# Treat Anaplasma?



## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

A SNAP test for lyme disease also tests for anaplasma (2 kinds), anaplasmosis and ehrlichia, all tick borne diseases. Nicky had some intermittent symptoms along these lines

Loss of appetite
Lethargy
Lameness, reluctance to move
Neck pain 

I suspected lyme disease and had Nicky tested 10 days ago. It was negative for lyme but positive for anaplasma. The vet said it was not necessary to treat it (doxycycline, same as lyme) but this doesnt help the confusion. Nicky has shown no symptoms for a week now. Im having second thoughts about not treating it. He is less than a year over hepatitis of unknown origin. I did have a full blood panel done at the same time, all was normal. Thoughts?


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## Rvent (Apr 15, 2012)

I would do the doxy. My boy was diagnosed with anaplasmosis and my vet does not treat until symptoms occur, but even when he started having some symtoms they mimick so many other things and was still not treated, I beleive that his kidney failure had a great deal to do with this. 

A regimen of doxy will not hurt him, I would give him a pro biotic while on it to keep the good bacteria in balance.


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## BearMurphy (Feb 29, 2012)

I would treat it and I think you are lucky to catch it early. I don't like the idea of waiting until he has symptoms, what if by that time it is much more difficult to treat? It seems as though tick borne diseases effect each dog or human differently so I wouldn't take any chances in case you have a dog that could have major issues as a result of it.

I would also work on supporting his immune system with probiotics and maybe some other useful supplements to help his body fight it.


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## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

Yes, seems kinda foolish to guess about it, doxy it is. Im surprised the vets dont push the meds every chance they get. Nicky is already a big fan of plain yogurt. Any particular regimen during during the dosing? 

What supplements?


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

Oh I just went through something similar with Cabo. His SNAP came back positive for ehrlichiosis. My vet only wanted to do a 10 day course of doxy at about 8mg/lb of body weight. I asked for a 4 week course and a 10mg/lb of body weight dosage, and got it. 

I did lots of research and talked to a lot of people I know (both online and in person). I found that a lot of vets just do not know that much about tick diseases. You really want to hit them hard with the doxy, and need to do at least four weeks of meds. I would also suggest getting an IFA tick titer test done now, and then get one done about 6 months to a year after you are finished with the doxy. 

Tick diseases are nasty things, and you want to hit them hard and fast. ESPECIALLY since he is already showing symptoms. Cabo was just exposed in December, and I’m glad it was caught so early. He was not showing any symptoms but I am still treating, best to knock it out now. And going on doxy for a month is not going to hurt anything. I am giving probiotics while he is on it, and will give milk thistle for a couple weeks once he is off. He gets doxy twice a day so he also gets a probiotic twice a day, at least two hours after the doxy. 

There is something called the Tick List that I was referred to, I have yet to join it, but I think it is an online resource for people needing more info and support regarding tick diseases.

ETA you need to give an actual probiotic supplement and not yogurt. Yogurt does not have enough probiotics in it. I use Garden of Life Primal Defense Ultra.


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## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

I started Nicky on doxy 5mg/lb/day 2 days ago. Using plain yogurt for probiotics. It has the following cultures in it:

Bifidobacterium bb-12
thermophilus
L.bulgaricus s
L. acidophilus
L. casei

"Meets National Yogurt Association Criteria for Live & Active Culture Yogurt"

It must be working, been monitoring poops, all is well so far. Just hoping a snow plow comes along before I run out of yogurt. Guess I'll stop eating it too and save the rest for him until I can get to the store.


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## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

Nicky finished the doxy about a week ago. I hope it did what was necessary, the original test result was a light positive and future tests would probably show the same. The yogurt worked fine, all poops were normal.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

ime they show positive for a long time, Nero is still showing up + and he was treated for lymes/anaplasmosis four years ago, no symptoms.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

thegoodstuff said:


> Nicky finished the doxy about a week ago. I hope it did what was necessary, the original test result was a light positive and future tests would probably show the same. The yogurt worked fine, all poops were normal.


Was the only test done the SNAP test? All this does is say positive or negative. And yes it will probably test positive for awhile since antibodies will be present. The SNAP just measures exposure to the disease. An IFA titer will give you a more accurate result, and you will be able to better tell if re-infection is present or not. Cabo finished up doxy for ehrlichiosis about a month ago. I will wait until summer (six months after finishing the doxy) and then have a titer test done to see where we are at and how well the doxy worked. And then I will probably just stick with yearly titers, since I will want to know if he ever gets reinfected or not, and the SNAP test won't be the most accurate to tell me that.


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