Anaplasmosis in LGD

[riveroakssheep]

Today I had the vet out to look at a ewe's eye and give the LGD his rabies shot which was seriously overdue.
I also got him distemper and Lyme vaccinations, which he's never had before. We got him free last October and this vet clinic had treated him previously so they had his records. He's 5 years old and had a history of arthritis, but we haven't noticed any signs of it since we've had him.

He was also checked for heartworm and tickborn diseases. The test came back positive for anaplasmosis.

The vet said they could do more blood testing, but I didn't want to rack up a lot of bills - so she said we could just go ahead and start the antibiotic treatment ($50). Five pills a day for 28 days. That doesn't sound like fun. Our Australian Shepherd had Lyme disease and he got wise pretty quickly to those pills wrapped in bread, etc.

Anyway, I'm wondering if we should just go ahead and treat him when he's not showing symptoms. Or should we do the further blood testing in hopes that he might not need treatment? I may have cut her off too quickly when she started talking about more tests.

Becky

[Double Barrel]

My Artie dog tested positive for Lyme over the winter. He was showing no signs at all of the disease. I did a quick google on anaplasmosis and the first one I clicked on said that "the pet can become sick months later"

guess what Im saying is why not treat it give your dog a better life?

I had no probs giving Artie his 7 pills a day. I made little meatballs out of some crappy meat that I bought.... about half way thru treatment, I started feeding some raw meat to cut the amount of kibble im feeding and Id never see any pills laying around.

[riveroakssheep]

Thanks Double Barrel, I was wondering the best way to get him to take all the pills. Having had Lyme disease a few times myself, I know the treatment isn't fun - but of course, neither is being sick.

I guess I was wondering if it was possible that he came up positive due to an old exposure that has already been resolved. The vet was saying something about testing his blood for white cells to indicate an active infection or something, and in my thinking of the cost of more testing vs. the cost of treating, I cut her off. But now I'm second guessing myself. Maybe I can talk with our local vets this morning and get their take on it.

I have to admit though, part of me is thinking that if he's been sick all this time and he suddenly regains the ability jump fences again, I'll be in trouble.

[Bill Fosher]

If the treatment is doxycycline, try to make sure that he has some shade in his pasture while undergoing treatment. Doxy makes you very photosensitive, and can hurt the eyes. One of my guard dogs started to dig dens -- holes in the pasture big enough for a 100-lb dog are no fun -- while on doxy. When I put the sheep in a paddock that had some shade trees, the digging stopped.

[riveroakssheep]

Yes Bill, the treatment is Doxycyline. He's quite a digger too.
We don't have any leaves on the trees to provide shade right now. But I've got him separated from the ewes because we are due to start lambing next week and I don't know how he'll react to newborn lambs. He currently has access to our back yard and garage as well as his own calf hut for shade. So this is probably a pretty good time to get the treatment done.

[Muleflock]

Hi Becky

I'm going to presume your vet ran an Idexx 3Dx or 4Dx snap heartworm test. The A. phagocytophilum part of the test detects the presence of antibodies to the bacteria, not the organism itself. So the dog may have been infected in the past and cleared the organism or is an asymptomatic carrier. Most dogs I see that are positive for antibodies are either currently ill and are co-infected with another Rickettsial organism or Lymes disease or are positive for Anamplsma alone and have no symptoms. The vast majority of dogs that come up positive for just A.phagocytophilum never show clinical symptoms nor did their owner recognize disease symptoms in the past. Having said that, what this does tell you is that you have ticks that carry the organism, (that can infect you by the way), and if the dog gets co-infected with one of the other Rickettsial organisms or Lymes, he stands a much better chance of becoming clinically ill.

Below is an excerpt from a document I keep handy when I need a quick review. Good luck with him.

........Animals from endemic areas are often exposed to A. phagocytophilum, and 40% or more of dogs in these areas may be seropositive.9 However, since the morbidity is low, it appears that many animals may have antibodies to A. phagocytophilum without having any concurrent evidence of clinical disease. Since persistent infection in clinically healthy dogs has been demonstrated,6,7,15 it is likely that a portion of the seropositive animals are chronically infected carriers of the organism. Experimentally, chronically infected carriers did not have any hematologic abnormalities,7 and, thus far, it appears that seropositive animals with no clinical evidence of disease are hematologically normal. Incidents of chronically infected carriers later developing clinical disease have not been clearly documented.

The cyclic appearance of clinical cases that coincide with tick season indicates that canine anaplasmosis is an acute disease that occurs in dogs a week or two after organism inoculation by ticks.5,12 Because chronic infection has not been directly related to clinical disease and because a therapeutic regimen effective in clearing the organism from an infected animal has not been established, treating clinically healthy, seropositive animals is of questionable benefit. However, a seropositive reaction to A. phagocytophilum in a clinically healthy dog should not be disregarded. At a minimum, implement an aggressive tick-control program designed to minimize exposure to ticks, and, hence, to other tick-borne diseases. It is clear that coinfection with two or more tick-borne agents is common and that dogs coinfected with B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum are nearly two times more likely to develop clinical disease than are dogs infected with either agent alone.9 There is also some concern that chronically infected carriers could be adversely affected by therapeutic agents that compromise the immune system or by a concurrent illness that might alter an animal's immune status. The administration of immunosuppressive doses of corticosteroids to infected, asymptomatic dogs resulted in the reappearance of bacteremia, although the animals remained clinically normal.............

