Angus has anaplasmosis

[Kathryn]

Our vet and his assistant, Cassy, came by the house on Friday for our pups' annual exams. He is very thorough: both dogs were weighed and completely checked over (Oban has orders to lose a pound or two), blood and fecal samples taken, kennel cough treatments, heartworm and tick medicines, nails cut, etc. 

Dr. Dave called back on Saturday to say that Angus' blood test was positive for a tick disease, anaplasmosis.  About a month ago, just as we were scheduling the regular spring check-ups, Angus has started to limp on his right front foot.  I talked to Dr. Dave about it at the time, but there was no apparent injury and so we agreed to wait a day or two to see if the limping ceased. It did, and we didn't think any more about it until this call from Dr. Dave. Lameness is also a sign of anaplasmosis, apparently, and that incident helps us time when Angus picked up the tick -- probably a month or two earlier. That translates to February or March in Minnesota -- not a time when I was expecting a tick! Angus will go on meds all months of the year now, rather than taking a winter break. (And it went waaaayyy below zero here for over a week this winter -- hearty ticks here apparently.)

Angus starts two weeks of antibiotics on Monday. Apparently he will always test positive for the disease.  I have read up now: some vets treat every time there is a positive result (that would mean every spring in this case). I don't want Angus taking that many drugs, and personally I am against overuse of antibiotics.  Dr. Dave suggested we run kidney tests, etc., to make sure Angus is still doing well, and follow up on any problems that way.

He seems fine -- typical Angus, overactive, barking at everything, trying to get me to toss something for him to fetch, begging for any morsel he can get, rough-housing after breakfast with brother Oban. 

Any experience with this out there, CairnTalk folks?

[bradl]

None here, although I should probably say "not yet."   Glad you are on top of it so get healing Angus and keep up the Cairn work.

[Hillscreek]

Here in north central PA we used to have to worry about ticks only in the summer months. Now they appear to bite at any time of the year! Lyme disease and anaplasmosis are found round here. Lyme Disease is more common. However they both often seem have similar effects on dogs.  The limping seems common to both diseases. But there can be no symptoms. My Angus's exposure to Lyme disease was only discovered through a blood test for Lyme disease my vet was offering at the time. He had no symptoms. He was treated with Doxycycline antibiotic. Vet said it will continue to show up in blood tests. We began to use anti flea/tick prevention all year instead of just the summer months. No special annual treatment. No problems since then which would have been about five years ago I think.

It is fortunate that your Angus is being treated so soon. If left undiscovered both diseases can lead to severe illness. Many dogs in our area have not had blood tests and some have become ill from either anaplasmosis or Lyme disease.

Your Angus sounds like he's doing fine. May he continue that way for many years to come!

 

 

 

[pkcrossley]

around here it turns up fairly frequently in dogs and horses. treatment is always the same, antibiotics until symptoms abate. like borrelia, the bacteria associated with the disease seems to persist even if there are no symptoms (and apparently some animals carry the bacteria without symptoms). i haven't heard of having to test every time the bacteria is detected, but i guess if they think that is best that is what they recommend. i hope Angus's symptoms clear up and he has no symptoms in future! that seems to be what normally happens with the animals around here to contract it and are treated --particularly if they are treated promptly. 

[pkcrossley]

how's Angus doing?

[Kathryn]

Hi PK - recovery from anaplasmosis was uneventful.  A few weeks ago, though, he developed folliculitis on the top of his head (bald spot, red spots, inflammation, perhaps allergies, perhaps little mites - who knows?) and is now on another round of antibiotics for this.  We are hoping his hair grows back there.

He is a rescue dog, and I am sensing that we might have more health problems with him than we have with our dogs from responsible cairn breeders. He has also started licking his paws, and I am betting he is going to be one of those guys with allergies.  

We are lucky to have a great vet who makes house calls, but I really don't want to have to put him on retainer.  Still -- during covid -- what else was I going to spend my money on anyway? 

[pkcrossley]

 as a rescue dog he started out with a few strikes against him, he needs you and is lucky to have you. hope it all works itself out soon!