Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Thanks! I took that Mont St Michel last month. I think Carbon must have been thinking about his dinner!
Wahooooo!!!! First negative Leishmaniasis test!
- Thread starter Emily_Babbelhund
- Start date
- Location
- Herefordshire, UK
Love that!
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Vet just WhatsApped me and said to keep taking the Alopurinol until the end of the year. So even 'peace, love and granola' vet agrees that sometimes you need the drugs. 
We'll test again in December and then MAYBE he's off the medication with continued regular testing to monitor.
We'll test again in December and then MAYBE he's off the medication with continued regular testing to monitor.
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
Yeah, I agree that a single negative test is far too soon to be coming off the Allo. I’m going to tell you a secret and I’ve taken Squidge off it against my vet’s advice. But she has never … not once … had a positive Leish result on a blood panel. Just a single antibody test in house (ie a 20 minute test rather than one sent out to a pro lab). Which should be enough to confirm that she had Leish but, considering she has never had a single symptom, and that every single Lab test (at €250 a pop, every six months) has come back negative, I just don’t believe that initial result. Everyone keeps telling me that there no such thing as a false positive with Leish antibody tests (and the internet research I’ve done supports that), but I question whether there was any chance of cross-contamination.
Because all my other dogs are negative. Squidge goes nowhere the others don’t. She was still very young when diagnosed (2 years) and the others have all been in our environment much longer. Nothing about it makes any sense. So, my vets - both in Spain and Andorrà - keep on saying she has to be on the allo for life, but a) that’s not the Leishvet protocol and b) I still don’t think she ever had it. So… no. No more unnecessary drugs. Regular blood tests, for the rest of her life, but unless anything changes, I’m not going to put her back on the allo.
It’s a different story with Carboncito, he’s a definite positive, so I do agree that he should follow the protocol and have three clear tests before taking him off it, because flare-ups are potentially serious.
Because all my other dogs are negative. Squidge goes nowhere the others don’t. She was still very young when diagnosed (2 years) and the others have all been in our environment much longer. Nothing about it makes any sense. So, my vets - both in Spain and Andorrà - keep on saying she has to be on the allo for life, but a) that’s not the Leishvet protocol and b) I still don’t think she ever had it. So… no. No more unnecessary drugs. Regular blood tests, for the rest of her life, but unless anything changes, I’m not going to put her back on the allo.
It’s a different story with Carboncito, he’s a definite positive, so I do agree that he should follow the protocol and have three clear tests before taking him off it, because flare-ups are potentially serious.
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
How frustrating if you and she both had to go through all that on the basis of one test that you didn't trust. I don't put much faith in the "Why does only one of my dogs have it when all are in the same environment?" argument as different dogs seem to have wildly differing propensities to get infected, with little rhyme or reason. I heard a lot in Spain that non-Spanish breeds (ie Labs, Rottweilers, GSDs) were more likely to get than native breeds, yet clearly Bods, Spanish mastiffs, etc. get it all the time too.
As you say, there was never any doubt that Carbon was positive as he's tested positive over and over in two different countries. What I don't understand with Squidge is the insistence that she continue with the Alopurinol after so long with negative tests? I thought the accepted protocol was stopping after 2 negative tests, the first one given 6 months after Milteforan or meglumine antimoniate (the brand name is escaping me).
The Alopurinol isn't a burden financially (just as cheap here in Germany as in Spain and I get the script at the same time as Carbon's check up, so that's no added cost), but I want to get off it because of the side effects. Who knows what amazing bladder stones Carbon is currently incubating and that's always a worry.
Oh my goodness, is that what you pay in Spain? The only test Carbon had in Spain was a snap test given by the shelter, so I don't know what a lab test would be in Cadiz, but here in Germany I pay EUR 80 plus the cost of the vet visit, so about half what you're paying in Spain. Yikes!
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
Yep, that's the cost of the full panel of bloods, including Leish, which is done in an external laboratory.
I had in my head that it was after three tests, but I may be misremembering. I thought that it was at the earliest, eighteen months after the end of treatment. But I could totally be wrong!
Glucantime, which is what Squidge had. Yeah, both my vet here and in Andorra follow the mantra that once they've been diagnosed, they're on allo for life. I think it's like a lot of things, there's old fashioned ways of doing it, and there are more modern ways of doing it, and if they're still going on what they learned in the olden days (not that either of them is particularly old, but the syllabus they studied might be) then they just stick with what they know? I have no idea what CPD looks like for vets
I had in my head that it was after three tests, but I may be misremembering. I thought that it was at the earliest, eighteen months after the end of treatment. But I could totally be wrong!
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
PS love that you remember "meglumine antimoniate" but not the brand name which is about half as long 
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
No, you're right. Carbon had his Milteforan in September, so should have been tested in March. I decided not to do that because we were in the UK. So technically the test he had last week should have been his 2nd, and the one coming in December would be his third. So...18 months. For the UK, it was lockdown but mainly I haven't yet found a vet who knows what to do with Leish. Two out of three (so far) didn't know what it was and the third thought it was treated with antibiotics. It didn't fill me with confidence.
While I'd love to be considered a quirky genius who can hold long medication names in my head, the truth is that Google coughed up the drug name and try as I might, I couldn't find (or remember) the brand name. Oops.PS love that you remember "meglumine antimoniate" but not the brand name which is about half as long
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
Ugh, yeah. You need to find yourself a Spanish vet working in the UK! The practice my mum and sister take their dogs to has a Spanish vet, but that's probably just a *touch* out of your way, considering it's in Surrey
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Just a wee drive up the road from Cornwall.probably just a *touch* out of your way, considering it's in Surrey
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
Our practice has a Spanish vet. Apparently vets are very hard to come by these days, my practice are advertising for a vet and haven't had one application!