Please take some time to read the information in this link. Print it out for yourself and your vet. You will see after reading this, why so many of us ask time and time again--has he/she been checked for a TBD:

TBD info

Here are some of the symptoms for erlichiosis:


Sometimes the TBD test can come back negative yet the dog will respond to doxy or doxy/pred.

Thanks for posting and reminding everyone of this.

This should also be posted in Greyt Information.

TBD can be tricky little devils!!!

I had a vet look at me cross eyed because I was in Birmingham asking for a Lyme test for my dogs.

I came from CT where it is very common. Turns out my GSD had Lyme.

Thanks Burpdog for posting this

Buddy tested positive for ehrlichiosis even though he didn't have any symptoms yet. It's good to just get them tested to avoid problems down the road.

Excellent information!

Thank you, Diane!

This is why it can be VERY helpful to have a general knowledge of where your pup was raised. These dogs go to adoption at around 3 years old. Only the older dogs- those that raced until 4 1/2-ish and up were at the track long enough to have picked up a TBD and incubated it at the track itself. By knowing where the hound was raised, you can get an idea of your possibilities...

Erlichia- Anywhere south of NC, but especially FL, TX and OK. If one of our dogs looks like he's coming down with something, this is a good bet.

Babesia- Some OK, far north TX, NC, New England. Dogs that lived their whole life in FL should NOT have Babesia. Yeah, sometimes the bug didn't read the book....

Lyme- same as Babesia, but especially the northeast.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever- the west mostly, but does occur occasionally in the east. Now that few FL breeders run out west (not transporting back and forth as much), there's not much of it here.

Lynn

Tiffany was diagnosed with Erhlichia last year. She was 9 years old at the time and she had been mine for 4 years. We have lived the whole time in California and I had her on Frontline.

Tiffany had no outward symptoms. During her routine check up with the vet, we decided to do a blood panel just to get some baseline numbers given her age. The results came back: low platelets.

We went through a number of rounds of different TBD assays. It turned out she had a relatively rare form of Ehrlichia.

So routine bloodwork can be an important part of detecting TBDs!

Many people have no idea where their dogs were during their schooling/racing days. One of the things I have seen repeatedly is vet's reluctance to believe or ignorance about TBDs in a non racing state. I know in Texas it's the first thing we think of since the TBDs mimic so many different things. I know Cindy's Copper was diagnosed with RMSF (I think--Cindy correct me if I'm wrong). He's a Texas dog that made his way up to Wisconsin.

My vet only wanted to test Sunny for Erhlichia since he was born and raised in Arizona, I insisted testing for Babesia and Lyme. Vets here in Canada tend not to be familiar with tick diseases, though Lyme disease is found in southern part of Ontario, they really don't see or experience many cases of babesia but with many senoirs spending their winters down in Florida, Texas and Arizona they have become a bit familiar with Erhlichia. At a seminar for greyhound owners one vet brought up tick diseases but only recommended testing dogs that raced in Florida that showed signs, later I spoke with the vet and explained with another group that tick tests all their greys, that the incidence of tick disease was much higher in the CT/New Hampshire area many where showing exposure to Babesia and also Lyme, A few tested came back with exposure to multiple tick diseases.
Being the dogs are transported all over the country to different tracks or farms there is the possibility of transporting live infected ticks along with them.

If a greyhound is "just not quite right", a TBD is the first thing I would suspect. In most cases we are not going to know where all the grey has been.
He may very well have been whelped on a farm in Texas, for example, but traveled to several other states through his racing career, and could end up being petted out somewhere up north. A grey might also show very few symtems, but just be "not quite right". The first thing I am going to want done is blood work, and if platlet count is low, we are going to put him on doxycycline right away while we wait for other results. Ehrlichia, which is what we see most here, responds very quickly to doxy. Many vets just don't snap to thinking tick disease, and the grey can get very sick or die while an asortment of other ailments are being treated because the vet doesn't think TBD's.

I am modifying that statement. It can happen in a racing state too

Check those platelets! Be familiar with symptoms. Doxy treatment is easy to do, non invasive and can save your grey's (or other dog's) life!



This happens

Bump. Not all 1797 members have read this yet

I'm glad you posted this, Diane. I know our group and others receive dogs from all over the country so it's almost impossible to know what they've been exposed to before arriving at the adoption group. Better to test and be safe than sorry.

Lori

Our group holds a tick testing clinic once a year. They usually have 30 spots. This year they could have held two of them. The clinic they do it through gives us a discount...we had one dog come up double positive for Babiesia and Erlichiois this year, and a number of other dogs with low positives.

I didn't get my app through in time. I'll get them done next year.

Being in Washington state, a lot of our vets don't know about these diseases. Valley Fever is another our dogs get that mimics other problems. This seems to affect dogs from the Southwest (Arizona) mostly. Hard to diagnose but treatable once it's discovered.

If you're not sure TEST FOR TBD!!

Your vet can draw blood and send it to ProtaTek Lab for testing at any time if you don't want to wait. Here's the info:

"Because of our concern for the Greyhound breed, ProtaTek has established a panel with a special discounted fee for diagnosis of all four tick-borne diseases, as well as Valley Fever, to make testing affordable to the Greyhound owner. For more information about the services available, have your veterinarian contact:

Dr. Cynthia J. Holland
ProtaTek Reference Laboratory
574 East Alamo Street, Suite 90
Chandler, AZ 85225
Tel: (480) 545-8499 Fax: (480) 545-8409

http://www.njgreyhounds.org/li2.asp#a2

Lori

Lori

I know I can do it at any time. My two don't show any signs and haven't for three years. I'll wait for the next clinic because it'll only cost me $30 per dog instead of the office visit charge and the full fee for the tick testing.

