Ehrlichiosis

[jenfitzh20]

Has anyone had experience with this tick born disease? We have a rescue that just finished her month long treatment of tetracycline and we have to wait approx 30-45 days to retest. I've read about all I can find about it on the net, just wanted to talk to someone that might have direct experience with it. I know its more of a southern problem, my vet was not very familiar with it, actually had to do some reading on it himself. The only thing that concerns me so far is that she has had eye problems in the past, an infection that was tough to get rid of. That was one of the symptoms that I'd read about. Its the only one she's really had though. She's healthy otherwise.

 

Any advice is appreciated!

Jennifer

MKBCR

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I just wrote a bunch of stuff on this subject in this thread http://bordercollie.heatherweb.com/cgi-bin...ic;f=4;t=001231

 

There's lots of information on the web. My experience with two different dogs, was that you can get good results with the doxy, but it has to be a high enough dose and a long enough course to get it, and you have to be prepared for possible futre flareups. That happened to Ben. For the next year after he was finally diagnosed he continued to have flareups which we treated with another couple weeks of doxy. Finally the flares got less common and finally disappeared entirely.

 

There's a TBD e-mail list, which I've never actually been on since my TBD experiences both predated my ability to read a lot of internet lists. But I've heard it's a good resource.

 

Oh, I just noticed you are treating with tetra. You might want to reconsider that - it's been known for a while around here that tetra isn't really very effective against tick borne organisms anymore.

[jenfitzh20]

I'll look again to see what we treated her with. It wasn't called tetracycline but I'm pretty sure that it was the same thing.

 

I wondered about future problems. As I said this is a rescue dog that has not found a home yet. I don't know exactly what to tell prospective adopters since it appears this was caught in the very early stages (it was caught with a HW test btw). As I mentioned, she shows no signs of illness, probably in the subclinical phase.

 

Thanks for the info.

Jennifer

MKBCR

[juliepoudrier]

Jennifer,

Most of the folks on the tick list (vets included) recommend an 8-week regimen of doxycycline to treat TBDs (at 5 mg/kg body weight I believe).

 

Here's the Tick-L subscription info.

TICK-L: To subscribe, send mail to LISTSERV@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM with the command in the body of the text (copy and paste it!):

SUBSCRIBE TICK-L

 

Put nothing in the subject header.

 

It would be well worth your time to subscribe and post your question there. I would tell you to search the archives, but searching LSOFT archives is a bit arcane (I've got the directions somewhere, but suffice to say it's easier to go on and just ask the list).

 

Erlichiosis is a nasty disease and can kill a dog before you realize what's happened. You definitely want to let potential adopters know about it so they can stay on top of any recurrences. In fact, you might ask the folks on Tick-L for a standard "list" of what to look for with TBDs in general and what to do about it that you can keep on hand to give out to all adopters.

 

One thing I have learned from that list is that despite what local vets might say about the incidence (or lack thereof) in particular regions of the country, TBDs are quite widespread and should never be cast aside as a potential root cause just because of physical location.

 

Edited to add: And about the retesting thing, I think it's with erlichiosis that the titers can actually go up before they go down and so retesting too soon can give a false "positive." I believe Dr. Beckett on the list recommends retesting at 6 months. Anyway, if you post to the list, you can always ask for Dr. Beckett to respond. He's very good about it, even if he has to answer the same questions over and over. If you want specific advice for that particular rescue, it will be helpful if you can supply as much information as possible, including original test results, weight of the dog, any symptoms, and exact treatment regimen.

 

J.

[sea4th]

One thing I have learned from that list is that despite what local vets might say about the incidence (or lack thereof) in particular regions of the country, TBDs are quite widespread and should never be cast aside as a potential root cause just because of physical location

I had posted about Billy in the link Rebecca gave. Yes, this is exactly what my vet said. It's (TBD) is still in the back of my mind, but

Billy is back to normal--hungry, and a general PIA. Could this be a pattern of TBD---although I know Rebecca mentioned there is not always rhyme or reason to TBD. Since Billy is obviously feeling better, still on antibiotics, can I assume it's not a TBD? If, just on the side of caution, I put him on doxy while he's feeling better, then what?

 

TBD is still in the back of my mind, but what the vet told me took away a lot of the concern.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

Any type of antibiotic can reduce the flareup by basically killing off the weaker members of the protozoan population. Then you will see a time when the balance between the organism and your dog's immune system, swings in favor of the dog's immune system. The dog will appear healthy as the disease goes "subclinical" again.

 

The problem of course is that by removing the competition between susceptible ehrlichia individuals and those NOT sensitive to regular antibiotics, you are creating a population of bugs that will require doxy or something else in that family, to kill. Ben ended up having IV doxy to stop the cycle when he was first diagnosed.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I hit add reply too quick. I meant to add, what I'd do in your case, is watch him like a hawk and the first little thing that comes up again - whether a bout of diarhea, or a hot spot, or a spell of general malaise, I'd get him to the vet as fast as possible and ask that they go ahead and just try out the doxy. The thing is, he'd be right at the end of the usual extent of a subclinical phase. IF he has it, he will either overcome the bug by himself at this point, or it will go very bad very quickly.

[jenfitzh20]

Thanks for all the info and advice guys. I have to agree with my vet that this is not a common disease for this part of the country. We have all of our rescues tested and in 4 yrs, this is the first case we've had. Reguardless, we have it now so I need to educate myself.

 

Thanks again for your help.

Jennifer

MKBCR