[riveroakssheep]

Oh thanks so much Mark, I'm going to print that out. That's just what I was wondering, if he could test positive but still be healthy. Sounds like it's pretty common for dogs to test positive. He seems to be a happy, healthy dog with a good appetite and he didn't have an elevated temp when the vet checked it before giving him the vaccinations. He does lounge about most of the day but he's pretty active at night.
We treat our dogs with a flea and tick spot treatment that goes on the back of their neck. Hopefully that will help limit his exposure to other tick borne diseases. Plus now he's gotten his first Lyme disease vaccination and I have to give him the second one in 2-3 weeks.

[Sylvia Murray]

We get the "bad pet owner" look from our vet, not the daughter vet, when we don't kow tow to their suggestions that we do more tests or go to a specialist. Right now we have a BC that's 14 months old and on Doxy. She started with an infection of some sort in the conjunctiva of her eyes. At first it was one eye and Sarah stopped by, figured she got a piece of hay in it we couldn't see and rinsed etc. It stayed the same for a bit then the third eyelid on the other side started to inflame so she ordered some ointment and stain but had to go to Dallas before the meds came in so we went to the regular vet where we go and where Sarah worked before she went off to school. She wasn't sure what the issue was but gave us the same ointment. After a week the eyes were barely better and she figured it was some sort of allergic reaction so she switched her to a form of prednisone drops in the eyes every 6 hours and prednisone pills 2x day/5days, 1x day/5 days and 1 every other day till gone. The eyes both returned to normal after 5 days but she said to finish it out so we were and got to the every other day dose when all of a sudden Fearn didn't want to eat, see sheep or nothing but had a fever of 105. David ran her in as I had a flu bug and she drew blood, did lyme test, took xrays and did an ultrasound. White blood count very low, lyme negative, nothing wrong in xrays or ultrasound. Could still be tick born. She sent the blood to another lab to double check their results and the office would call us with those results tomorrow morning and would send an email with all the test, xrays, etc to Sarah too. Stop prednisone, start Metacam, Doxy, and Pepcid AC 2x day . So we started the meds when we got home and next am the fever was down to 104.7 before giving her the 12th hr dosage and she was not acting as lousy as when we took her in. I finally called them in the afternoon about the other lab results and her temp prior to calling them was 104.5. Results were the same, but now she wanted us to take her to a specialist at the Emergency Hospital in RI for another ultrasound and consult. When I asked about how much she thought this would cost she guessed $1500 and maybe more as they might want to keep her until her temp came down. I balked with my argument being, besides finances, that we haven't even been 24 hrs on the meds and there is already reduced temp and improvement (she had started eating and drinking too) so why can't I keep taking temp and go if there's a relapse? She relented partly because she knew I could call Sarah 24/7 if it did get worse and that I would go to RI if I really had to. That was Tuesday and by Thursday she had had two temp readings at normal and was acting very much like the puppy she still thinks she is. The Doxy has been stretched out to 30 days, the regimen for Lyme (which she is vaccinated for) and will go from there. When I asked if the prednisone could have led to this she said no because it was a theraputic doasage so it will be a mystery I guess.

[Bill Fosher]

Prednisone certainly could have caused her to have an upset stomach, which might have made her not want to eat. And it certainly suppressed her immune system which could have allowed a subclinical infection to blossom.

[mamodei]

Anaplasmosis is very common around here. A number of my dogs have had it, as well as a couple friends. I've found the symptoms subtle and unless you know the dog well you may not see it. Perhaps an intermittent lameness, but more likely the dog is just a bit off their normal demeanor. In particular I got a young dog that I did not know well last summer. I got it started working, then it seemed to lack focus and determination as we progressed. I wrote it off as the dog lacking the drive and focus to take and absorb the training and was expecting it would be placed as a pet. Late winter she tested high positive for Anaplasmosis. I treated and now I have dramatically more dog to work with. There was nothing in this dog's behavior to say she was sick. She never took a lame step. I did not know her well enough to recognize her behavior/performance as not her usual manner. You mentioned you have not had the dog for long so you may not recognize subtle symptoms. Also that it had a history of arthritis. I'd definitely treat.

[riveroakssheep]

Thanks Maria, I've been going back and forth trying to decide what to do. The vet that did the test is out until Monday so I couldn't get the doxycycline when I stopped in to pick up his heartworm pills today. I planned to call her Monday to see if his result was a high positive (the receptionist mentioned if it's a high positive they recommend treatment). If that's the case, we'd go ahead and treat him. Although I hope it doesn't make him a LOT more energetic. He's pretty bored right now being separated from the ewes due to lambing and he's been digging his way out of the backyard. I should probably put him in with the rams.

[riveroakssheep]

We started our dog on the doxycycline last week. I noticed some intermittent limping on his back right leg which helped me make the decision. He has to take 5 pills twice a day (10 per day) for 28 days. It is very easy to give him the pills in the pill pockets I bought from the vet - they were worth every penny. When our Aussie had Lyme disease, it was a real challenge to come up with new treats to wrap around his pills, but so far these things are working great for the big dog.

He seems to be tolerating the doxy well, but one thing I've noticed is he's chewing on his paws more than usual (front and back paws). He's a GP/Akbash cross and there is fur between the pads of his feet. Do we need to clip that away now that spring is here? Also, he's been digging his way under our fencing and patrolling the steep banks of the pond where the fox dens are, so he shouldn't be overly bored.