If they do show any signs of illness, however, tick testing will be at the top of the list.

Glad you posted the info for ProtaTek though.

This place is just a wealth of information!

I had to pressure Matt's vet for the TBD test and he had Ehrlichia with a high titre. His test came back negative one month after the Doxy and Imazol treatments (Jan 2004). I just had him retested and it came back negative. His only symptoms were lethargy and a stange limp, so I always suggest TBD testing.

Sara

Thanks Diane,
thanks to your list we could convince a vet to test for Ehrlichia. We don't have any experiece with it, but it is common in Spain. In this case the vet was going to treat for Leukemia and didn't want to test until he saw the list.
Turns out the galgo has Ehrlichia and Leishmanioses.

Yes, tick borne diseases are tricky. Phoenix tested positive for babesia and was treated with Imizol. Imizol needs to be imported from the US.
My vet was wouldn't test...disease carrying brown ticks don't live here. I had to change vets.
Advice...if you suspect one of these diseases...BE PERSISTENT!

edited for bad spelling

Please forgive me for cross posting!
I have a thread for River and his relentless symptoms in Health and Medical and I am desperate to find the underlying cause. Because we live in Canada, no vet has suggested testing him for tick borne diseases!!! Could this be the cause?
Again, I'm VERY SORRY for cross posting!

Does anyone have a resource for info on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever? Our latest group of dogs off the track tested positive, including my Derby girl.

Insist on sending a blood sample to ProtaTek Labs. There is a thread in Greyt Information. Several people in Canada (as has been mentioned) have a hard time convincing their vet to send off a sample. Be persistant!



This brought tears to my eyes. I am so glad you didn't let up!

So many dogs die unnecessarily because vets are not aware

Having a problem finding a good link for RMSF. Maybe Cindy has one.

http://petplace.netscape.com/articles/artShow.asp?artID=3336


One for erlichosis I found:

http://www.mirage-samoyeds.com/tick.htm

Thanks for the info, Burpdog.

Here's another link on RMSF

http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/CLERK/otis/

Lori

Bumping back up. Everyone should read this.

Glad I read it! It gives me one more thing for the vet to look into! Although, I think I'm going to have to find a third vet.

Thanks! Very informative article.

Bump

Bumping.

This is such helpful info. It should be handed to everyone adopting a Greyhound. Gary has been tested for some TBD's, and we are curretnly waiting for another round of tests for TBD's he wasn't tested for before, including Babesia, to come in next week. He started on Doxy this morning. I really hope it is a TBD. He's so sick. Any idea how long it will take to see results from the Doxy?

Assuming it is the right dose, close to a week from what one vet told me.

The results, or improvement in the platelet count with Doxycycline can often be seen very quickly, as the platelet count starts going up. In our area Ehrlichiosis is the tick disease most commonly seen and the dosage for the Doxy is 300mg two times daily for three weeks. Followup platelet counts are done after completion of the Doxycycline. We did followup blood tests on our grey at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks. Obviously I can only speak from my own experience with my grey who had Ehlichia, and from the treatment of our group's dogs. A smaller dosage of Doxy did not work in the dogs that were initially given the lesser dose. Doxy, as with most antibiotics, can cause tummy problems, so getting some food in their tummy with the medication is important.

I think some of the greys I've done was at 200mg twice a day. Where is the thread with the Merck doses?

He's on 200mg. twice a day. If I can get that Merck dosage info, I would really appreciate it. In any case I'll call the vet and ask if we should raise the dosage.

Here's the link for the Merck dosage for doxycycline for anyone who is interested.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.js...m/bc/191143.htm

Doxy dosage is:

Doxycycline*** (a semisynthetic tetracycline) at 10 mg/kg of dog's weight (2.2 pounds = 1 kg), twice per day

So for a 65-70 pound dog that would be 300mg twice daily.

Sometimes the TBD tests are negative, yet they respond to doxy or doxy/pred treatment.

Please keep in mind that doxycycline, like the other tetracyclines, may cause sensitivity to sunlight while doxy is in the body. During that time, the skin may itch and/or feel like it is burning within seconds of exposure to direct sunlight.

Bumping back up. Lot's of new people to the board that this may help.

Interesting. Now I am wondering about the cough/runny nose situation with Raisin. She responded to the Clavamox like a charm, however. But when she taken off the farm she was COVERED in ticks. Some people at GPA said it was the worst amount of ticks they had ever seen. I really do need to get this test done asap.

bumping -this is so important.

Sara

Thank you Diane. We had our two guys tested at the Arizona lab due to a post I read regarding Jazz, a beautiful, loving grey, no longer with us Thankfully, our guys tested clear, but our last boy, Beamer, did have a tick attached to him which we found after we got him home, and although he was last in New Hampshire, he did race in Florida. Great advice!

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If your vet argues with you about TBD testing, either educate them, or switch!!! Many of us had to argue about getting TBD testing done.

My vet said "that kind of tick is rarely seen in Michigan" ummmmm....did you MISS the "He just came from Kansas" part of the conversation?

Dogs travel a lot with the whole rescue thing. Our Radar was in a haul with another grey who I KNOW was tick infested.

Protek is a greyt resource. My vet was going to charge $250 USD for a TBD test. I had the blood drawn and sent it into Protek myself for $25.

DO NOT IGNORE TBD!!!!!!!!

Bumping back up because this is important, and the tick question is in several threads today.

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Thanks Diane....I dug in the archives of GT last week...my new boy's blood was drawn Monday....and I am awaiting results from ProtaTek right now.....

and....P R A Y I N G!!!!!!