My dog has ehrlichiosis. What's the prognosis and average vet bill?

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 it sounds right. It seems Olivia is affected by Ehrlichia Canis (transmitted by ticks). At the moment she has high temperature. The doxycycline (antibiotics) needs to be given eventually for longer periods (3 weeks) if infection is particularly persistent. Treatment plan seems right. Please let us know if you have further questions and let us know how she is getting on.

This can be a tricky situation. First of all, it needs to be determined if Paulina is experiencing recurrence of her initial Ehrlichia infection or if she is becoming reinfected with each outbreak. Unfortunately, this is exceptionally difficult to determine. The best thing you can do is to keep Paulina on a high quality flea and tick preventative (such as Nexgard, Bravecto or K9 Advantix II) regularly since Ehrlichia is a tick-borne disease. You can also take Paulina to her vet for CBC (complete blood cell count) monitoring every 1-3 months so that an outbreak can be treated before it becomes more severe. I hope this helps and that Paulina does not experience future recurrences of Ehrlichia!

What a beautiful girl! I'm not sure that the skin changes are related to the Ehrlichiosis, although sometimes you can see vasculitis. Occasionally low platelets (clotting cells) can also cause bruising that might look like dark spots. I'm assuming your vet saw her skin changes when she was diagnosed, but if not I'd recommend scheduling a recheck to make sure the skin is related. Otherwise successful recovery is mainly judged on clinical signs - as long as she's feeling good and her labs are normal nothing else is usually recommended. We usually don't recheck a test since many tests can remain positive for a long time following succesful treatment.

That is a great question, and one that doesn't really have a crystal clear answer. If she was initially treated during the acute phase, its possible that that bacteria was completely eliminated. It is possible that the antibodies produced by her body may prevent a second infection, however there is no guarantee of this. If a second infection develops, it is more likely to be subclinical, and it may or may not ever progress to being chronic and symptomatic. Having said all of that, I wouldn't be overly stressed. Use a monthly tick prevention moving forward, and if she develops any symptoms of illness, take her to your vet. https://www.petcarerx.com/article/identify-ehrlichiosis-symptoms-at-all-3-stages-of-the-disease/1545 Thank you for asking PetCoach!

There can be many causes of a bloody nose in a dog including infection (viral, bacterial, fungal), neoplasia, trauma, etc. If you suspect Ente has Ehrlichiosis he should see a veterinarian to be examined, have a blood test to confirm that he has it, and then be put on antibiotics. Ehrlichiosis is a bacterium that is transferred via tick bites and there is no other treatment other than antibiotics. The diagnosis needs to be confirmed so that he is put on appropriate antibiotics and because it needs to be established that this is the cause of his bloody nose.

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