Tbd/lyme

[dante2zoe]

Last February, a blood panel was run on Dante. The vet was concerned that the liver values were higher than before and too high for her taste. His dental was postponed. I put him on Milk Thistle and the values reduced, but I don't know by how much or what the actual values were. Now, during his check up, she noted a 2-3 heart murmur. That wasn't present in February/March. I was reading another post and someone asked if TBD's had been checked when the pup had high bilirubin. Before I call my vet to ask if these panels had been run or if TBDs could be in the differential, can I get some ideas of what I should be looking for? He is 8 YO, but looks and feels good. My vet thinks that she is more greyhound saavy than she actually is, so I usually need to go in there knowing more than she might. Any suggestions/thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks! (BTW, I am in the process of finding a better vet for my furkids.)

[greyhead]

I just logged on just now to check TBD info too. Do you mind if I add a question to yours? The question is: Is there a gold-standard for TBD testing, like a particular university lab or something, the way there is for thyroid? We need one of our greys tested and, if we're going to do it, I want the most reliable testing available.

 

Also, I tried using "TBD" as a search term in the archives here and didn't come up with much. Can someone suggest a better term to get results?

 

Since these questions are pertinent to the topic and perhaps of interest to you too, I hope you don't mind my piggybacking your original one. If you do, let me know, and I'll edit this post out of existence.

 

Mary

[turbotaina]

I just logged on just now to check TBD info too. Do you mind if I add a question to yours? The question is: Is there a gold-standard for TBD testing, like a particular university lab or something, the way there is for thyroid? We need one of our greys tested and, if we're going to do it, I want the most reliable testing available.

 

Yes - North Carolina State University NCSU

 

Last February, a blood panel was run on Dante. The vet was concerned that the liver values were higher than before and too high for her taste. His dental was postponed. I put him on Milk Thistle and the values reduced, but I don't know by how much or what the actual values were. Now, during his check up, she noted a 2-3 heart murmur. That wasn't present in February/March. I was reading another post and someone asked if TBD's had been checked when the pup had high bilirubin. Before I call my vet to ask if these panels had been run or if TBDs could be in the differential, can I get some ideas of what I should be looking for? He is 8 YO, but looks and feels good. My vet thinks that she is more greyhound saavy than she actually is, so I usually need to go in there knowing more than she might. Any suggestions/thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks! (BTW, I am in the process of finding a better vet for my furkids.)

 

There are so many symptoms that go along with TBDs. Typically, when you get your basic Snap test for heartworm, it'll also test for Lyme and Erlichia. If you get the Snap 4, it'll include Anaplasmosis. It does not test for Babesia. So, if you just had bloodwork done, you wouldn't have had a test for all known TBDs. NC State is the best place to go for that (I included a link in my response to the other poster here).

 

Oh, and here's the GT TBD topic : TBDs

[Guest mandm]

I live in an area with a high incidence of Lyme so I know that Lyme is no picnic. But it is not really Lyme that is the big concern with greyhounds. It is ehrlichia Canis & babesia Canis. Those are the really serious TBDs that may not be present in your local area, but our greyhounds may have contracted these diseases in their travels. The disease can lie dormant in the dog's system for years.

 

Protatek in AZ and N. Carolina St. Univ. are the 2 labs for testing most often recommended. I've seen criticism of Protatek's accuracy here on this board, but they are the lab recommended by the Tick List. In my opinion, the Tick List is the last word. I would use either, based on cost. The sample generally has to overnighted, with cost based on distance. So, whichever is cheapest based on where you live.

 

There are tons of symptoms related to TBD. They are often vague. The one symptom that is often, but not always, present in TBD and can be easily checked is low blood platelets.

[turbotaina]

I live in an area with a high incidence of Lyme so I know that Lyme is no picnic. But it is not really Lyme that is the big concern with greyhounds. It is ehrlichia Canis & babesia Canis. Those are the really serious TBDs that may not be present in your local area, but our greyhounds may have contracted these diseases in their travels. The disease can lie dormant in the dog's system for years.

 

Protatek in AZ and N. Carolina St. Univ. are the 2 labs for testing most often recommended. I've seen criticism of Protatek's accuracy here on this board, but they are the lab recommended by the Tick List. In my opinion, the Tick List is the last word. I would use either, based on cost. The sample generally has to overnighted, with cost based on distance. So, whichever is cheapest based on where you live.

 

There are tons of symptoms related to TBD. They are often vague. The one symptom that is often, but not always, present in TBD and can be easily checked is low blood platelets.

 

Any positive babesia titer obtained through Protatek, I would have rechecked through NC State. They have had a number of false positives and have not been able to reliably duplicate results (at least, that was the problem that OSU ran into when testing through Protatek). Otherwise, I think they're OK.

[greyhead]

Yes - North Carolina State University NCSU

 

Oh, and here's the GT TBD topic : TBDs

 

Thanks VERY much! This info is really a big help.

 

Our pup is showing low platelets, though our vet gave me the bloodwork results along with a copy of an article by Feeman and Couto on greyhound bloodwork that indicated that low platelets are not unusual in greyhounds. I'll probably just start my own thread to deal with my questions about our dog and not impose further on dante...'s good nature!

 

Mary