Content
- What is Canine Babesiosis?
- Transmission of Canine Babesiosis
- Canine Babesiosis Symptoms
- Clinical picture of canine babesiosis
- Diagnosis of Canine Babesiosis
- Canine Babesiosis Treatment
- Canine Babesiosis Prevention
Canine Babesiosis is a disease that can be serious if not discovered in time, even causing the animal to die.
It is also known as piroplasmosis, the disease is caused by a protozoan called the Babesia kennels. This protozoan is a hematozoan, that is, it reproduces in the bloodstream and feeds on the animal's blood components, specifically red blood cells.
This protozoan can be found all over the world, and its most common form of transmission is by the Rhipicephalus sanguineus (parasite you see in the picture), better known as brown tick or red dog tick.
To read everything you need to know about canine Babesiosis or Pyroplasmosis, continue here on PeritoAnimal.
What is Canine Babesiosis?
Canine Babesiosis or Pyroplasmosis is a very important issue, as it often leads the dog to death, and is directly related to the presence of ticks in the animal and in the environment.As this protozoan infects the red blood cells, which are red blood cells, it is also known by the term hematozoan.
O protozoan transmits piroplasmosis through the brown tick, which is the tick that most commonly infects dogs, called the Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Ticks are not commonly found in cats, but as the protozoan has several species, there is among them the species Babesia kennels, that infects dogs, Babesia felis and babesia cati, which is the specific hematozoan responsible for infecting cats through the same tick.
Canine babesiosis can be confused with Tick Disease, because the protozoan is transmitted by a tick. So, to learn more about Dog Tick Disease - Symptoms and Treatment see this other article from PeritoAnimal.
Transmission of Canine Babesiosis
Ticks are the most important transmission factor for canine babesiosis, hence the importance of fighting ticks.
Ticks are arthropods of the order of the mites, ectoparasites that feed on blood and are responsible for the transmission of several diseases to dogs, cats, horses, oxen, several other mammals and even to humans. They are light sensitive beings, and therefore, prefer dark environments where they can hide. Because of this, they often lodge in dogs in places of difficult access, such as between the fingers, armpits and ears, as they are environments with low light and warm, perfect for feeding and breeding. The females of this tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) are capable of laying 2,000 to 3,000 eggs a day, but they do not lay their eggs directly on the host, at night they descend from the dog and lay their eggs in the bed or environment where the dog has access. When the eggs hatch into larvae and these change into nymphs, they climb back up onto the host dog until they become adults and start the cycle again.
To learn more about other diseases that ticks can transmit see this article by PeritoAnimal.
THE transmission of Babesia kennels, the hematozoan, happens when an infected tick bites a healthy animal. In order to feed on the blood, the tick then injects saliva into the host dog, as this saliva has anticoagulant properties making it easier for the tick to feed on the host's blood. However, it ends inoculating the piroplasmosis-causing hematozoon into the dog's bloodstream.
Upon entering the animal's bloodstream, the protozoan penetrates the red blood cells (red blood cells), feeding on their nutrients and reproducing inside these cells, until the number of protozoa inside the cell becomes so large that the cell becomes breaks open, releasing even more protozoa into the bloodstream that penetrate other cells, and so on. It is because of this that one of the most important symptoms of canine babesiosis occurs, which we will discuss below.
Canine Babesiosis Symptoms
Clinical signs or symptoms will depend on the degree of infestation and evolution of the condition. Once a dog is infected, the disease can still take months to appear, as the parasite can remain in a dog. latency where it waits for the best opportunity indicated by the low immunity of the dog, that is, a dog can be infected by the piroplasmosis protozoan without any sign of the disease, however, when its immunity drops it manifests the disease.
As stated earlier, this protozoan parasitizes red blood cells, and this therefore causes one of the most important symptoms which is anemia. Others canine babesiosis symptoms can be:
- Loss of appetite.
- Fever.
- Mucosa pale or jaundiced (yellowish).
