We have to speak on this occasion of a disease that is increasingly present in our society and to which you must put treatment as soon as possible. And is that canine babesiosis can end up affecting dogs and humans.
It is true that the main objective of this bacterium are dogs, hence the disease it causes is usually known as canine babeosis or babesiosis. However, the progressive increase in cases should make us all start taking it very seriously.
Able to reach your dog through ticks, the result of this bacteria occurs in animals in the form of a generalized infectious process. The first symptom that can be accompanied by more serious consequences.
Index of contents
- 1 How does canine babesiosis attack?
- 2 Learn to detect the characteristics of babesiosis
- 3 Babesiosis Treatment
How does canine babesiosis attack?
Experts have identified the most dangerous genotype of this bacterium as the canis vogeli. Is about an indirect-cycle intracellular hematozoon, that is, it needs a host before it can develop.
In words that we all understand: this bacterium looks for a host to survive, which are usually ticks. Through them it develops its larvae and these act on our dog causing the infectious process.
If until now canine babesiosis had remained a practically unknown danger, it is because the bacterium needs warm climates to survive, which is why it is more frequent to find it in countries with tropical and subtropical climates.
But since we all already know the consequences of climate change and the anomalies that we are experiencing in Europe in this regard, we must begin to see this problem of babesiosis as something to deal with on a daily basis. And you should be especially careful in the summer months.
Learn to detect the characteristics of babesiosis
It could be said that the symptoms resulting from this disease can be included under the concept of apathy. If your dog suffers from canine babesiosis, you can detect it by an unusual lack of appetite or lack of energy and you want to do any activity.
Other symptoms recognized under the influence of babesiosis in dogs are vomiting, erratic movements and even a transformation in the color of the urine, becoming orange or reddish tones.
It is a vicious circle, since if the animal begins to stop eating, its energy resources will decrease, and finally all this will result in weight loss and lack of strength to lead the normal life that I had until now.
LBabesiosis also causes an increase in the production of bilirubin in our pet, the appearance of fever and / or hemoglobin disorders due to the breakdown of red blood cells.
Once the disease is detected, you should put treatment as soon as possible. The bad news is that due to the incubation process in dogs that lasts from 2 to 4 weeks, once you detect the problem it is because the disease is already well installed.
Babesiosis Treatment
Detecting the disease a few weeks after being contracted involves certain problems. Therefore, it is necessary that you act urgently once the first symptoms are detected, since otherwise your dog could suffer serious damage to the liver or lung.
The most common solution is to approach a veterinaryn and subject our dog to an internal and external deworming process. There they can tell us how serious the problem is and the steps to follow to be able to solve it.
The severity of canine babesiosis is not a game, and there are cases in which recovery treatment involves the administration of glucocorticoids, heparin and other solutions such as blood transfusions.
Given what has been seen, it is clear that the best way to fight this problem is prevention. And as you already know, the best way to combat ticks and their dangers is subjecting your dog to good deworming on a regular basis.