[Jonya Rakoski Jackson]

My 5 yr old Male German shepherd has been diagnosed with ehrlichiosis. The vet did a blood test. He is on doxycycline, prednisone, and tramadol. It's been 3 weeks. He can't walk, or even hardly lift his head anymore. He was at the vet on iv fluids etc. Showed slight improvement...
But, he seems to be wasting away. We feed him anything he will eat. But he refuses things that he ate before. We keep him hydrated by using a Turkey baster.. it works.
I've read it could take weeks for the medicine to work... but we are losing hope.
Now I don't know if we are just torturing him.
He's had ultrasound to check his organs, xrays, blood work.
The vets couldn't figure out why he's basically paralyzed.
Does anybody have any advice?

 

[saintbob]

Sorry to learn of this, our dog had that plus anaplasmosis, after the usual antibiotics fail the vet put him on an iv after the 3-4th week...he didn't make it.

Knowing what I know now I wish I had brought him to the loving home he enjoyed to pass, it's tearful to revisit this but it's what the wife and I agree on. Up to the day I put him in the hospital Buster contently slept by my side and I let him die alone in a strange place.

 

[Magwart]

OP, have you consulted with a board-certified veterinary internal medicine specialist, or considered perhaps taking your dog to a university vet school clinic? The specialists may have some ideas of things your regular vet hasn't considered. They also have sometimes have access to cutting-edge treatment options not available to regular vets.

 

[Nurse Bishop]

I'm thinking maybe Inga needs a tick collar Spotlight on Ehrlichia ewingii (Sponsored by IDEXX)

 

[Nurse Bishop]

I'm very sorry about the GSDs. People can get this disease too, as well as others.

Six Tick Diseases to Watch For:

Lyme Disease: Spread by the black-legged or deer tick, this disease is most common in the Northeast. Symptoms include a circular rash at the site of the tick bite, tiredness and neurological and facial muscular problems.(Dogs get this too).

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: Common to the Southeast, symptoms of the disease include sudden onset of fever, headache and muscle pain, followed by development of rash. The disease can be difficult to diagnose in the early stages, and without prompt and appropriate treatment it can be fatal.(dogs get this).

Ehrlichiosis: Common to the Southwest, this disease is spread by the lone star tick and is carried by dogs, cattle, sheep, goats, and horses. Symptoms include a fever and swollen lymph nodes.

Babesiosis: This disease is carried by deer ticks and is found most often in the Northeast and upper Midwest. Symptoms include a nonproductive cough, headache and increasing malaise. (dogs can also be infected by tick bite)

Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis: HGA is increasingly recognized as an important and frequent cause of fever after tick bite in the upper Midwest, New England, parts of the mid-Atlantic states and northern California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other symptoms include headache and malaise. (Dogs get this too).

Tularemia, AKA Rabbit Fever (humans and also dogs).

(from Five Tick Diseases You Should Know About | Fox News)

There are yet unknown tick borne diseases out in west Texas. They kill a lot of dogs. Ticks used to be really bad in Texas. Ranchers had to dip their cattle and make them swim through vats of insecticide. Then the imported Fire ants moved in and ate most of the ticks. Since they let those fire ant parasitic flies go the fire ants have died back (yay). But now ticks are increasing again.

 

[Magwart]

Nurse Bishop, if you have opossums around, whisper quiet thanks to them and tell them they're welcome to make a home in your yard. They eat thousands of ticks.

https://blog.nwf.org/2017/06/opossums-unsung-heroes-in-the-fight-against-ticks-and-lyme-disease/