Leishmania was discovered in 1900 by Scottish
bacteriologist, Sir William Boog Leishman, while serving as a
colonel with the British Army in India. This disease is classed
as a tropical disease. Cats cannot contract
it.
Over the years the disease has spread to
other countries, sometimes under other names, the Sandfly disease
being the most common. This name is misleading because the
disease has nothing to do with
sand or flies. I never let my dog go on the beach because of
the sandflies is an often heard remark. The beach has nothing to do
with it. Your dog is equally at risk in town, country, woodland or
wherever. Mediterranean disease is another name, even though it is
found as far north as Lyon in France.
Leishmania is an immuno suppressive disease,
which means that it breaks down the natural ability of the body to
fight off diseases. In this way it is vaguely similar to AIDS
in humans. There are two types of Leishmania: Cutaneous and
Visceral. Cutaneous affects the skin and Visceral attacks the
internal organs. The best person to advise you about which kind your
dog has is your vet. Each case is different, and so is the form the
treatment will take.
Newcomers to Spain are surprised when they learn about
Leishmania. They have rarely heard about it (if at all) in
their own country. Visitors from Northern Europe who bring their dog
with them for a holiday often comment that they wish they had not -
and rightly so if, in their ignorance of the disease, they subjected
their dogs to the possibility of contracting
it.
Any dog can catch Leishmania but there is
evidence to indicate that shorthaired dogs are more susceptible as
obviously the offending mosquito can more easily penetrate the skin.
Bear in mind two very important facts: there is no cure and there is
no vaccination against the disease. However there are treatments
which can afford an affected dog long periods of remission, often
reminiscent of a cure. A dog with Leishmania in a mild degree can
live to a very ripe old age.
What are the symptoms?
Watch out for prolonged nail growth, ulceration of the ear tips,
thick dandruff, bald patches on the skin, sunglasses effect around
the eyes, getting thin although eating well (in this latter case,
check firstly for worms), whiteness of the cornea of the eyes. These
are all warning signs that your dog could have Leishmania. The
only way to make absolutely sure is to visit your vet who will
analyse a blood sample and you will have the results within a day or
so. It is indeed a relief when the results prove negative. We all
want to care for our dogs to the best of our ability and care means
preventing your dog from getting this ultimately fatal disease and
it can certainly be prevented.
You can do a lot to ensure
that your dog does not get Leishmania.The disease is carried by a
certain type of mosquito, so small that it is virtually invisible to
the human eye. The creature flies at dusk and at night
whenever the temperature is over 20 degrees Celsius. In the south of
Spain, especially, this can occur in the middle of winter. There is
a belief that the mosquitoes are very low flying and therefore dogs
in a high building are safer. This is true only to a very limited
degree. A strong wind can carry mosquitoes to great heights.
To maximise protection for your dog you
should never let him sleep out at night. Of course, it would like to
sleep out on your terrace or balcony on those hot summer nights, but
you are its guardian and you make any decisions in its best
interests. Your dog should be indoors as soon as darkness falls and
temperatures are 20 degrees Celsius or higher. The room in which it
sleeps should also be protected. Open windows, if a necessity during
summer nights should be covered with mosquito netting, which you can
buy cheaply at any hardware store. If stretched on a wooden
frame it does not obscure your views and has the added bonus that it
also keeps wasps and other nasty insects out.
There is a very special insect repellent
collar called Scalibor that is highly recommended
by all vets, which will protect your dog from bites from this
mosquito and also from fleas and ticks and, unlike the tick and flea
collar, lasts for 6 months as opposed to 3 months. There is
also a lotion called X Spot which comes in ampulets and as an
alternative to the Scalibur collar should be
applied to the back of the neck and rump of your dog. This will take
either one or two ampulets, depending on the size of your
dog. An extra protection is to use those small mosquito gadgets
sold in many shops that use tables or liquid and plug into
electricity points. This all sounds very extreme but, with
something as serious as this, it is necessary to take extreme
measures.
There are also those of us who have so many
dogs that it would be impossible for them all to be indoors after
dusk but X Spot and Scalibor collars will protect your dogs from
bites if they live outside in the open.
For other important
information about dogs diseases in Spain visit these
web sites:
Dogs:
www.leishmaniasis.info
PotentiallyDangerous dogs:
http://www.mapausa.org/eng/nc_9.htm
Cats:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_leukemia_virus
Dog Transport to the UK
Recommended by people
that have used them... http://www.granalacantplaza.eu/forum/showthread.php?t=12524
Why
you should never buy an animal from a pet shop in
spain....
