Anyone With Ehrlichia Experience Here?

[seeh2o]

Claire tested positive for Ehrlichia yesterday. She has no detectable symptoms, so we caught it before they started. I understand the course of medication is Doxy bid x 60 days. Does anyone on GT have experience with a 2 month course of Doxy? I know in humans it makes us photosensitive, will she also need to be out of the sun (hard to walk outside without that nuisance around!). Any digestive problems? I realize, in terms of digestion, it is probably on a case by case basis, but I'm just looking for personal experience right now. I also understand it should be take with food, so I'll be giving it to her right after she eats her breakfast and dinner.

 

Thanks in advance for sharing.

[Tallgreydogmom]

Johnny tested positive for Ehrlichia a few years ago. He did the Doxy treatment. He was in a foster home but he was taking it quite a while. When he finished the medicine he was retested, tested neg. I have since adopted him and have been wondering if I should have him rechecked.

 

Johnny had no problem with the medicine. Best of luck with Claire's treatment.

[Burpdog]

Annie finished her doxy treatment the end of March and it was a very long 8 weeks Three stomach meds, EVO canned and EVO kibble along with fried turkey kept her weight on (as well as hand feeding.....)

 

Huston and Pablo did doxy with no trouble.

 

Are you doing 5mg per # of body weight twice a day?

[seeh2o]

Are you doing 5mg per # of body weight twice a day?

 

I'm waiting to hear back from my vet, I sent her an email this morning, I'm guessing she will follow that course, I believe that's Dr. Stack's recommendation. Claire tested yesterday through the rescue I volunteer with, they had a homecoming for new dogs yesterday and were kind enough to invite me to bring her in, so I'm following up with my vet. I'm hoping to start her right away.

 

She doesn't seem to have a delicate digestive system, when she got here I ended up putting her on the same kibble Carl was on (I couldn't find regular old Pro Pack anywhere!) and she never had a problem. She's a tiny little thing, no weight to lose. I've tried to fatten her up, but she really keeps the weight off. I wish I could have 1/4 of her metabolism!

 

[Guest suzq]

Dee is just about to finish her course of Doxy for Ehrlichia. She has done extremely well. No tummy upset to speak of, except eating grass. I'll be glad when it's finished. YAY!! I hope Claire does as well!

[CaliforniaGreys]

No experience what so ever Connie, but you're in good hands here. If you end up needing stomach meds, yell.

Wishing for an easy treatment for that beautiful girl

[Burpdog]

Claire tested yesterday through the rescue I volunteer with, they had a homecoming for new dogs yesterday and were kind enough to invite me to bring her in, so I'm following up with my vet.

 

If this was a simple snap test, I strongly suggest you do a tick panel. Protatek does a full panel for greyhounds for $62. If, for instance, she also has babesia, she would need an imizol injection which would also take care of erlichia. Doxy will not take care of babesia (or Valley Fever).

[Guest romeosrents]

Romeo got diagnosed with Ehrlichia and Anaplasmosis about a week ago. He is currently on Doxy and is not having any problems at all. I have been giving it to him with his dinner and everything else has stayed normal (no digestive problems).

[seeh2o]

Claire tested yesterday through the rescue I volunteer with, they had a homecoming for new dogs yesterday and were kind enough to invite me to bring her in, so I'm following up with my vet.

 

If this was a simple snap test, I strongly suggest you do a tick panel. Protatek does a full panel for greyhounds for $62. If, for instance, she also has babesia, she would need an imizol injection which would also take care of erlichia. Doxy will not take care of babesia (or Valley Fever).

 

I believe it was a snap test. I'll ask my vet about the Proatek tick panel. I knew that Doxy wouldn't help with VF, I've followed Mary Jo's journey with Sadie fairly closely. I'm hoping that will come back negative and I can check that one off the list for both dogs.

 

Romeo got diagnosed with Ehrlichia and Anaplasmosis about a week ago. He is currently on Doxy and is not having any problems at all. I have been giving it to him with his dinner and everything else has stayed normal (no digestive problems).

That's good to hear! What is Anaplasmosis?

[Batmom]

Rather than doing titer testing, might want to ask your vet about FastPanel PCR as a follow up to a positive snap test. PCR looks for DNA rather than antibodies; gives you a better basis for treatment decision. Some info here: http://antechdiagnostics.com/clients/fastPanel/fastPanel.htm

 

IDEXX has a similar panel called RealPCR or some such; don't have the link handy for that one.

[seeh2o]

Rather than doing titer testing, might want to ask your vet about FastPanel PCR as a follow up to a positive snap test. PCR looks for DNA rather than antibodies; gives you a better basis for treatment decision. Some info here: http://antechdiagnostics.com/clients/fastPanel/fastPanel.htm

 

IDEXX has a similar panel called RealPCR or some such; don't have the link handy for that one.

 

Do either of these also look for Babesia? If she's been exposed to that and one medication can knock out both the Ehrlichia and Babesia it would seem prudent to go that route rather than drag her through Doxy only to find out she needs the other medication, too.

 

Oops, I just reread the Antech FastPanel, it does test for Babesia. Thanks! I'll ask my vet about this.

Edited May 4, 2009 by ckruzan

[Batmom]

Antech's FastPanel looks for:

Anaplasma phagocytophilum

Anaplasma platys

Babesia canis

Babesia gibsoni

Bartonella henselae

Bartonella vinsonii

Borrelia burgdorferi

Ehrlichia canis

Ehrlichia chaffeensis

Ehrlichia ewingii

Mycoplasma haemocanis

Mycoplasma haematoparvum

Neorickettsia risticii

Rickettsia rickettsii

 

Believe IDEXX's is pretty much the same.

