Recurring tickbite fever
 

Hi!

I am desperate for some advise on for my dog. I have a 16 week old female beagle pup. About 10 days after we got her (at 8 weeks) she beame lethargic and did not want to eat. We took her to local vet who diagnosed her with tickbite fever. He gave her what I think was blue Trypan as he said she was too young for the more serious injection and so to buy her time. After 2 weeks she went back for Diminizine injection. She seem to respond well in the first week however week 2 after the injection I noticed signs that she lost her appetite and was lethargic. She went back to vet and he did blood smear to find there was still some of the parasite in her blood. He then did the blue Trypan again as because she is so little he did not want to inject her again. A week or so later he tried DiproPrionate. Again she seem to respond well but at her check up a week later there were still traces of the parasite in her blood smear..less than 2%..
Again he did the blue Trypan to control the spread and a week later he injected her with both ones mentioned before. This was 2 weeks ago. We returned today to the vet where he again did a blood smear and found there to still be traces of the parasite in her blood.. Again very little..
My vet is trying to reach out to specialists he knows for advise and I thought I would try post here for some advice.

Thanks
Ursh

Has the dog been thoroughly checked to make sure there are no ticks still on him?? (and I mean every part of his body, the little buggers can get everywhere!)

where do you live? do you have brown ticks in your area? the reason I ask is because off ehrlichiosis; when it comes to ticks most doctors will check for Lyme disease but not for ehrlichiosis. In fact some dogs could carry it for life and not have any symptoms.

Good luck, and I hope the little one gets better soon :goodvibes:

Yes we have checked her and we apply frontline ever 2 weeks to prevent any further infections.
I live in South Africa. I will definitely mention EhrlicHoises to my vet and see.
Thanks.

There are all sorts of tick diseases, some can be cured with aggressive antibiotic therapy, and some cannot be completely resolved, but can be kept in check. Being in South Africa, I am not as familiar with the type of tick diseases that you might have there.

Can you get copies of any bloodwork that has been done? Can you have your vet tell you exactly what parasite s/he has identified and is treating for?

I would also suggest that you go to the first link here: [url]http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/ticklinks.htm[/url] and join the tick list.