The Connection Between Lepto, Acute Kidney Injury

Years ago, veterinarians were taught that the azotemic icteric dog was classically leptospirosis. But Justine Lee, DVM, DACVECC, DABT, founder of VETgirl, says that this has changed. Now, veterinarians are seeing that 80% of the time it is just acute kidney injury. Dr. Lee says that 10 to 20% of the time, veterinarians see both the azotemic patient and the jaundice patient.

Leptospirosis is the No. 1 zoonotic disease seen in the world, she continues, and even though it is less common in North America than other regions, it is definitely something we need to worry about.