ETA: It is; here is some info about IDEXX's: http://www.idexx.com/animalhealth/laborato...ornedisease.jsp . The panel format rather than individual PCRs is a newer offering for them, I think; might not be available yet in all areas but doesn't hurt to ask.

 

I'm a big fan of PCRs for asymptomatic dogs, dogs who might have sensitivities to treatment regimen, and for follow up to ensure treatment cleared the organism. The PCR technology isn't new; I suspect equipment cost has come down and that's why we're seeing these types of offerings.

Edited May 4, 2009 by Batmom

[Burpdog]

As Dr. Stack says "all positive erlichia titres should be treated". That is why I would do a tick panel. Not knowing her blood work results, it's hard to say whether or not she is symptomatic. A drop in platelets, HCT and RBC can be an indicator. Far too often, a dog crashes before people and vets see "symptoms".

 

Which is why I chart my guy's blood work Also, far too many dogs come up with a negative result (ususally North Carolina) and respond to doxy.

[Batmom]

Also, far too many dogs come up with a negative result (ususally North Carolina) and respond to doxy.

 

??

Not what I've heard. My understanding is that Protatek tends to get unrepeatable positives (altho that could be time delay). North Carolina are pretty much the experts on tick disease in the U.S. .....

 

All kinds of infections respond to doxycycline -- it's a general antibiotic, not specific to tick disease. I'm not understanding how an asymptomatic dog could show a response?

 

Treating a positive titer alone doesn't make sense out of the context of either -1- a very high titer, which does correlate strongly with active disease, or -2- paired titers (couple weeks apart, 2nd showing an increase). Titers are antibodies. They show that a critter has been exposed to an organism and that the immune system has taken notice. They don't show that an animal has the disease. For example, I might have a positive titer for scarlet fever. But I don't have scarlet fever.

Edited May 4, 2009 by Batmom

[Guest romeosrents]

Anaplasmosis is an emerging disease similar to Lyme disease. It is passed from deer ticks and can often have silent symptoms. Other symptoms include fever, lack of energy, swollen and painful joints, loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhea. If left untreated it could cause very low numbers of platelets and white blood cells, chronic joint pain, and very rarely neurological signs. It can be a co - infection with Lyme and is treated with Doxycycline.

 

My vet automatically drew blood when we went to get Romeo his yearly shots. He said that Romeo could have had these diseases since last fall. Fortunately, we caught it before it got too far!

[Burpdog]

Treating a positive titer alone doesn't make sense out of the context of either -1- a very high titer, which does correlate strongly with active disease, or -2- paired titers (couple weeks apart, 2nd showing an increase). Titers are antibodies. They show that a critter has been exposed to an organism and that the immune system has taken notice. They don't show that an animal has the disease. For example, I might have a positive titer for scarlet fever. But I don't have scarlet fever.

 

This is something you would have to ask Dr. Stack

[turbotaina]

Also, far too many dogs come up with a negative result (ususally North Carolina) and respond to doxy.

 

??

Not what I've heard. My understanding is that Protatek tends to get unrepeatable positives (altho that could be time delay). North Carolina are pretty much the experts on tick disease in the U.S. .....

 

 

IRRC, the unrepeatable positives that Protatek gets are limited to Babesia.

[seeh2o]

Thanks to all who have responded, this has been a wealth of information, I truly appreciate it. Keep it coming!

 

The vets office called first thing this morning, we are going to start her course of Doxy starting today. My vet is going to look into the other tests for Babesia that were suggested. I think she also wants to see the results of the bloodwork before we take next steps beyond the Doxy treatment. I sent her a link to Dr. Stack's document on Ehrlichia as well as the link to the Antech TBD test. She's great about researching stuff if she doesn't know the answer, she's very open and doesn't let her ego get in the way of things.

 

Burpdog, have you developed a spreadsheet to track your dog's bloodwork? If so, would you be willing to share?!

Edited May 4, 2009 by ckruzan

[Guest twingreys]

I hope it goes well for you. Please post back. I am a newbie and our dog came to us with a bag of antibiotics and positive for ehrilichia. Lately he has been short of breath and takes about 30 minutes to get back to normal breathing after a walk of only 1/4 a mile. I have an appointment on Thursday to have some blood work done to see if there is anything that might have been missed by the vet when he came off the track.

 

Good luck--Oh, we didn't have any problems with the medication. Would throw them in his kibble and he gobbled it up with everything else. We have always given him pumpkin to help with firming him up, so dont' know if that helped or not.

 

Heather

[Batmom]

Treating a positive titer alone doesn't make sense out of the context of either -1- a very high titer, which does correlate strongly with active disease, or -2- paired titers (couple weeks apart, 2nd showing an increase). Titers are antibodies. They show that a critter has been exposed to an organism and that the immune system has taken notice. They don't show that an animal has the disease. For example, I might have a positive titer for scarlet fever. But I don't have scarlet fever.

 

This is something you would have to ask Dr. Stack

 

I will! I'm going to wait till after my finals and I have the presence of mind to formulate proper questions. I will also see if I can squeeze some more info out of the different labs re how they believe their different types of tests are best used, and why. I do get that no one test is the be-all and end-all of everything.

 

Hope anyone's pup who has suspicious tests/symptoms gets thru to a resolution of such promptly and completely.

[seeh2o]

I will! I'm going to wait till after my finals and I have the presence of mind to formulate proper questions. I will also see if I can squeeze some more info out of the different labs re how they believe their different types of tests are best used, and why. I do get that no one test is the be-all and end-all of everything.

 

Hope anyone's pup who has suspicious tests/symptoms gets thru to a resolution of such promptly and completely.

 

Ooooh, finals be over! I look forward to what you find out (but I won't wait to start with Claire's treatment).