: This story was updated June 3 to correct Elizabeth Walker's name.***
Sebastian Bron is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbron@thespec.com