Thanks to MagickDolphin for the following:

ProtaTek Labs does a tick panel that includes erlichiosis, babesiosis, rocky mountain spott fever, lymne disease and valley fever for $53. This price is for greys ONLY.

Anyone who has done any tbd testing knows what a great price this is.

Your vet can send directly to:

ProtaTek Labs
574 East Alamo Street, Suite #90
Chandler, AZ 85225
Phone: 480-545-8499
Fax: 480-545-8409

www.protatek.com/ProtaTek_Reference_Lab/Greyhounds/body_greyhounds.html

I'm sure your vet will charge for shipping and drawing the blood, but even so it's an unbelievable price!

IMO every grey should have one done

That really is an unbelievable price, Diane, thanks for posting it.

Wow Diane! That's Greyt! Thanks for the post.

Bumping this up

Thank you so much Burpdog... that has convinced me to do the test.

Very good price! I am going to discuss this with our vet at the next visit. My dogs have no symptoms of any kind but I believe in erring on the side of caution! They have not been tested, to my knowledge, for these things.

Bumping this up. Maybe "someone" (hint) could move this to Greyt Information?

Or possibly have it pinned to the top of this section!

I realize that this testing is expensive. You would think that if it became a standard test before adopting out ex-racers, the cost could be driven down considerably. I spoke to the local facility here in Jacksonville about adding this test before adoption, and they said it would drive up the adoption price by $50.00. Currently, it costs $180 to adopt a racer here. This fee includes nutering/spaying, a vet visit, and 6 months of Heart Worm meds. I would definately be willing to pay the extra amount for piece of mind.

Is this a test that you feel ALL retired racers should have? Even those without symptoms?

The problem with TBD is sometimes by the time the symptoms manifest themselves, the treatment is much more difficult. Our group has a once-a-year thing that we can sign up for and get low cost tick disease testing (all greys). THey've arranged it through one of the Banfield places. I know of two or three people whose dogs tested positive for both babesia and erlichia with no symptoms. Treated and eradicated in both cases as far as I know.

Cobabana: I think it's a good thing to do. As I said in another thread, on the dogs of mine that haven't had one, it's the first test we do when they get sick. IMO it would be much better to plan the test. As jananice said, some do not show symptoms. On future dogs that come into my house, it will be done immediately

Having greys tested before adoption is a tricky thing. People who don't fully understand the diseases might pass on a positive dog.

I believe one of the groups in the WA area(now defunct) was testing all dogs that came through...and keeping records on how many and which dogs tested positive. With the prevalence of TBD in retired racers it seems like a good idea...

I seen one of the reports and the incidence rate was extremely high. I seen it just before or shortly after adopting Sunny. So when I took him in for his first checkup, my first request was to have a tick panel done.

I have used this lab in Arizona mainly because they have a national reputation for being very accurate in their results. The agency in Florida from which I adopted my last four greys recommended my vet send the test to them. Two were positive and treated with ease.

I am a newbie and don't understand this health issue. Is it regional? We live in Illinois. Please explain what this disease is and how a dog gets it. Thanks!

It is not regional because the dogs travel and I think all the states and Canada have ticks. There are tick borne diseases (hence the initials TBD), caused by a tick biting a dog (or human). This is not confined to greyhounds--any breed can come down with them (as well as humans). There is erlichiosis, babesios, rocky mountain spotted fever and lyme disease. I think there are more, but those are the prevelant ones. There are some threads in this section that have links to sites that explain TBDs. Let me know if you cannot find them and I'll help you

Ticks and tick disease is a universal problem, lyme disease is a growing problem in Ontario, there has even been 1 report of babesia occurring here as well. Since ticks will even use birds as their host, these diseases can be spread long distances. Ticks, native to South America are being found on birds here when they are captured in the bird sanctuaries for indentification and banding.

The agency we adopted our grey from highly recommended this test and gave us a coupon to use at either of two vets in the area to have the test done for $55. Not thinking that my vet would be much more, since he is a grey vet affiliated with another adoption agency, I had him do the panel and it was $88 and $5 for the draw. Oh well, live and learn. It is worth it though to know she is okay and not a carrier.

Thank you so much for all the helpful info.
I've had GHs for 4 yrs. now. We have a very Greyt Vet. & i'm setting here and wandering out of all the work done on our 4 babies... has this been done ?
I'll let you know in a little while.... gotta make a phone call.

This is a VERY important test, and should be done to all greys. I do agree that the added cost will turn away potential adopters, and a positive test can have the same effect. The group I got 4 of my hounds from, offered the test as an option for cost at a miracle deal price. The risk of TBD was explained, as well as the ambiguity or lack of symptoms in a positive dog. I had a dog that almost died from chronic ehrlichiosis, and had been incorrectly diagnosed and treated for epilepsy for a year and a half, by an otherwise very knowledgeable vet. IMO offering the test at a reduced price after adoption, with a thorough briefing on the risks of ignoring TBD is a good way to do it.

