Erhlichia prognosis?

Question

Last week during a routine exam, my dog tested postive for ehrlichia canis. The doctor says he's in the subclinical phase and prescribed 150 mg daily dosage of doxycycline and another screening in a month. I was really surprised since I use Advantix religiously and he hasn't been acting like he was ill. I've done some reading online but I'm not sure what to expect in the future. The vet didn't seem too alarmed but kinda had a "wait and see" attitude. Does he have a good chance of getting rid of this or is he prone to declining health or worsening condition in the future?

Answer 1

I had three dogs with same, about 8 years ago. They all recovered quite well, but one of them had a recurrence 2 years later, and from then on behaved as if he had had a stoke, with good days and bad days. He lived to be 16, and one of them I still have, and she is twelve, and the picture of health.
I gave tetracycline for 8 weeks., as my vet suggested.
I use Revolution, now, as it will prevent this and many other tick-or other parasite-born diseases. Advantage multi will, too.
Edit: I should have been more specific. According to this chart, Advantage products are not tested effective for ticks, but they DO keep the pet safe from Erhlichia, West Nile and Lyme. (flea. mosquito, and tick born diseases) That is what I said.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=545

I have great results with Revolution, even when we lived in the deep woods.

Answer 2

Your dog should be fine, especially since he is sub clinical. We have seen a lot of this and other tick diseases in the past year at our hospital. Treatment is a course of doxycycline, the retesting levels. They can become reinfected. Advantix will eventually kill ticks, but slowly and sometimes the tick still has a chance to bite and infect. Check your dog over frequently (especially ears and feet), keep him out of wooded areas as much as possible. Continue the Advantix--Advantage Multi does NOT kill ticks. There is a collar available called Preventic that paralyzes the ticks mouth so it can't attach, and can be very useful in dogs prone to pick up a lot of ticks.