- Prostration.
- Depression.
- Possible blood clotting problems.
However, some of the initial symptoms that indicate an infection such as fever and depression may go unnoticed by guardians. And when the tutor realizes that the animal no longer interacts (prostration) and stops eating, when taking it to the veterinarian and verifying the disease, anemia is usually already in an advanced stage, making the prognosis difficult to treat. Therefore, it is necessary to always pay attention to any of these signs, especially if you have recently found a tick on your pet or even walking on the walls or backyard of your house.
Clinical picture of canine babesiosis
Pyroplasmosis or babesiosis still can manifest in 3 different ways, or 3 phases, according to the degree of evolution of the disease.
- Hyperacute Phase: Rare to happen, but extremely serious, as the animal can die within 3 days due to extensive damage to blood cells which leads to severe anemia. It affects more puppies or older dogs, as they have a compromised immunity.
- Acute Phase: Marked anemia occurs with the appearance of fever, prostration, lack of appetite and generalized weakness. Clinical examination may also indicate an enlarged spleen and lymph nodes. And due to problems with the blood's anticoagulant properties, the animal often loses blood in the urine.
- Chronic Phase: When the disease presents itself in this way, it is considered mild because the animal does not show symptoms characteristic of Pyroplasmosis. The dog may experience intermittent fever and weight loss with a slight decrease in appetite and lymph node involvement. This can make it difficult to diagnose the disease, and if not discovered in time, when the animal shows a drop in immunity, it can manifest itself in a more aggravating way.
It is also important to emphasize that since it is a systemic disease, that is, as it affects the entire irrigation and blood vessels of the body, clinical complications can be observed in other organs of the body such as the liver, spleen, kidneys, brain and heart.
Diagnosis of Canine Babesiosis
The correct diagnosis of canine Babesiosis must be made by a competent veterinarian, as he alone has sufficient technical and scientific knowledge to perform the anamnesis, obtaining the patient's detailed history.
Once the physical examination is done by the veterinarian, he will then be able to request complementary exams important that will help in closing the diagnosis and confirming the suspicion, which can be:
- Complete blood tests such as complete blood count, serological tests and PCR.
- Ultrasound, especially in the abdominal region, in order to detect changes in other organs such as the spleen, which may be enlarged.
It is important that the diagnosis is confirmed as soon as possible and that the tutor does not take too long to carry out the tests requested by the veterinarian, since the beginning of treatment and your animal's life depends on it.
Canine Babesiosis Treatment
After confirmation of suspicion and correct diagnosis by the veterinarian, he will verify the prognosis of the dog, instituting the therapy to be followed.
If the prognosis is good, the veterinarian will prescribe the necessary veterinary drugs and soon the dog will be able to continue the home treatment, under the guardian's care.
In more severe cases of the disease, however, it is necessary to hospitalize the dog for tube feeding and even the blood transfusion in cases of severe anemia.
Do not try home treatments, as it is a serious disease and can get worse, leading your puppy to death if not treated correctly by a veterinarian.
Canine Babesiosis Prevention
Considering that it is a disease transmitted by a tick, the The best way to prevent Pyroplasmosis is to keep our dogs free of ticks at all times. and other parasites.
There are on the pet market, several pour-on or anti-flea pipettes, which also prevent and protect against ticks, and should be applied to our dogs monthly, according to the product's indications.
The environment in which the animal lives must also be constantly sanitized, and the tutor may make preventive use of specific antiparasitic for the environment or even a popular technique known as Fire Broom. It is a technique used on large farms to deworm a large number of stalls in which the animals live, and it ended up being adapted by some people who have very large yards where the total elimination of ticks was a challenge.
THE fire broom it is nothing more than a flamethrower, where a blowtorch is attached to a gas cylinder. The fire is set in the yard where the animals sleep and stay, and on the walls, as ticks are able to reach the top of walls and walls. Do not try to do this at home alone, without the help of a guardian or someone who understands the subject.
This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.