Canine anaplasmosis

[PeppersMom]

This is to alert you to a new tick borne disease. I had my Pepper in for his annual heartworm blood draw and he came up positive for this. His blood platelet level is at a 14 (200 is normal) This is dangerously low and he has to be kept quiet for at least a week. If his levels don't come up, he will have to have a blood transfusion. We were religious about using Frontline last summer and used it through November. This is a very scary disease..the only symptoms he had was that all of a sudden he stopped taking jumps in Open obedience training and seemed a bit more lethargic. I am going to try K9 Advantix this year..I want a product that repels. With Frontline the tick has to bite the dog to get the poison...I am tired of dead and dying ticks in the house and I don't want my dogs to suffer with something like this...right now even a bruise could kill Pepper. These Cairns are such happy dogs, they don't let on they are sick..

[oscar's mom]

I am sorry to hear about Pepper, being sick. That is so scarry to think a tick can do this.

If you don't want to give him a blood transfusion, you can probably ask the vet for Procrit or something like it to create platelets. I don't know the price difference between giving platelets and the daily shots to produce your own platelets, but it's a different anvenue to consider.

Good luck

Antonietta

Oscar's mom

[Toby23]

Ah geeze, hugs......wish I could donate some blood for him !

[Sarah]

I'm so sorry to hear this sad and scary news. I hope Pepper recovers quickly and easily.

I haven't heard of this disease, but I'm going to have to check it out. We live in an area with lots of ticks. Have you already seen some on Pepper or in your home? I haven't even been checking because I've been thinking that it's too early in the year for ticks to be out. I hate ticks.

[Greg P]

I"m sorry Pepper is sick. Thank you for posting this so we all can be alert.

[cairnrescueleague]

We pulled a dog from a shelter in SW CT recently and were warned about this. Apparently, it's prevalent in that area. They now have a 4DX heartworm test instead of the 3DX, which only tests for heartworm, Lyme, and ehrlichia. Very good thoughts for Pepper.

[tlwtheq]

Poor Pepper! Thank you so much for alerting us to this condition.

Please keep us posted, and hugs to your Cairn baby.

[kayharley]

Please give Pepper a hug from me and thank you for the information.

Living in CT I am diligent about giving them the Lyme vacinne and using Frontline or Advantage but this is something I haven't heard about.

I hope he's feeling better soon.

[PeppersMom]

Thanks for all the goodwill guys! Talked to my vet some more this morning and this is a new emerging disease and the test is new for this year. As the other poster said the screen is a four way. Hopefully his platetets will come up on their onw on the doxycycline. His mother and father are nearby so that is an option for transfusion.

[PeppersMom]

BTW Greg, Pepper has Cairngorm in his pedigree....

[bentley'smom]

Awww Poor Pepper, hope he's better soon. Thank you for info!

[sheila and Misty]

poor pepper hope the recovery is quick. We dont really even know what a tick looks like only in pictures from sites. They have to be around our yard there are always 5-6 deer every nite here. again hope things turn out ok keep us posted.

[Amber and the zoo]

So sorry to hear about Pepper. We will pray for a speedy recovery. The ticks are crazy here right now in Iowa. The girls both have their flea and tick stuff, but I still pulled one off of my brother's dog. . .disgusting.

[sj4iy]

