Are my dogs reinfected with ehrlichiosis after incomplete 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!

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!

Hi there. If your dog has a history of Erlichia and Scout is already 11 I would encourage you to take him back for a re-evaluation. He may need fluid therapy, etc and your doctor will be familiar with your case. My best to you and Scout

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

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! As long as your dog has been treated and is now healthy, there should not be any long term effects of the infection. However, in the future, testing for these infections may be difficult, as false positive results are possible. Your dog may be a carrier of Anaplasmosis and Ehrlichia life long, but this disease is not transmitted to humans. You should be careful if you are planning to, or have, another dog. I hope this helps and that all is well!

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.