The two-year-old dog became lethargic, thin and listless, deteriorating to the point that it was admitted to a pet hospital for a week for a blood transfusion.
“I was really worried about him,” Ms Powell, an enrolled nurse, said.
Testing confirmed Leo had ehrlichiosis, a disease transmitted through bites from brown dog ticks carrying the Ehrlichia canis bacteria.
But what worried the specialists is that Leo lives in the urban Top End, which some experts fear is becoming a new stronghold for a disease spreading like wildfire.
The first Australian case was detected in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in May last year.
By June, cases were rapidly emerging in Katherine in the Northern Territory and the surrounding remote communities.
The Northern Territory government has recorded 370 confirmed cases — 110 in the Darwin and Arnhem Land region, 149 in the Katherine region, 36 in Tennant Creek and in Alice Springs and surrounds, 75.
Experts say countless more have been left undetected in remote communities with little intervention.
“When we finally got to bring him home, [the vets] said he needs to stay inside, he’s at risk of spontaneous bleeding and he might not make it,” Ms Powell said.
“It was very full-on, very emotional.
“There were tears basically every night.”
Until the first cases were discovered just last year, stringent biosecurity controls had kept ehrlichiosis out of Australia.
Experts are still baffled by how the disease got in but, according to Professor Peter Irwin from the School of Veterinary Medicine at Murdoch University, the disease is now considered “endemic” across the NT.
“Ehrlichiosis is one of the most serious diseases of dogs in my opinion,” he said.
“It makes them very ill, and many dogs can die.
“Once it establishes into a tick population, it’s very difficult to eradicate.”
Common symptoms include lethargy, fever and cloudy eyes, which can be cleared up with antibiotics but, if left untreated, the disease can lead to blindness, uncontrollable bleeding and death.
“The problem with this disease is that dogs travel and spread infected ticks,” Professor Irwin said.
“Dogs that have moved from an endemic area of the community into the city will possibly bring ticks with them, and the ticks can then drop off.
“There have now been dogs with the disease identified in most other capitals, most as a result of travel from the north.”
Doctor Stephen Cutter, the head veterinarian at Darwin’s Ark Animal Hospital, is no stranger to the crippling disease.
He said up to 40 per cent of the dogs are infected in the remote communities of the Top End he visits on rotation.
But in August of last year, he saw his first case in a pet that had not left urban Darwin.
Arielle Giles, a vet at the Darwin Veterinary Hospital, confirmed the disease’s spread to Darwin, saying she had seen six cases in the past three months.
“It’s a devastatingly bad disease and it’s really difficult to treat,” Dr Cutter said.
“It’s basically everywhere and it’s now a matter of living with it.”
Both Professor Irwin and Dr Cutter said keeping ticks at bay is the best way to prevent ehrlichiosis.
“Because the infection is transmitted so quickly from the tick bites, the most important way of protecting your dog is to use a product, such as a collar that kills ticks before they bite,” Professor Irwin said.
It has now been five months since Leo was struck down by the tiny parasite and, while he is still getting regular check-ups and his future is looking brighter, vets can’t give the all-clear.
“Ehrlichiosis is really nasty in that it can stay hidden in the bone marrow for a long period of time,” Dr Cutter said.
Earlier this year, the NT government brought on a new coordinator to transition the NT’s response to the disease from a biosecurity threat to managing the outbreak.
“This disease is a nationally notifiable disease, which means that suspected cases of E.canis need to be reported, and free testing can be carried out on blood samples from suspected dogs,” said the chief vet at the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Dr Sue Fitzpatrick.
Rehomed Deaf Dog Is Certain She’s Going Back To The Shelter Once Again
In the United States, 5–10% of canines are deaf. Some dogs become deaf as they age, while others are born without hearing. A cochleosaccular gene mutation is commonly the cause of hereditary deafness. Dogs with white coats and blue eyes are more likely to have this type of deafness.
Pit bull named Blu has piercing blue eyes and a white coat. Blu is deaf.
She remained unvisited day after day in an animal shelter.
Luckily, business colleagues Mark and Sean were looking to adopt a deaf dog in the San Francisco area. Two were located at Family Dog Rescue. Blu was one of them.
She was vibrant and full of life when Mark and Sean first met her at the shelter. Mark informed GeoBeats Animals that “she took an immediate strong connection to Sean and the rest is pretty much history.”
Blu’s first owners got in touch with them to let them know he had been living with them for six years. Blu was put in a shelter when they were forced to move into a rental home that forbade pit bulls.
One of the guests that stayed in the refuge the longest was Blu.
One of the reasons it took her some time to feel comfortable around her new dads was that she had been alone for a long time.
Blu was unsure about their intentions for her and whether they intended to send her back to the shelter.
“In fact, she was afraid on the first car ride we brought her on to the beach, which was a few days after we bought her.
” Mark said, “She was just shaking in the back.
According to Mark and Sean, Blu’s personality expanded as she felt more at ease around them.
Three years later, Blu still enjoys traveling in cars after receiving lots of love and attention.
Blu was made aware of Mark and Sean’s love and yearning.
They and Blu have grown so close that they have their own unique communication style
Blu can determine where they’re going by watching her father’s movements, and she even sniffs their feet while out on a stroll.
She is probably my spirit animal, I suppose. I can sense when she’s tense, happy, or depressed. Sean said, “We just read each other pretty well.
Blu recognizes that the wiggles on Mark and Sean’s fingers are signs that she is doing okay. Sean’s stern gaze tells her to calm down.
Additionally, they worked with a trainer to teach Blu stress-relieving techniques like stretching.
The fact that Blu is deaf has no effect on how she lives her life or interacts with her new owners.
According to Mark, it only affects Blu’s ability to build relationships with other canines.
It’s beautiful to see how much Blu means to Mark and Sean.
The reciprocity of the emotion is also obvious. Blu seems to be comfortable with her new family, happy, and healthy. We are ecstatic that Blu has found a place to call her new dads home.
Below, you can watch the heartwarming tale of pit bull Blu and her two dads
Leave a Reply