Tick Panel

[Guest sriddle13]

Where have you had tick panels sent to? I am trying to find a cheaper place to send out a more comprehensive panel for our clients than what we get at our reference lab.

[Guest BooBooMama]

I asked that same question about 2 weeks ago. Batmom sent me this post:

 

 

"Lots of folks use Protatek for titers and are happy with them. The major labs used by most vets (Antech, IDEXX) now offer rapid PCR panels (different technology than titering) in most areas of the country. U of Illinois and probably Iowa and Wisconsin as well do titers, not sure about PCRs. For a sick dog with unclear symptoms, I like North Carolina State University's tick lab as you can send the sample for titer and specify follow-up PCR if the titer is suspicious. You can probably do that at other universities but NCSU kinda specializes.

 

If the dog is just off the track and isn't showing signs of illness or funky bloodwork, I might go with the Snap-4 and wait 6 months before pursuing other testing. A dog straight out of a tick ridden environment is likely to have some significant antibody activity -- that's a *good* thing! -- and thus a rather high titer ... but in a healthy dog that will normally drop to a more reasonable and useful number over time. The Snap-4 (or older Snap-3) is designed to catch the really high ones, which are most likely to indicate current infection."

 

Here are the fast panels:

ANTECH:

http://antechonline.net/antech1.shtml?n=ts&p=latest%20test3&n2=lt3

INDEXX:

http://www.idexx.com/pubwebresources/pdf/en_us/smallanimal/reference-laboratories/diagnostic-updates/vector-borne-disease-panels.pdf

 

Here is NCSU

http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/vth/ticklab.html

 

Here is Protatek:

http://www.protatek.com/

[Guest sriddle13]

I asked that same question about 2 weeks ago. Batmom sent me this post:

 

 

"Lots of folks use Protatek for titers and are happy with them. The major labs used by most vets (Antech, IDEXX) now offer rapid PCR panels (different technology than titering) in most areas of the country. U of Illinois and probably Iowa and Wisconsin as well do titers, not sure about PCRs. For a sick dog with unclear symptoms, I like North Carolina State University's tick lab as you can send the sample for titer and specify follow-up PCR if the titer is suspicious. You can probably do that at other universities but NCSU kinda specializes.

 

If the dog is just off the track and isn't showing signs of illness or funky bloodwork, I might go with the Snap-4 and wait 6 months before pursuing other testing. A dog straight out of a tick ridden environment is likely to have some significant antibody activity -- that's a *good* thing! -- and thus a rather high titer ... but in a healthy dog that will normally drop to a more reasonable and useful number over time. The Snap-4 (or older Snap-3) is designed to catch the really high ones, which are most likely to indicate current infection."

 

Here are the fast panels:

ANTECH:

http://antechonline.net/antech1.shtml?n=ts&p=latest%20test3&n2=lt3

INDEXX:

http://www.idexx.com/pubwebresources/pdf/en_us/smallanimal/reference-laboratories/diagnostic-updates/vector-borne-disease-panels.pdf

 

Here is NCSU

http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/vth/ticklab.html

 

Here is Protatek:

http://www.protatek.com/

 

 

Thanks for the info. We use Idexx and it doesn't look like shipping directly to any of the other labs would save the client any money. Although I don't remember a panel with Babesia in it. I will have to recheck that.

[Guest BooBooMama]

I asked that same question about 2 weeks ago. Batmom sent me this post:

 

 

"Lots of folks use Protatek for titers and are happy with them. The major labs used by most vets (Antech, IDEXX) now offer rapid PCR panels (different technology than titering) in most areas of the country. U of Illinois and probably Iowa and Wisconsin as well do titers, not sure about PCRs. For a sick dog with unclear symptoms, I like North Carolina State University's tick lab as you can send the sample for titer and specify follow-up PCR if the titer is suspicious. You can probably do that at other universities but NCSU kinda specializes.

 

If the dog is just off the track and isn't showing signs of illness or funky bloodwork, I might go with the Snap-4 and wait 6 months before pursuing other testing. A dog straight out of a tick ridden environment is likely to have some significant antibody activity -- that's a *good* thing! -- and thus a rather high titer ... but in a healthy dog that will normally drop to a more reasonable and useful number over time. The Snap-4 (or older Snap-3) is designed to catch the really high ones, which are most likely to indicate current infection."

 

Here are the fast panels:

ANTECH:

http://antechonline.net/antech1.shtml?n=ts&p=latest%20test3&n2=lt3

INDEXX:

http://www.idexx.com/pubwebresources/pdf/en_us/smallanimal/reference-laboratories/diagnostic-updates/vector-borne-disease-panels.pdf

 

Here is NCSU

http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/vth/ticklab.html

 

Here is Protatek:

http://www.protatek.com/

 

 

Thanks for the info. We use Idexx and it doesn't look like shipping directly to any of the other labs would save the client any money. Although I don't remember a panel with Babesia in it. I will have to recheck that.

 

They are NOT cheap. Protatek has what they call the 'Greyhound Special' which includes Babesia. This is what my vet ran on my little foster girl.

[Batmom]

Protatek's titer panel is usually the cheapest thing going if you're shipping out.

 

What you can get from Idexx/Antech depends somewhat on location -- not all labs do the newer panels. IIRC the fastpanels do include babesia, as do Protatek's panel and NCSU's.

 

If you have a veterinary teaching hospital in your area/state, you might check what they offer and at what price. Might be the best deal of all when factoring in shipping.

 

When I said "a rather high titer" in the quote above, I was talking about something @ borderline, not sky-high. I'd expect most dogs from farm/kennel situations to have some level of antibodies.

 

ETA: As you probably already know (but other readers might not), whether to seek further testing immediately or wait a couple months is going to depend on the dog's condition and CBC results. Very poor condition or low platelets or low RBC or weird WBC (way high or way low even for a greyhound, without evident cause), you'd want to get your tick test right away.

Edited May 19, 2010 by Batmom