My dog has Ehrlichia from a tick. Is her Doxycycline treatment right?

Hello and thank you for your post! With Ehrlichiosis I typically dose at 5mg/kg every 12 hours, which equates to roughly 200mg twice daily. The 100mg dose does seem a bit low. I typically treat for about 6 weeks as well. Based on cases your vet has seen, he / she may have a reason for dosing at the 100mg twice daily. That is what I treat Ehrlichiosis with though and is effective. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me. I am also available via consultation.

Yes, that is basically all you can do now other than only leash walking so she does not get too excited and gets her blood pressure up and gets another nose bleed. While it looks like a lot of blood is lost, there is not and your dog will be fine. Just make sure she takes her doxycycline (or other medication prescribed) for the prescribed period and she should be fine.

Depending on whether or not it appears to be an active infection it may be worth proceeding with treatment using doxycycline. There is a possibility of side effects in the puppies but the mother’s health may be more important. I’d recommend discussing with your vet.

This could indicate that all dogs are infected. I suspect Obi was never cleared of the bacteria. It is more likely that all dogs were exposed to the same tick population and that is how they all got infected versus one dog infecting the rest. I recommend contacting your veterinarian and discussing if they would like to put all your dogs on the full 30 day course of doxycycline at this point.

Hello and thank you for your post! I am sorry to hear that Spock has ehrlichia. This disease is treatable and can be cured. However, you should know that the test most veterinary clinics use is a snap test to detect antibodies against ehrlichia. If you are going back in 3 weeks to have this same test performed, Spock will likely continue to show a positive result. This is because his body has made antibodies against ehrlichia. If he had a previous infection and ehrlichia is not causing any of these symptoms, he will still show positive on this SNAP test so if you are going in to have the same SNAP test performed I would have your veterinarian send out a tick fever PCR test to the laboratory. This will detect DNA to ehrlichia and not antibodies. If Spock is positive on the PCR, it means that he has a current active infection. If you do not know if Spock has ever had your licio previously, I would still treat this with Doxycycline for 4 to 6 weeks total treatment time. I hope this helps, please feel free to contact me with any further questions or concerns you may have. I am also available via consultation

The prognosis can be good if the disease is mild and her platelet count is normal. If this is the case then antibiotics and Tick medication is the treatment and may be about $200-300 with testing depending on your area. If then blood work is bad and shows a low platelet count and she is sick from it, than it can take longer to treat and may require hospitalization which can get more expensive. You vet can start with an exam and blood work and give you a better estimate for treatment from there

I would not recommend sharing medications or treating a dog with no symptoms without confirming infection first - you should ensure that the two positive dogs do receive their full course as prescribed. Thorough tick prevention is vital in areas with tick borne disease and minimises the risk of any diseases being transmitted to your pets. Seresto collars (8months protection), bravecto tablets (3months protection) or simparica tablets (4-5weeks protection) would be recommended but your vets office can advise on other effective options and frequency of application in your area