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Leishmaniasis
This is an often fatal disease. Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic parasitic disease transmitted through the bites of the phlebotomine sand flies and is the third most important disease worldwide. Your dog may not be affected in countries such as the UK and Scandinavia, but in Spain you need to protect your dog against this disease.
How is it spread?
The disease is carried from dog to dog by a microscopic parasite called Leishmania infantum, which is spread by sand fly bites. Dogs can be bitten up to 100 times an hour during the sand fly season, which begins in May and ends in September.
When an infected sand fly bites a dog, parasites are deposited on the skin. A tiny skin lesion - called a chancre - appears at the site of the bite, usually in the muzzle or the ear. The parasite then invades the dog’s cells, spreads into the internal organs and may begin to damage the immune system.
Signs and symptoms
Signs of the disease are highly variable and in some cases, may take several years to manifest. Affected dogs may have a fever, show signs of hair loss (particularly around the eyes), lose weight and develop skin sores and nail disease. Unfortunately, over time, many organs may become involved leading to problems like anaemia, arthritis in many joints, eye and kidney disease.
Prevention and control
Treatment may be complex and often non curative, so prevention is best. You can help protect your dog from sand flies for the whole of the sand fly season, by using a collar containing deltamethrin, called Scalibor, which also controls infestation with ticks for five to six months.
Other products
EX-SPOT - Protects your dog from Leisnmaniosis and ticks. In a once a month easy application
ADVANTIX - External spot-on antiparasitic product for ticks, fleas and mosquitoes. Very easy to use and in a once a month unique application
- Further, comprehensive, information on canine Leishmaniasis: Click here
- Leishmanasis from the World Health Organisation (WHO): Click here
What Is Parvo – Symptoms And Treatment Options
The Canine Parvovirus, which is usually just referred to as Parvo, is a viral infection that attacks dogs (although other animals can also get it, including cats, ferrets, raccoons, and other small mammals, for example).
There are two main forms of Parvo – cardiac and intestinal, and it is the intestinal form that is much more common.
Parvo Symptoms
The main symptoms of Parvo are:
- not eating / loss of appetite
- not drinking
- lethargy / lack of playfulness
- diarrhea (often bloody and almost always foul-smelling)
- vomiting (either an off-white egg-white consistency, or frothy and yellow)
- dehydration
- fever or chills
- depression
While many people associate Parvo with diarrhea, this is usually not the first sign of Parvo – what you typically see first are the behavioural symptoms, such as losing interest in food, not wanting to play either with you or his favourite toys, and maybe not drinking.
The diarrhea and vomiting then follow shortly thereafter.
It is important to note, however, that not all dogs show all of the above symptoms, and that they may not appear in the same order.
Parvo Treatment
So, if your dog has Parvo (i.e. it has been confirmed with a positive Parvo test) or he is exhibiting the above symptoms, then you need to spring into action immediately, as the one thing you do not have with Parvo is time.
The latest strains, especially 2c, are incredibly aggressive, and dogs have been known to die within hours of the first bout of diarrhea.
This is why it’s crucial to look for the non-physical symptoms such as the lack of appetite and the lethargy, as these are really good clues that something is seriously wrong. After all, how many dogs do you know that turn their nose up at food?
So, what options do you have?
Most people will take their dog to the vet, but this is what our thousands of customers have been telling us:
- You can expect the cost to be anywhere from high to extortionate. In the USA, your bill may be anywhere from $500 USD to over $12,000 USD – and that’s just for one animal. (That’s about £300 to £7,250, or €350 to €8,300 at current exchange rates.)
- You will probably be quoted a success rate of about 50%, which means your dog is just as likely to die as it is to survive. A few vets will go as high as 80% (but not many), while some go as low as 20%.
- Vets’ treatment will consist of IV fluids (which is basically salty water), antibiotics (the side-effects of which are often the same as Parvo, such as vomiting and diarrhea, which is clearly not what you want), anti-emetics (more chemicals to supposedly help prevent vomiting, although vomiting more may be a side-effect), and they may even suggest (or insist on) blood transfusions (which are very expensive, and one is not usually enough).
- A small number of vets will provide liquid nutrition (in the USA, this may be a product such as CliniCare), but the vast majority do nothing to address the real risk of hypoglycemia (i.e. a drop in blood sugar levels that is especially dangerous and often fatal for really young and/or really tiny dogs).
But there is another option, and one that your vet probably won’t even mention, and that is…
Parvo Home Treatment
Yes, Parvo can be treated successfully at home, without any specialised training, without any specialist equipment, and without having to stick needles into your sick pet.
Here is what we would expect with a good home Parvo Treatment Kit, again, based on our extensive experience:
- A cost that is around $200 USD (at current exchange rates, at the time of writing, that’s about £120 or €140), and that may treat several animals (up to 50, in fact), depending on their weight.
- A success rate that is about 90% (provided that people follow the detailed treatment plan to the letter).
- Safe, home remedies that address both dehydration (check out Parvo Emergency Tea) and hypoglycemia.
- No adverse side-effects, as the products are chemical-free and 100% natural.
Conclusion
Parvo is a very nasty virus, and it’s getting worse all of the time. Even if you only suspect your dog might have been infected (as there are other reasons, of course, for dogs vomiting and having diarrhea), our policy is that if it looks like Parvo, then you should treat it as though it were Parvo, since you really cannot afford to waste any time.
Why would you want to sit there and watch your dog die before your very eyes, when you could (and should) be doing all you can to get him better – after all, he can’t do it by himself, which is why he relies on you to do what’s best for him.
As strong believers in natural remedies, we obviously would recommend the Parvo treatment at home option – it’s safe, effective, affordable, and you won’t be making a bad situation worse by filling your sick pet up with chemicals (and all of their consequent side-effects).
About The Authors
Rae & Mark have been running ParvoBuster (part of Friends Of The Planet, Inc.) since 2007, and during that time have amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience in successfully treating Parvo (4,191 dogs and counting).
