Erhlichia

March 24, 2005 7:09 PM

My 9-month old puppy has been diagnosed with ehrlichia. Has anyone had experience with or knowledge of this disease, treating it, and the fatality rates? :(
posted by about_time to Pets & Animals (6 answers total)

Do you have any idea how long he's been sick? Ehrlichiosis (which is what I assume he has) is normally pretty treatable with antibiotics if it's caught early (i.e. when it's still acute) and jumped on hard (with 6-8 weeks or so of antibiotics). It's chronic ehrlichiosis that's the worst (i.e. when the disease isn't taken care of in the acute phase). How is your vet treating it? How sick does your dog seem?

I assume you know that you should probably start using a good tick preventative like a Preventix collar from now on, right? And check your dog thoroughly on a daily basis for ticks.
posted by biscotti at 7:28 PM on March 24, 2005

I'm so sorry. Poor puppy, and poor you! Does this infosheet help at all? What does your vet say?
posted by kittyb at 7:30 PM on March 24, 2005

My wife, who is a vet, seconds biscotti's diagnosis. Also try Frontline or Advantix for tick prevention.
posted by argybarg at 8:54 PM on March 24, 2005

Sorry, I got Advantix and Preventic mixed up in my head, I mean Preventic. I believe that Preventic Plus is the best product on the market for tick bite prevention. argybarg, what does your wife say?
posted by biscotti at 9:45 PM on March 24, 2005

Response by poster: I don't have much info yet. We only got a phone message from the vet, who then didn't call us back later in the day. The vet mentioned 8 weeks of antibiotics, but never said specifically the words "acute". She has been feverish off and on, and she's had a loss of appetite on and off. These were separate events, so we explained them as temporary sickness. My guess is she's been sick for up to 3-4 weeks.

She is not exhibiting any of the signs listed on the infosheet for chronic, which makes me feel good. Thanks for the link, everything else I googled wasn't as helpful.

We had been using Frontline, but stopped during the winter (about three months ago) because we figured ticks aren't around in the snow. I figured it was bad to keep her on a chemical her whole life, but that seems dumb now.

Thanks for the help everyone!! Please keep posting more info if you have it.
posted by about_time at 10:34 PM on March 24, 2005

I'd get on the phone to the vet and nag him/her until you have a prescription in your hand today. The sooner you start, the better. Keep her hydrated, make sure she always has clean, fresh water and make sure that she's drinking it. The odds are good that she'll be okay as long as you get her on those antibiotics and get her back to the vet pronto if you notice any deterioration.

I'd say that at your dog's age it's vanishingly unlikely that she has chronic ehrlichiosis, it can take a few years for this to develop as I understand it, and there is normally a period of no symptoms before it returns. Hopefully argybarg's wife can help here.

The dog people I know who have reason to be very concerned about ticks (because of Lyme disease) swear by Preventic and won't use anything else (including Frontline). I hear you about chemicals, but I think this is one of those things where you have to weigh the pros and cons. I live in an area with a fair number of ticks and I don't use a tick preventative (I use Interceptor for heartworm prevention year-round, which is sometimes used for tick infestations at double the normal dose, but I don't view it as a tick preventative) - I do, however, limit the amount of time my dog spends in high tick-risk areas (long grasses, etc.), and I check him over pretty thoroughly at least every other day and have him tested yearly for tick-borne illnesses. If I had a dog who'd already had a tick-borne illness, I'd use a really reliable tick preventative (possibly year-round, depending on where you live, ticks are hardy little horrors).
posted by biscotti at 7:45 AM on March 25, 2005