This is exactly the same condition that affected my dog last year in June. We first noticed what looked like "bruises" on his leg (later found out this was sub-dermal hemorrhaging called 'petechiae'). Then he had them all over. By the time we took him to the vet, he was very lethargic, running a fever and had a nosebleed that wouldn't stop for days. The vet thought it could be Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, so we gave him antibiotics at first, and it seemed to take care of it for a month, until we saw the spots again. Then we started him on prednisone, and had to go up to 12 1/2 mg a day to get his platelet count back up (he was down to 14,000 when the normal is 200-400,000). We have gradually weaned him down, and now he is taking 2 1/2 mg every other day. We have his blood tested about once a month, but his progress is encouraging. To this day, we aren't sure exactly if it was a tick-borne disease that started it, because by the time we tested for it, it would too late to find out if it was the disease or simply an auto-immune disorder. My heart goes out to you, I know how difficult this kind of disease can be, and there were several times when we thought we were going to lose him, or have to put him down. But hopefully you will not have to go through the same problems I did. The steroids had some strange side-effects on my dog, though- he was constantly thirsty and hungry, his house-training went out the door (b/c he drank so much, but we didn't feed him more), and the strangest one of all was that his ears flopped when he was on the high dosage. Even the vet couldn't explain that. They stood back up again as we lowered the dosage, but there you go. If I can help in any way, let me know- I had to go through several vets to find anyone with some knowledge on this, and I was quite scared. Prayers to you.

[sheila and Misty]

any news on pepper? cant get this off my mind. for pepper

[Izabella's Mom]

Geez. I certainly hope Pepper's platelets come up on their own and he puts this illness behind him.

Perhaps you can look into some supplements that may help him get stronger while he is resting? Maybe someone on this forum has some knowledge on this subject. May I suggest that you post a request? It can't hurt to look into it.

At least you know you can always do the blood transfusion if you need to.

Barbara

[dianer]

Thank you for the posting. When I searched this I thought it wasn't a problem on the West coast but I was wrong. There is a case identified in a lab from Vancouver Island B. C. We are hoping that Cairn toughness and loving care will see Pepper come through and back to health.

[PeppersMom]

Thank you so much everyone for your concern! He is scheduled for a blood draw next Monday to see where his platelet count is. I will keep you posted..for now he has short bursts of energy then tires. I don't dare walk him or do anything with him. My other Cairn wants to play and I cringle because usually their play session include tearing around the house running into things. Brodie keeps initiating play and Pepper won't...its heartbreaking! Pepper greets my husband when he comes home from work and then lays down.

[Scully'sMom]

I've been unable to get to the boards (darn that four letter WORK) - I'm sorry to hear about Pepper and I will keep the little guy in my prayers.

[sj4iy]

Is Pepper taking any kind of medication to bring up his platelet count? I would want to try medication before a blood transfusion.

My dog started out on an antibiotic, Doxycline (or however you spell it) when he was first diagnosed, but when he had a relapse, they put him on a combination of that and steroids (prednisone). We never talked about a blood transfusion. Has the vet mentioned these to you?

[PeppersMom]

No he's not on a meds for platelet count. Just the doxycycline. I have a friend who sells Shaklee products and there actually is a book with testimonials of people who have used their products on their pets with good results. Soooo I bought a liquid suppliment that is mostly vitamins and minerals and am putting a tiny bit of it on his food. I figure its vitamins and can't hurt him if the dosage is small enough. The idea is to build up red blood cells. I also bought their afalfa tablets for fresh breath. They both just had their teeth cleaned and their breath is still bad. When the antibiotics are done I have some live culture acidophillus to give him. The problem is I have been finding his uneaten antibiotics..the stinker acts like he swallows them and I find them around the house hours later.

[bradl]

You may want to force the swallowing of the antibiotic. We put the dog up on a table, open the mouth and place the pill w-a-y back on the back of the tongue - "over the hill" - and then hold the muzzle closed until we see the dog swallow. To be certain-sure you can also put a bit of water into a small syringe and just squirt a little bit into the cheek space. That will also get them to swallow if they don't just from holding their muzzle shut.

[Brody'sMom]

We stick our antibotic pills in a dollop of peanut butter or a piece of velvetta cheese. Down the hatch the pills go!

[Scully'sMom]

Amen to the peanut butter! Also, American Cheese or a friend of mine uses a slice of liverwurst.

[sj4iy]

My understanding of taking the antibiotic is that it does not do anything to raise the platelet count, but it kills the infection that is destroying the platelets, so it actually doesn't do anything to build it back up- so the body will have to build it back up naturally. But hopefully after Pepper's finished with the antibiotics, he won't have any further problems