Rabies on Cape Cod

Dog Diseases on Cape Cod

Recent Positives on Cape Cod of Rabies and Leptospirosis

Hello to all of our clients lovingly owned by their cats and dogs,

Many of you may have heard of the raccoon that was found dead November 17, 2024 and subsequently diagnosed with Rabies, which is a uniformly fatal, but easily preventable virus. This is not the first case of Rabies on Cape Cod by any means, just the most recently reported.  As hopefully you all know, being vaccinated for Rabies is a state law for all cats, dogs and ferrets in Massachusetts.  Animals most likely found to be infected with Rabies in Massachusetts are raccoons, bats, skunks, foxes and woodchucks.  Cats are the most common domestic animal found to be rabid because the vaccination rate is lower in cats even though it is mandated. Please make sure your dog, cat or ferret is properly vaccinated to keep people, pets and wildlife safe!  Please call to check the vaccination status of your pet if you are not sure of your pet’s status. Rabies is serious! The World Health Organization estimates that 59,000 people die from Rabies annually worldwide, a fact most people find very surprising.

Most of you dog owners may remember most of this part of the letter that was sent out last year, but we think it is important, so we apologize for any perceived redundancy!  However, we recently diagnosed a patient as being positive for Leptospirosis. For those of you unfamiliar with the disease, Leptospirosis (or “Lepto”) is a disease caused by strains of the bacteria Leptospira. Many mammals can be affected including people, dogs, raccoons, rats/mice, and cows among others.  The disease is spread in the urine of the affected animals, which often ends up in puddles, ponds and other standing water sources.  It is often very serious and can damage kidneys and/or the liver.  The disease is treatable if caught early enough but can be fatal even if treated.  One stumbling block in the treatment of Leptospirosis is that often diagnosis is based on clinical suspicion by the veterinarian rather than by testing, because if testing is performed early on, often the test is negative and can only be diagnosed by blood work repeated a week to two later.

Luckily, many of our patients are already protected by a vaccine that targets the common strains of Lepto.  However, some patients are not protected as it is an optional vaccine.  In addition, many breeders caution the new owners not to let their pets get the vaccine. This may, in part, be due to the fact older versions of the vaccine had a much higher rate of side effects associated with it.  The vaccines these days are much less reactive.   Last year an owner-reported survey of negative side effects reported with the currently available Lepto vaccines as 4 in 10,000 (which is very low!).

As many of you may be aware (especially livestock or chicken owners), rats are becoming more of a problem both in cities and in rural areas.  Dr. Preston herself has dealt on and off with a rat problem stemming from all of her pigeons and chickens, and she enjoys talking about to interested clients if she thinks they won’t make fun of her! There are also recent reported outbreaks of Lepto both in New York city and Boston in dogs linked with the increased rat populations in cities. Sadly, there is a high incidence of illness and death of raptors (hawks, owls, eagles and falcons) who die from ingesting rodents poisoned by people with rat poison. (Side note-please don’t use rodenticide rat poisons!)

We at Wellfleet Veterinary Hospital sincerely hope all you with dogs strongly consider vaccinating your pups against Leptospirosis!  If you are unsure if your dog is protected against this serious disease, please feel free to call to find out.  If your pup is unprotected and you wish to change this, let us know and we will help you!

Sincerely,

The Staff at Wellfleet Vet

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