Erlichiosis, did you know about this? I didn't.

My dog was just diagnosed with it today.
I had him in for a lyme booster and the vet told me about Erlichiosis. I told him Pinoche has seemed kind of depressed and off-color for a while, so he was tested and showed positive.

It's pretty much the same treatment as Lyme, a month of antibiotics.
I switched to "Advantix" from "Frontline", don't know what else to do, I picked ticks off him last week (mid-January!). It's impossible to catch every one before it bites.

Apparently people can get it too.

Just thought I'd send out a warning for those of you with gardens and dogs, who don't know about it yet.
I could easily have missed it and, like Lyme, it gets harder to treat the longer it's present. It's as serious as Lyme in terms of adverse effects and sometimes fatal if untreated.

Here's my depressed pooch, who will be enjoying special treats twice daily with pills in them;o)

Pinoche is very cute. Hope he recovers form the erlichiosis. One of my dogs had lyme and it took her two years to get rid of it, but she has no adverse health problems. Pulled two ticks off me yesterday and several off the dogs. A cold snap is coming so hopefully those little buggers will be fatally frozen!

Poor thing :-( I'm glad you caught it now. I don't have a dog and have never had a tick bite myself as far as I know.

Sorry about your pooch.
Can cats get this too or is it only canine?

Dave, my pamphlet says "Canine Erlichiosis". My vet knows I have a cat, he didn't say and I forgot to ask (I'll ask next time). But, your cat could bring in the ticks. The father of the office girl there is in the hospital with it.
Cats can get Lyme as far as I know, though mine hasn't so far.
I'm just wondering how long my dog has had this. The test is pretty new.
He did say "Advantix" is toxic to cats in case someone didn't know.

I'm sure he'll recover (thanks!), he's a sturdy little thing. He had another tick on him that he must have picked up at the vet's!
We're inundated with these things, hope the coming freeze kills them!

My dog (golden retriever) had erlichiosis in Sept. The primary symptom was stiffness in the joints. After just a few days of Doxycycline, he was doing much better. He was on a month of it. So far no reaccurance. Since he is a rescued dog and has already been treated for heartworm, I use the advantix and Heartgard all year round. About the same time I noticed that the cat was acting strangely - very lethargic and drinking a lot. Turns out she is diabetic.

Oy Vey!
Tamberlin

Tamberlin, thanks, that's encouraging. I hope it's really gone.
Pinoche seemed to have trouble jumping up on his customary chairs and though he wanted to shake all the time he couldn't really do it.
He does seem better, though I'm running out of tricks to get the Doxycycline into him. Sometimes I just make him swallow it and he gives me dirty looks the rest of the day. It must taste awful.
Can't wait til it's over!
Today he chased a chipmunk (the cat must have brought it in) into a transmission fluid funnel. I wish I had a picture of him with his head inside the funnel, trying to lift it up;o)
I hope your cat recovers without heavy medication.

This message was edited Jan 28, 2007 4:07 PM

Hope Pinoche is back to 100% soon. My inlaws have several large breeds and they all tested positive this year for Erlichia (sp) as well...I believe they had the joint soreness. The ticks on their property are just terrible...my Bostons almost always come home with a tick after playing in their yard, when they seem to never get them in our yard.

Noknok,
My mom's trick to getting her dog to eat pills is to stick the pill into some liverwurst. I've tried it too. My dog will do ANYTHING to get it. And it's gooey enough to completely hide the pill!
Tamberlin

Thanks for the support!
Item #1 on Pinoche's list is sauteed chicken liver (we got through 30 days of lyme meds on that). That stopped working several days ago, he's eating about 1/2 normal and is uncharacteristically fussy. Happily he's got plenty of reserves.

"Our" large clan of Red tailed hawks disappeared last year. The rodents have been dining on my perennials. Maybe we could keep Guinea hens now? We have so many ticks it's ridiculous! Chicken feed is all they're good for, and bad news for everyone else.
Do regular hens eat them too, I wonder? We've been toying with the "Chicken tractor" idea.