My vet does a heartworm every two years even when the dogs are on it full time because there have been many cases where dogs are on the med. religiously and still get heartworm. My male Golden Retriever was due for this test. My vet decided to do a spot check for Ehrlichlia as well. This disease had not hit our area yet, but has been slowly moving northward from the south. She did a 3DX on him for both heartworm and Ehrlichlia, as well as lymes (i think). Heartworm came back negative, but the Ehrl. came back with a slight tint of color change.... stumping my vet. She called the manufacturer of the test while I was there and they said that this was an interesting finding for our area and that they would like to do further tests on his blood at their expense. No problem, we sent the tube of blood. Yesterday she heard back from them. He does have Ehrlichlia.
Ehrlichlia is a blood parasite. It is not contageous from one animal to another. It is insect born, usually from those Nasty ticks. The infected tick bites an infected animal, falls off to later bite an uninfected animal, giving it the disease. The parasite cannot grow into an adult in the host's body, it would need to be reintroduced by an infected tick again. Cosmo's test came back low positive. He will not be treated but we do have to monitor him now because this disease causes anemia. We're looking for symptoms like lethargy, fevers off and on and pale gums.
If treatment is needed the drug they use is tetrocycline (sp). as they do for lymes disease.
I did find a tick on Cosmo's ear about a month ago. It had obviously not been there for long, I honestly think I found it the day it attached itself to his ear. But, apparently it was enough for him to become infected. The thought is that my having transient dogs here on occasion that do the show circuit is probably the source. But, I thought it was important to let you all know so that you can be aware of this problem.... Living in northeastern Md., I had no idea this parasite existed. Cosmo will be fine,
. How lucky we were that our vet decided to do a spot check on him rather than another dog!
Ehrlichlia is a blood parasite. It is not contageous from one animal to another. It is insect born, usually from those Nasty ticks. The infected tick bites an infected animal, falls off to later bite an uninfected animal, giving it the disease. The parasite cannot grow into an adult in the host's body, it would need to be reintroduced by an infected tick again. Cosmo's test came back low positive. He will not be treated but we do have to monitor him now because this disease causes anemia. We're looking for symptoms like lethargy, fevers off and on and pale gums.
If treatment is needed the drug they use is tetrocycline (sp). as they do for lymes disease.
I did find a tick on Cosmo's ear about a month ago. It had obviously not been there for long, I honestly think I found it the day it attached itself to his ear. But, apparently it was enough for him to become infected. The thought is that my having transient dogs here on occasion that do the show circuit is probably the source. But, I thought it was important to let you all know so that you can be aware of this problem.... Living in northeastern Md., I had no idea this parasite existed. Cosmo will be fine,