I would like to inform
everybody of the experience I received from buying 2 kittens and 1
puppy from the pet shop (Hobby Zoo) at the Carrefour Shopping Centre
in Finestrat (Benidorm).
Back in October 2007 I
purchased 2 kittens one boy and one girl, they there both 8 weeks
old and cost 500€ each, there breed was English Blue, about 6 weeks
later the girl became quite ill, I took her to our family vet in
Alfaz Del Pi, and she had various tests and I was told to bring the
other kitten in for tests as she had a condition called PIF which
was contagious only with cats.
Fortunately the boy cat got the all clear. The little girl was weak and
did not respond to any treatment, a week before Christmas I was told
she had about 48 hours to live and she passed away peacefully on the
Monday before Christmas.
The vet did say it was not the PIF that she died from but she
was a weak and poorly kitten. Followed by a 650€ vets bill. I did not go back to the pet
shop as at the time I thought it was one of those things, they
happen.
Then on October 2008 I
purchased a puppy, she was also 8 weeks old and was a King Charles
Spaniel, then in the January she developed a cough, one of those
irritating ones, it did not bother her but after a week I took her
to the family vet and he did an x ray and said she had a little
fluid on one side of her lung and she had some antibiotics and had
to keep going back every 5 days for a check up. She was not responding to
any treatment so I felt she needed to go to the Vet Hospital in
Alfaz for a second opinion, after many tests and tablets and going
back and forth she slowly deteriorated, she stayed in the hospital
for over a week and was allowed to come home but the vet said it was
a very “grave” situation, she had 2 days with me and then totally
unexpected she died in my arms. This absolutely destroyed me
with grief, this time I had 2 vets bills that came to over a
1000€!
After I had the ashes
back and sat down to try to understand why this had happened twice
in just over a year I decided to visit the pet shop, as always when
you buy something they can speak English but when you have a problem
they don’t understand so I took a translator as although I can speak
Spanish to a moderate level I wanted to be sure on exactly what was
being said.
In a nut shell I was
told pets only get a 15 day guarantee! You get more on a washing
machine!! And I should have had an autopsy on both animals, little
late after they had been cremated. So I decided to obtain as
much information that I could from both the family vet and the pet
hospital and complete a “Hoja de Reclamación” as
during this information collecting it was highlighted to me that all
3 animals had been born in Slovakia and imported into
Spain.
Two weeks later I
received a letter from the pet shop stating that this had never
happened before and they are not at fault, and it could possibly be
my fault with about 5 reasons, for example; maybe bathing the
animals and taking them out in the cold and such like. I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT
THIS WAS NOT THE CASE.
What I am trying to
get across is; if you totally forget the total expense I have paid,
the more important issue is the importing of puppies and kittens
from countries like Slovakia etc. They are transported in bad
conditions and some are even dead when they arrive I have been
informed. So as English animal lovers we need to stop buying animals
from these types of pet shops and try to put a stop on these poor
animals being brought into Spain!
There are so many
Animal Rescue Centers here in Spain who are full to capacity and all
these animals need loving homes. I have discovered that they provide
all the treatment necessary to ensure that the dogs and
cats are in good health before they are adopted. So
think twice before buying a family pet from a pet shop. I have
recently adopted a small dog from the K9 Club Animal Welfare Charity
and she is perfect.
Paul Christopher
Ashwell
Benidorm
Helping The Animals, Fostering And
Donations:
The
La Marina Web team works very closely with the K9 Club and the La
Marina Animal Welfare committee. If you are an animal lover and
would like to be considered as a dog or cat fosterer we would
like to hear from you. We need people that can foster
a dog or a cat for a short period. If you are a member of a club or
group maybe you can organise a collection of bric-a-brac
etc; which can be sold on our market stall to raise funds for
abandoned animals. Also, If you have a particular expertise or
hobby perhaps you can organise a fund raising event for the K9 Club.
Events such as a 'Coffee Morning' can be used to raise funds for the
animals, we have lots of material that we can provide free for
events like this.
The
actions of just a few people working together to
assist animals in distress will have a life saving
impact on them and many times lead to a happy union with
a lost owner or a new loving companion. Another way is to
make a donation to help us pay for veterinary treatment, food
and accomodation of the animals. You can use a Credit
Card or a Paypal account .
