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Diagnosis and Treatment Options for Toxoplasmosis in Dogs

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This disease is a worldwide zoonotic protozoan disease that is widely present in livestock and wild animals. Its presence has been reported throughout the country. [Key Points of Diagnosis] (1) Clinical symptoms: Most cases are asymptomatic latent infections. Infections are more common and symptoms are more severe in young dogs and adolescent dogs, and fatal cases also occur in adult dogs. The symptoms resemble canine distemper and infectious canine hepatitis, mainly manifested as fever, cough, anorexia, listlessness, weakness, discharge from the eyes and nose, pale mucous membranes, difficulty breathing, and even severe bloody

This disease is a worldwide zoonotic protozoan disease that is widely present in livestock and wild animals. Its presence has been reported throughout the country.

[Key Points of Diagnosis]

(1) Clinical symptoms: Most cases are asymptomatic latent infections. Infections are more common and symptoms are more severe in young dogs and adolescent dogs, and fatal cases also occur in adult dogs. The symptoms resemble canine distemper and infectious canine hepatitis, mainly manifested as fever, cough, anorexia, listlessness, weakness, discharge from the eyes and nose, pale mucous membranes, difficulty breathing, and even severe hemorrhagic diarrhea. A small number of affected dogs experience severe vomiting, followed by paralysis and other neurological symptoms. Pregnant female dogs may abort or give birth prematurely, and the puppies born often show symptoms such as loose stools, difficulty breathing, and ataxia. Blood tests: In the acute phase, red and white blood cell counts decrease, neutrophils increase; neutropenia and monocytosis are relatively rare; in chronic cases, the total white blood cell count increases, mainly due to an increase in neutrophils, and platelets decrease, but there is no bleeding tendency.

(2) Laboratory tests: Relying only on clinical symptoms makes it very easy to confuse this disease with canine distemper, especially the neurological form of canine distemper. Therefore, after comprehensive assessment including epidemiological analysis and clinical symptoms, a definitive diagnosis can only be made by detecting the pathogen or confirming an increase in serum antibody titer.

[Treatment]

For acute infection cases, sulfadiazine (SD) can be used at 70 mg per kilogram of body weight, or trimethoprim (TMP) at 14 mg per kilogram of body weight, administered orally twice a day for 3-4 consecutive days. Because sulfadiazine has low solubility and more easily precipitates as crystals in urine, an equal amount of sodium bicarbonate should be given along with oral administration, and water intake should be increased. In addition, sulfamonomethoxine (sulfamonomethoxine, sulfamonomethoxine, SMM, DS-36) or sulfadiazine-sulfadimethoxine (SDDS) may be used.

[Prevention]

Do not feed raw meat, prevent dogs from preying on rodents, and prevent cat feces from contaminating feed and drinking water.

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