Neospora Caninum

My heart sank the first time I experienced coming into a room and seeing a five week old puppy that had been perfectly fine a few hours before, now barely able to get up and walk. His hind end just didn’t seem to want to cooperate. He seemed fine otherwise, just couldn’t get his back legs to move how he wanted them to, and he would wobble and tip over. I’d never experienced anything like this and had no idea what was going on. No temperature. Eating just fine. No indication of injury. The onset of symptoms was sudden and swift. I raced him to the vet and had a full blood workup and x-rays done. Still no answers.

I was so worried and uncertain.

I turned to a private breeding forum that I participated in and posted about my puppy situation. Within an hour I’d received a private message from another breeder that had information to give me that proved invaluable. She had experienced the same thing on several occasions and a simple course of Clindamycin had cured the wobbly puppy issue. I called my vet and told her of this other breeder’s experience, and thankfully she was willing to let me try the same thing. I raced to the vet clinic and picked up the antibiotic.

It worked!

Within a day I noticed slight improvement, and within two days my puppy was walking normally. I was so relieved! We finished a full course of the antibiotics and all was well. No other puppies were affected with the same thing in the litter and no relapse with the same wobbly issue again.

A few years later, the same thing happened in another litter. This time with two puppies, and again at five weeks of age. We went through bloodwork and x-rays again to rule out anything obvious. Since the puppies were unable to walk due to extreme back end wobbling and weakness, and we had no obvious answers, we tried the Clindamycin antibiotic treatment again. And again, it worked. And the next year, we experienced the same again with another litter…..and again only one puppy. At this point I knew that some bacteria or virus or parasite or protozoa had to be the cause of the issue, but why only one or two puppies in an entire litter being affected, and why at the same age?

Years later we had answers.

We now know that the issue is likely Neospora Caninum. It can be harbored in the dam’s system and it is believed to be passed to puppies through the open umbilical cord at birth. Some pups will be affected once the neospora grow to a certain point in their system, and others will not. The immune system is likely a factor in who is affected, as well as the umbilical cord transmission being greater in some pups than others.

In order to help prevent Neospora Caninum from affecting a puppy or two in your litters, use iodine or Vetericyn 7 and dip each cord as soon as a puppy is born. And in the event you end up with a puppy that suddenly has a wobbly back end and no other symptoms and no injury, ask your vet about Neospora Caninum and treating your puppy with Clindamycin.