Neosporosis-related losses cost the beef industry an estimated $111 million annually, writes Lindsay Waechter-Mead. The disease is transmitted through Neospora caninum an intracellular parasite. Canines that feed on infected cattle carcasses or placenta become infected and become a host where the parasite multiplies in the intestinal tract. Stable neospora oocytes are shed in the feces of infected dogs and coyotes where cattle ingest them in contaminated feedstuffs or water sources.
There is no treatment for neosporosis in cattle, so management of feedstuffs and water sources coupled with limiting canine access to cattle areas and carcasses is important. Testing replacement heifers is an option in order to keep only those that are negative.
Source: Progressive Cattle, April 2025. Link.
Bovine neosporosis can cause abortions between four and seven months of gestation, and the dam doesn’t show any symptoms until it occurs.”
Related: Neosporosis for dogs, CAPC, February 7, 2025. Link. Neospora caninum is a leading cause of neuromuscular disorder in dogs. In the United States, 7 percent of pet dogs tested from 35 states were seropositive in a 2007 study. Free-roaming dogs, dogs residing in the presence of cattle, rural dogs (vs city dogs) and breeds such as basset hounds, boxers, German shorthaired pointers, golden retrievers, greyhounds, and Labrador retrievers are more commonly seropositive.
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