Teri and the greyherd

Thanks for the info...when I can finally adopt it will be the first thing that I have done

so many vets around the country are not familiar with TBDs. TBDs mimic so many other diseases that by the time symptoms occur, unknowledgeable vets are treating your dogs for everything under the sun, except the correct cause which equals a lot of unnecessary dollars thrown at the disease with no results. also, if steriods are used before finding out the symptoms are caused by TBD, the steriods may interfere with the correct treatment for tick disease.

I had one dog (who went to the rainbow bridge from other causes) that was positive to babesia. I didn't get a chance to treat her. two of my four greys have tick disease. one had babesia, was treated with Imizol then tested negative a year after treatment. one has babesia and erlichia, was treated with Imizol and is still positive to both diseases. her babesia titer was cut in half a year later but her erlichia titer went up. dr. suzanne stack said that her bone marrow might be dumping the erlichia cells into her blood stream in an effort to rid the body of the disease. she said she rarely worries about a dog after treatment with Imizol. our still positive dog was treated with a lengthy dose of Doxycycline and we plan to re-test her once again in the spring and see where her titer is. In the meantime, she has no symptoms but at least we know what we have should something start happening. our other two dogs tested negative.

I will caution folks not test a dog too soon off the track. our rose was tested within a few months of retirement and tested negative. a good friend suggested testing her again 9 months later which I did and she came out positive to babesia. the thought is that she was recently affected/bitten and her body didn't have time to build up noticeable antibodies before the first test. for this reason, not to mention the expense is why many groups are unable to test all of the dogs coming through their system. even if groups do test all of their dogs, if the dog was recently retired before testing, I would test them again a year later just to be on the safe side.

I test any greys that come into my care. In the future, if I were able to do adoption and placement on a larger scale, I would probably end up just putting each dog on a 2 week course of doxycycline just in case they were Lyme positive, since that is the most common TBD, at least in the greys I encounter here.

Lynn

I just had Riley tested for TBD and he came back with a positive titer for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. He is not symptomatic yet, and we are going to run him through a course of Antibiotics. My question is...I cannot find any information on the symptoms of this disease. Please get your dog's tested. Riley came from a track in Wisconsin so location does not matter!

Have any Ontario residents asked their vets about the low price? Will they send to Protatek, or do they send to UGuelph instead (who might in turn send the samples to Protatek)? My vet told me $300 for the tick panel (he's a vet that GLOHW sometimes uses, although my dog came from GRA)!

Hi Anne: That price is likely the cost the vet quoted you was to tested here in Ontario, that was about what I paid before I knew about Protatek. You might be better off having the vet draw the blood and you ship it yourself. Another option is GINA will have some new dogs coming in on March 9th. Their bloodtest is done on the 10th in Oakville their vet then sends the blood to the Port Colbourne vet and on the 11th in Port Colbourne, it is shipped to Protatek, it may be possible for GINA to include your sample with their shipment(not guaranteeing it) In my signature line is a link to their website, you could try reaching them through their contact list to see, if this is possible.

Another person who also adopted from GRA sent their samples out themselves, I included the details that they posted in another bulletin board based in Ontario.

hello sir/madame, i m extremely upset cos my newfoundland dog age 7 years was diagnosed with babesia canis treated for 1 week on 20 feb 2003,recovered v well.then became extremely lathargic after exertion one day in march 1st week.then stopped eating on april 20th i got him tested for b.canis blood slide method nothing was seen so no treatment.became fine with navalgin.again stopped eating on 7 may.diagnosed with double positive b. canis on 14 may after gastro treatment for 2 days.was given imizol 4 mg/kg sc.further deteriorated v v badly.couldnt get up or eat .died a v painful death on 24may morning left me vvvv upset and sad .what went wrong pl explain .whos 2 blame.i live in n delhi ,india its v hot place.i got my dog as a puppy frm poland.thanks v much.my email id kapilmanak@hotmail.com.

The bloodwork on my recently rescued 2 yo came back showing anemia. The vet drew more blood to test for Babesia. What else can cause anemia?

Hi Maggies Mom, anemia can have a huge number of causes, I did a search in mercks veterinary manual and came up with 229 hits.
Take a look for yourself, type the word anemia in the search box >>>> http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.js...rch/advsrch.jsp

Thanks for that link!

Erhlichia. Can he do a full panel instead of just babesia?

kapil: I'm sorry to hear about your dog. My sympathy

Just an update----I had a TiBD done on Chase thanks to all of the helpful information you guys gave me, and thanks to you too Wendy! Anyway all of Chase's results came back negative, although his lyme disease came back a low positive (I can't remember exactly what she called it), but my vet said that that was probably caused because he recently got a lyme disease vaccine, so it's fine. So thankfully he's all healthy! It's such a sigh of relief! I would like to thank all of you for putting up such great information. This is such a great site!

what are the symptoms of these diseases?

Unfortunately, many different symptoms and that is why it is so many times misdiagnosed.

Tick Born Diseases

okay don't think i am a bad grey mommie. However, i don't think either of my twins have ever been tested for this. is this something they should have done? My one grey has valley fever will that be a problem? anyone with any info, thanks
Heidi and the twins

protatek updated web address for Prota Tek

info is under contact