# Please help, need to know about Ehrlichiosis



## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

Cabo was due for his yearly today, and his test for Ehrlichiosis came back positive. I am googling and reading up on this, and trying to understand it. I know he was infected just about a month ago. We went up to the farm and I found an engorged tick a few days later. The vet wants to do 10 days of doxy. Will this cure him? That is what I am trying to understand. My understanding is that lyme's can't really be cured by doxy. Can Ehrlichiosis? Does it help that it was caught so early? He also had a CBC with diff and a full blood panel done, and everything came back great. 

Tomorrow I need to run Tux up to get his blood draw and checked, he was at the farm with Cabo and I found a tick on him as well. I'm stressing about this big time, and trying to understand what I am reading online about it. If anyone has any experience or knowledge, I sure would appreciate it. 

I am also reading where it sounds like dogs with a healthy immune system should be able to kill it off on their own. And that doxy doesn't actually kill bacteria but keeps it from multiplying. I am torn about if I should do the doxy or not?


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## woganvonderweidenstrasse (Nov 22, 2012)

Personally I am very much against antibiotics and cortisone. Like you said above, will the doxy kill the disease or just suppress the symptoms?
I don't know much about this disease, but I read that it is rarely fatal and in most cases the dogs should be able to fight and recover from it, especially a dog with an otherwise healthy immune system. I don't think I would go the doxy route..maybe just keep his immune system strong with some extra vit C? If I was you I would ask my vet for an alternative, or get a second opinion from a holistic vet, and then decide?


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## BearMurphy (Feb 29, 2012)

i would treat it, but it's up to you if you want to take a holistic or traditional approach. I don't mess with tick borne disease because of my experience with people who have had lyme disease.

I don't know about ehrlichiosis but 10 days of doxy would not be long enough to treat lyme disease so make sure it's long enough because I know someone who was treated for lyme with a short antibiotic dose in error and it just came back worse.

A holistic vet in my area treats lyme with ledum so their could be another option for the tick borne disease Cabo has, but I would treat it under the guidance of your holistic vet if you aren't going to use the traditional approach.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

BearMurphy said:


> i would treat it, but it's up to you if you want to take a holistic or traditional approach. I don't mess with tick borne disease because of my experience with people who have had lyme disease.
> 
> I don't know about ehrlichiosis but 10 days of doxy would not be long enough to treat lyme disease so make sure it's long enough because I know someone who was treated for lyme with a short antibiotic dose in error and it just came back worse.
> 
> A holistic vet in my area treats lyme with ledum so their could be another option for the tick borne disease Cabo has, but I would treat it under the guidance of your holistic vet if you aren't going to use the traditional approach.


Thanks, I have another thread going on the lab board and have been talking to a raw feeding vet tech friend of mine who also believes in treating with doxy. And she said she treats at a minimum of 4 weeks. Sounds like from what I have read online and from what a lot of other people have told me, that I need at least 4 maybe 8 weeks of treatment. I like to do holistic whenever possible, but I agree that certain things I don’t want to mess around with. Heartworm is one, and now I can add TD to that list…..

Apparently lyme is not a big problem where I live, but we are becoming a hot bed for ehrlichiosis. I hope Tux doesn’t have it too, testing him today as well.


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## BearMurphy (Feb 29, 2012)

I'm sorry you have to deal with this. It seems like it's an unavoidable fact of life in certain areas of the country. Murph had an engorged deer tick on him in December so he has a test scheduled for Thursday even though he has no symptoms. This happened last year too.....every time I try not to use frontline in the winter he still gets bit long enough for the tick to have transmitted something.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

Hope Murphy is okay. Even if Cabo hadn't been due for his yearly stuff anyways, I probably would have taken him and Tux in just to get tested since I pulled engorged ticks of both of them in early Dec. I had been thinking to myself if Cabo is positive, then I know to test Tux too....


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

I just went on the Merck website. Merck Veterinary Manual
The acute stage says that spontaneous recovery can even occur. 
Sending good thought your way!


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## monster'sdad (Jul 29, 2012)

shellbell said:


> Thanks, I have another thread going on the lab board and have been talking to a raw feeding vet tech friend of mine who also believes in treating with doxy. And she said she treats at a minimum of 4 weeks. Sounds like from what I have read online and from what a lot of other people have told me, that I need at least 4 maybe 8 weeks of treatment. I like to do holistic whenever possible, but I agree that certain things I don’t want to mess around with. Heartworm is one, and now I can add TD to that list…..
> 
> Apparently lyme is not a big problem where I live, but we are becoming a hot bed for ehrlichiosis. I hope Tux doesn’t have it too, testing him today as well.


I wouldn't take the advice on whether to treat from someone on a "Lab Board". Listen to your vet, not someone trying to play one on the internet.

That said, I have a big problem with any Vet that treats an asymptomatic dog. Your dog did not test positive for the infection, it tested positive for antibodies. There is a big difference, a very big difference. Your dog will test positive for years.

If they went only by the test, most dogs would be on antibiotics for years for no reason.

Over 75% of dogs in certain areas test postive for tick-related infection antibodies and never have symptoms of any kind.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

monster'sdad said:


> I wouldn't take the advice on whether to treat from someone on a "Lab Board". Listen to your vet, not someone trying to play one on the internet.
> 
> That said, I have a big problem with any Vet that treats an asymptomatic dog. Your dog did not test positive for the infection, it tested positive for antibodies. There is a big difference, a very big difference. Your dog will test positive for years.
> 
> ...


Good thing I did my research as well as talk to my vet. Not trying to be rude at all, but I can tell by this post that there is a lot about tick diseases and the different types of blood testing currently available that you don't know. I didn't either, until I had to find out and learn for the sake of my dog. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, I would be happy to share some of what I have learned in the past week


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## July11 (Jul 7, 2011)

Dr. Becker has an article about ehrlichia in her January 18 newsletter. Might be worth a read.


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## BearMurphy (Feb 29, 2012)

shellbell is doing the right thing......i'd prefer to treat as early as possible and would not wait until the dog gets sick to test for tick borne diseases


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