What are Babesia, Anaplasma, & Ehrlichia in dogs? Are they tick fever?

Hello, According to the attached diagnostic test results, Bruno tested positive for Babesia. Babesia is a red blood cell parasite that usually causes anemia but it can cause decreased platelets and kidney injury. I would advise you to discuss therapy with your veterinarian as soon as possible. The disease is treated with a couple of drugs but typically imidocarb.

Your dog has a blood parasite transmitted by ticks, ie Babesiosis. Up to now, no single drug has effectively and consistently eliminated B. gibsoni from infected dogs and the side effects, as well as availability, of some of the medications limit their use. Here is information on B.gibsoni infection. You may want to discuss with your veterinarian, whwther he wants to proceed with treatment or just use supportive treatment. There is no virus involved. http://www.vetfolio.com/infectious-disease/babesia-gibsoni-an-emerging-pathogen-in-dogs

Hi and thanks for posting! If Bruno was diagnosed with a tick borne illness by his veterinarian, the fever he experienced may be due to this. If he was placed on any inflammatory medications, this would have helped his fever subside. There are many other medical causes of fever in dogs aside from tick borne diseases which should be explored and ruled out with Bruno's veterinarian. I hope this helps and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

An anti tick collar prevents tick infestation and kill fleas. tick fever and babaesia canis are two different things although they often come together, tick fever can become chronic, in this case the infection may not be completely eradicated and your dog might suffer from it again.

Hello there! First of all a small correction- tick fever is caused by Erlichia and not by Babesia Gibsoni, although both conditions are tick born diseases and often cause almost similar symptoms and can even be found at the same time, they are not the same and treatment for each is different (B.Gibsoni is treated with Imidocrab). So it is important to make sure what was the diagnosis exactly. Tick fever can both reoccur if your dog gets infested with ticks again or can reappear spontaniously even if it has been treated for, this is especial true for chronic erlichiosis, your dog might need treatment from time to time (it has nothing to do with winter though). In chronic tick fever condition treatment might need to be given for more that 21 days and sometimes steroids needs to be prescribed as well.

Babesia is spread most commonly via tick bite or by blood transfusion. A tick must remain attached and feeding for 2-3 days before the organism can be passed on to the dog. It is not likely to pass from dogs living together. The foundation of prevention is aggressive tick control.

Hello. I am so sorry to hear about Isis. An enlarged spleen along with nose-bleeds could be due to many different disorders including tick-borne diseases that attack the red cells. Other causes could be rat bait, an auto-immune disease called "Immune mediated thrombocytopenia" or "Immune mediated hemolytic anemia" which is when the immune system attacks the platelets or the red cells. These can also occur together which can cause bleeding. Also, any severe infection can result in "DIC" or "Disseminated intravascular coagulation" which can result in bleeding. Other causes could be a congenital clotting disorder. With the fever a tick-bourne disease or an auto-immune disease are most likely. Without doing other blood tests it would be impossible to know for sure. I am so sorry about Isis. All of these diseases are unfortunately very serious and hard to treat.