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My dogs have Campylobacter jejuni. How did they get infected?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Female | unspayed | 1 year and 8 months old | 72 lbs

hi my 3 german shepherds were diagnosed with campylobacter jejuni and i dont understand how they could have got this we do have chickens but they do not go beside the dogs as they are in a fenced area please how could they have gotten this maybe there dry dog food or rabbit poo thanks

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on April 6th, 2018

Dogs become infected from campylobacter jejuni by coming into contact or ingesting infected feces, or food and water. Dogs do like to eat feces, so it could be that they stuck their head in the fenced area to eat the feces of the chickens, or ate leftover food that may have been kicked out of that area. Campylobacter spp are also commonly isolated from free-living birds, including migratory birds and waterfowl, crows, gulls, and domestic pigeons, so feces from them could have been dropped in your yard as they flew over or walked in it, and your dogs could have ingested that. It can persist for long periods of time in feces, water, and urine. In addition, wild rodents and insects such as flies have also been reported to harbor and transmit rodents and insects such as flies have also been reported to harbor and transmit c. jejuni. As you can see, there are a number of ways that your dogs could have gotten it, but it would not be from their dry dog food, and from what I have found, rabbits are not a vector for transmission. I hope this helps!

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