Leishmaniosis is a parasitic disease transmitted by sandflies affecting dogs across the Mediterranean, Middle East, and South America. It causes progressive multi-system disease, and welfare management requires lifelong treatment in most cases.
Dogs with progressive leishmaniosis experience a wide range of welfare harms depending on disease stage. Skin manifestations cause chronic discomfort from scaling, ulceration, and secondary infections. Ocular disease causes pain and potentially blindness. Renal failure — the most serious complication — causes nausea, weakness, anorexia, and the profound malaise of uraemia. The chronicity of the disease means welfare impacts accumulate over months to years without appropriate management. Treatment can achieve clinical remission in many dogs, improving welfare substantially, but relapses are common and the dog requires lifelong monitoring. The decision to continue treatment versus euthanasia in end-stage renal disease should be guided by quality-of-life assessment rather than serology alone.