Any doggy experts/vets heard of this faulty gene?

[sb6699]

Probably a long shot but here goes.

We're rehoming a labrador puppy. He is coming from a farm and we have been told they are rehoming him as he carries a gene which causes cattle to miscarry their young.

Have tried googling but can't find anything.

Can anyone put a name to this or give me any more information about it.

It sounds like its going to be something you aren't going to want round young kids tbh, and what if you got pregnant?

At a guess the only thing I know of that dogs can get and causes cow abortion is lepto, but the strains don't match up?

brief info here

How old is the puppy?

Thanks Nutterly. Don't know if its this as apparently it only affects cattle (not humans or other dogs, or even horses and suchlike).

The puppy is 6 months old and lives on a cattle farm hence why it needs rehoming.

Would like to find out a bit more about this gene though before I agree as I need to make sure it really doesn't affect other animals (we have dogs next door, a livery stables down the road and free range pheasants roaming around).

Apparently its very rare and it something he was born with rather than something he "caught" so isn't a disease.

I could be wrong, and I'm not a vet (just an ex vet nurse with degree-level biology) but it sounds like bull**it to me. Apologies for the French!

How would a gene affect another species? The dog can't breed with them!

Or do they mean a parasite, like this:

here

Given that they're aaying it can't be treated (which presumably a parasite could) and it's a 6 month old pup (the age at which people typically tire of puppies) I would be very sceptical about the reasons they have given you.

Best of luck.

I'm a vet, and I've never heard of anything like this- sorry!! Can't see how a gene in a dog could cause miscarriage in cattle- a virus, or other infectious cause, yes, but not sure how a gene could do this. Bit sceptical, tbh!

I would say its bollocks too.
A parasite maybe, a caught disease the same but not something genetic

Thanks for your replies. Maybe I've misunderstood what they've told me.

It does sound like the parasite in your link but they definately told me it couldn't be treated - I take it that the parasite could be treated (sorry, i'm not very knowledgable about these things).

Looks like I will have to get some further information from them.

Jools, do you know if there is anything untreatable which could cause this (the dog is not ill btw).

Okay, some more of the story.

DH is just home and he has been dealing with this.

The dog is almost 1 year old. Apparently the family are distraught about having to rehome the dog and are really worried about telling their kids and so on so I don't think they've tired of it.

We are getting the dog through a lady who runs a dog charity so we don't know the family directly but are going on what she tells us. She said the family have had the dog to various vets who have all said the condition is untreatable.

It is passed to the cattle when the dog does the toilet.

Is this of any further help.

Can't think of anything untreatable, as such. The only causes of spontaneous abortion in cattle that I can think of are leptospirosis (but the puppy would be most likely be ill too) and brucellosis, which is a notifiable disease and not carried by dogs, to my knowledge. Neospora caninum can be treated, although not always successfully, with an antibiotic called clindamycin, but again, it can also cause disease in the puppy (if memory serves me rightly!) I'd ask them for further info.

sorry- x-posted!! I think neospora caninum is the most likely culprit from what you say, but I'd want to know what condition the vets are saying is untreatable. N. caninum can be passed from mum to puppy, so may be congenital rather than genetic. But it can cause neurological signs in the puppy, so further questioning would be warranted, I think! Good luck!

Thanks for that Jooly will defo find out more and try googling the things you have suggested.

The fact that the puppy could become ill is really giving me second thoughts though!

DH has also just mentioned that the thing the puppy has is apparently more often found in cats and it is unusual for a dog to have it. Does this fit with N Caninum.

If so, I'm worried about the neurological effects. I don't think it would be a good idea to have a puppy with this sort of problem with the dc's around although the puppy is apparently of a delightful nature, I suppose this could change.

Not sure about the cat thing, but N. caninum was originally though to be a strain of toxoplasma gondii, which IS a cat parasite, so that could tie in??

Okay, thanks jooly, appreciate your input.

no problem! I gave up large animal work a good few years ago, though, so you have forced my rusty brain to dredge up things I had forgotten! Let me know how it all works out

Toxo can be treated, though.
And i would also be concerned to be rehoming a dog with untreated toxo when you have children TBH.

Get more information and maybe spek with the vet who says it is untreatable.
Toxo takes alot of time to treat and it will be expensive to do further tests to check it's gone..

The disease is most likely neospora which causes neurological 9nervous system) problems in dogs.
it is usually passed to puppies by the mother- it isn't a genetic problem, but the mother is infected and then passes it on when she is pregnant.

There is no treatment for the female dog to stop her passing the infection onto the puppies- but there are some antibiotics that might fight an infection in a puppy.
If one puppy is affected then all of the puppies in the litter need to be treated.

The disease can be quite a problem in younger puppies and they can end up paralysed- if the infection becomes apparent later in life then it may not be so bad for that dog.

The infection is passed onto cattle through dog faces of infected dogs.

Sooo- I'm surpirsed they aren't trying to get you to take the mother (or they may ahve already got rid of her) as she is the main problem on the farm.
This puppy may well ahve been affected so it is worth asking if he has any problems walking etc.

As far as i know, it isn't a problem for people.

I would ask how they know the dog has had this disease and how he has been affected and what treatment he has had.

Obviously you need to speak to your pet insurance company when you take him to see what is and isn't coered.

But there's no big reason why you shouldn't hahve him if he is well and not paralysed/badly affexted...

I will have a nother look around- I muct admit I've never seen a pup with neospora and I've bene working for ever and have seen a whole load of stuff- having worked in charitya nd emergency clinics for 20yrs.

so it's not surprising the details are sketchy.

The information I can find just now also suggests that the litter of an affected bitch shouldn't be bred from either to prevent further passage of the infection.

So your original advice doesn't sound so far fetched.