my dog was diagnose with erhliciosis and the vet told me that the treatment was 2 months of antibiotics!!would you guys know another treatment?coz i live where the weather is either hot or humid..here in the phils,...would you guys know a better way coz for me its a bit laborious and considering the disease can be had again.with just a a single flea/tick bite

The only treatment I know of is doxycycline or tertracycline and it is at least a month of treatment. Good luck and try to keep those ticks off your dog

Kimberly

Just wanted to add, since your vet is recommending 2 months of treatment, I am assuming this is a chronic case. Is this what your vet told you?

One of my ACDs tested positive for both Lyme and Erhliciosis. We did 7 weeks of Doxy, which is the preferred drug for the treatment of Erhlichia and the only way to go when Lyme is also involved. I would strongly question any treatment that falls short of 6 weeks. This is a VERY nasty bug that can have fatal consequences if not treated properly. Please remember that inoculations and/or injectable antibiotics (or steroids) should not be administered to a dog suspect for ehrlichial infection. Reactions (to vaccines) have been reported, some of which proved fatal to the patient as the immune system is greatly taxed by Erhlichia.

I would re-titer several weeks after treatment and run a urinalysis to check for kidney damage.

Our treatment cost $21, the test was $60. Pretty cheap (treatment) compared to the expense of treating some of the secondary problems Erhlichia can cause if left untreated. Wrap the pill in a little bread and it should go down fairly easily. The hardest part is remembering to pill your dog. Every night I set the next days pills out on the counter. It helped me remember to give them.

So far there is no other treatment for this disease. I keep my dogs on Advantix year-round, but it still didn't help. I plan to test all of my dogs for this disease at least once a year. The symptoms can be very subtle and I don't want to miss them. IMO, the risk of secondary problems from this disease more than justify the cost.

Good luck!
Cher

 Quote: Cheryl Zovich

...Reactions (to vaccines) have been reported, some of which proved fatal to the patient as the immune system is greatly taxed by Erhlichia...

I've been doing a lot of research on totally unrelated dog health issues, but have been learning about the immune system and the down side of antibiotics. Besides doing their intended job, antibiotics also indiscriminately kill off the good microbes in our system and a dog's system and throw the immune system balance all out of whack.

Supplementing your dog's diet with 4-8 oz. yogurt daily (and maybe kefir, too) while he's on most antibiotics will help boost the good bug population and strengthen the immune system. Run this by your vet for his opinion. They're not especially known for being up on nutrition issues but if he agrees or is neutral, I'd give it a try.

Mike

QUOTE:
Supplementing your dog's diet with 4-8 oz. yogurt daily (and maybe kefir, too) while he's on most antibiotics will help boost the good bug population and strengthen the immune system. Run this by your vet for his opinion. They're not especially known for being up on nutrition issues but if he agrees or is neutral, I'd give it a try. END


I'm 100% with Mike. Good plain live-culture yogurt or other probiotic is a must (IMO) when there's an antibiotic regimen (with most antibiotics) going on.

JMO.

A lot of adult dogs do not digest lactose very well. Personally, I'd wait until after the treatment is finished. Seems a bit redundant to push the live cultures only to follow it with with an antibiotic chaser twice a day.

How do antibiotics throw a healthy immune system out of whack?

FWIW, I have to take antibiotics every day for the rest of my life. I've been on them 10 years and my immune system seems better than ever. Knock wood, I have not had the flu in at least 10 years and I've maybe had all of one cold, tops.

Cher

While many dogs do not tolerate milk well, fermented milk products like yogurt are far different. So far, I haven't met a dog who didn't tolerate fermented milk products.

I know there must be dogs who don't tolerate plain natural yogurt well; I'm just saying that I help with the diets of a lot of dogs and haven't met one yet.

Antibiotics, as Mike said, kill the beneficial flora and fauna along with the ones you're trying to kill.

I would recommend using probiotics along with most antibiotics as well as after the protocol.

 Quote: cheryl zovich

How do antibiotics throw a healthy immune system out of whack?

So-called good bacteria help maintain the balance of the microbial population in our GI tracts.

The group known as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) increase the production of IFNÉø, IL-10, IL-4 and IL-6. These are called cytokines; they're important members of the body’s immune response system.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?ACCN_NO=408040

http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2006/hmprobiotics.htm

http://www.academicjournals.org/ajb/PDF/Pdf2005/Feb/Oyetayo%20and%20Oyetayo.pdf
("Potential of probiotics as biotherapeutic agents targeting the innate immune system")

My last shepherd was epileptic. She got 2 medium size pills in the morning and 2 more in the evening. At first I tried to hide the pills in food, but she could pick them out. After that I just pushed them down her throat. It took me 3 seconds twice a day to give her the meds. You can buy a little pill popper if you want to avoid the slobber.

This is how I gave her the pills.

Stand in front of the dog
Put the thumb of your left hand right behind the canine tooth
Wrap the rest of your fingers over the top of the snout
Push the pills to the back of the tongue with your right hand

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1656&articleid=1072