Dog owners...What has been your experience with the tick-borne disease erlichea?

Question

We just found out our dog has it while getting his annual heartworm blood test. He was not symptomatic. I've been researching it online, so I understand the pathophysiology aspect. But I'm wondering what types of personal experiences you've had with a dog who has had it? How long did they live after diagnosis? What was their quality of life? What kind of treatments did you use and what worked best? That sort of thing.

Right now, he's the picture of good health. He loves to run with my husband and is full of energy. Based on our vet's recommendations we are just giving him the best possible dog food along with nutrition supplements and antioxidants to keep his immunity up. He recommends this conservative approach until when (and if) the dog ever start showing symptoms.

Your thoughts and experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Our vet called it the dog equivalent to Lyme disease.

Answer 1

Had a ***** that had it when she was sent to me but it went undiagnosed by some rather dubious veterinarians for two years... she was in pretty sad shape when I recieved her and I fed her an excellent diet and she improved -- then she would go through phases where she would slide backwards and loose weight even though she ate like a hog... then she was getting sicker and sicker and the dubious vets did testing and tried her on different things that they had tested and were normal but they didn't have a clue... anyway, long story short, she was almost dead by the time a friend/vet tech said something to her vet about doing a check for tick borne diseases and voile, erlichia and lyme (two seperate diseases - both tick borne and both parasitic and lifelong). The reason she had suggested it was when they went to shave her stomach for spay surgery, figured we would get rid of a potential source of hormonal issues, she broke out in pitechia and she would have likely bled to death in surgery... she was not vWD affected - after a long and arduous course of antibiotics and treatment she recovered (was really touch and go) and is now spayed and in great weight and happy -- her present owners know she has these issues and that they can arise at any time but they are willing to take that responsibility on and are keeping her in wonderful condition. It can 'cycle' throughout their lives with various situations so be aware if your girl starts to just 'not look right' so she can be checked -- I agree with your vet though that at this point conservative approach is best and if he does have a problem with dealing with them due to some stressful situation, then maybe the can help with the medications. I would, if not alreay, have him neutered to prevent a potential stressor and the maintaining of immune system strength is important. The b*tch I mentioned is still very much alive and healthy and happy and has actually not had a relapse since the original fiasco - her quality of life is way better than mine! haha She has her own bedroom, maid and swimming pool :)

add: To the person whose dog has heartworms --- they do not usually die at any time... not if they are not neglected and recieve veterinary intervention and heart worm treatment to end the infestation.

add: It is becoming more routinely examined for as there is a triple test that I for the life of me have forgotten the darn name of !! It tests for occult heartworm, erlichia and lyme in dogs with one test -- you can find the name of it on the internet... shoot I hate it when I forget a name!!

Answer 2

At our practice we will put the dog on a 4 week cycle of doxycycline. Your vet can also send a blood sample to the lab to check the "level" of infection. The vet I work for has a dog that came up positive and she didn't have any symptoms. If treated and caught early enough, most dogs make a complete recovery.

Dogs also get Lyme disease--this is a different tick borne disease.

Answer 3

Kimbee is right,,but I wanted to add that some dogs never show symptoms at all, and it is very unusual that your vet would test for this during a routine exam. There are only two tests to help determine if your dog has this, and I've never heard of them being used in a regular visit. Usually tests for this are given to dogs showing symptoms. Also neither test is completely accurate, and a positive only means that the animal was exposed to this,,,,not that they have it. The test only shows antibodies, and doesn't show if the virus is alive or dead, so there is no real way to know if it's active,,,or has been fought off by the dogs immune system some time in the past. It would be like a person getting tested for chicken pox antibodies,,we would test positive now, if we had chicken pox in the past, or had ever been vaccinated for it in the past. That doesn't mean we have it right now. I wouldn't worry or treat unless you have symptoms of it. Few dogs are unable to fight this off on their own,,,some require treatment,,,and very very few actually die from it.

Like Nancy said,,,its not a normal routine test,,,and in her case it took two years for someone to even think about testing for it.

Answer 4

Back when my mom and aunts were younger my grandpa use to hunt a lot. I guess a majority of their dogs (if not all) were hunting beagles. After they got older and things settled down they started getting poodles. They only have 1 right now and its probably the last dog they are gonna have. She was born Christmas Eve of 1999 so she's pretty old. Deaf, blind in one eye & almost no teeth left. My grandparents would babysit me when my parents worked so I was pretty much raised with that dog. I was born in 94 and I actually remember going with them to pick her up as a puppy.

Answer 5

I never heard of it so ill keep checking back with this question because I thought that only lyme diease could occur from ticks.

Answer 6

I have seen a 2 y/o dogs heart filled with heartworms, it is HORRIBLE! They ussualy die within like 1-4 months. And lyme desiese I am not shure.

Answer 7

um i have never herd of it.