Neosporia, dogs and walking in the countryside

[palo1]

Following some discussion on another thread about dog poo, walking in the countryside and an article on the radio this morning where a farmer discussed the problem of neosporia in his herd I thought the following information was really interesting. We regularly discuss the best way to manage pets, access and farmland here at home but don't always agree on the answers. It is clearly more difficult in some places than others but I did find both of these articles informative and helpful. I hope others might too!!

https://www.checs.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/MO2480_NeosporaReport_v6_3001.pdf

https://www.farmhealthonline.com/disease-management/cattle-diseases/neospora-caninum/

The farmer on the radio this morning (R4 farming programme) sounded really upset but reading through these docs the issue is clearly more complex than it has been presented. (of course!!) Enjoy...

 

[Parrotperson]

I always wonder what they do about the farm dogs. They must be liable to spread neosporia on the farm. ??

 

[Moobli]

I haven't read the articles yet but will try to find time a little later. I religiously worm my dogs and hubby's sheepdogs which I think goes some way to alleviating the problem and pick up away from home in fields.

 

[Bearsmum]

Our local land owner has sadly had this on his farm over winter & lost a lot of cattle, he has now asked that all dogs are kept on a lead & poo removed, I'm not sure how cooperative the public are being, but if they don't comply they will lose the permissive access walks, I think some of the issue has been a lot of people driving to the village to walk their dogs along the river & not cleaning up after; last summer I removed bags and bags of empty drinks tins , crisp bags, discarded picnic & barbecue gear, though pulled short of cleaning up after other peoples dogs

 

[palo1]

I always wonder what they do about the farm dogs. They must be liable to spread neosporia on the farm. ??

Farm dogs are the most likely contact (in canine terms) unfortunately as they are in the closest contact with cattle but infected heifers brought in to a herd (dairy for example) are also high risk. That is not to say that visiting dogs may not cause issues but as the incubation period is around 2-9 days and lasts for 2 weeks (so just over 3 weeks in total) there is generally a higher risk of multiple farm dogs who are not showing the infection passing it on rather than visiting dogs. Other animals certainly get neosporia but the jury is out on how likely they are to spread it, other than rats who are a known high risk due to their contact with cattle feed.