Tick-Borne Parasites In Dogs

[Pseudolus]

Crush pills between two spoons until dust add little water,into large syringe squirt into mouth

Use Bayticol 6% 1 and half mil into 2 litres of water fill smallish plastic spray bottle squirt onto dogs feet as it stands let it dribble through toes ever day or so, dust down with flea/ tick powder ever few days

Not a good idea - some medication is time release for example and therefore giving it like this can give an overdose very quickly; might stop it working; might not be effective when combined with other stuff. The pill you get is how it should be administered.

Best method to give pills I find is to copy the vet. Open their mouth (if they are inclined to bite, cover lower tooth with their lip so they bite you, they bite themselves first) wait about 1 second as the tongue falls back and then they push it forwards a bit. At that point drop (ideally) or push the pill down to the back of the throat, close and hold mouth shut, a little blow (from your breath, not your fist) on the nose and down it goes. I got 3 protatzoa, 3 anti bac and a cod liver oil pill down my fussy Huksy in one shot about 5 minutes ago - straight down the hatch ; job done.

Edited July 19, 2012 by Pseudolus

[Pseudolus]

Thanks LeCharivari for the info.

I misunderstood 'recurrent' - thinking it was like malaria (can stay in the system forever) as opposed to they can pick them up again from another tick.

Isanbirder - v happy to hear that your dogs are OK following the treatment, but don't just give up if it happens again. One of my dogs has had this problem two or three times! (I lose track as up until recently - touch wood - there was always something going on with one of my dogs....). He is still here and doing just fine.

Thanks, F1fanatic, the recurrence... or repeat infection... is what I was concerned about. If it's a new infection each time, of course what I said about letting them slip away just doesn't apply.

Doesn't the heartworm pills from Bayer include protection to this as part of their one hit a month pills?

[LeCharivari]

Crush pills between two spoons until dust add little water,into large syringe squirt into mouth ...

Not a good idea - some medication is time release for example and therefore giving it like this can give an overdose very quickly; might stop it working; might not be effective when combined with other stuff. The pill you get is how it should be administered. ...

None of the tablets detailed are sustained release (SR, CR, etc) - very few tablets for dogs are, as telling them not to chew their tablets and explaining why is seldom understood! If unsure, ask the vet.

CDD's point (and mine) was that while the approved method works in most cases (but by no means all) it simply doesn't work at all when dogs are too ill and unable to swallow solids (including tablets) and any tablets forced down the dog's throat will be vomited back up making the situation worse.

Heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes, not ticks - different problem. The Bayer tablets (Advantage Multi), like HeartGard, Revolution, etc, also kill roundworms, hookworms and whipworms in the intestine but they have no effect on ticks or anything transmitted by ticks. Frontline and similar products kill the ticks, but only after 12 to 48 hours which is ample time for the parasites (such as ehrlichia) to get into the system.

Unfortunately even if you take all reasonable precautions, such as administering Frontline and HeartGard every month, checking your dogs every day (or every walk) for ticks, etc, the best you can do is reduce the chances of infection, not prevent it.

I misunderstood 'recurrent' - thinking it was like malaria (can stay in the system forever) as opposed to they can pick them up again from another tick.

As it was explained to me, the treatment can clear the system eventually as long as its checked and monitored properly, but the problem is that the liver and kidneys (and general immune system) are weakened irreversibly so the dogs are more susceptible not only to another problem directly from ehrlichia but indirectly to renal failure.

[isanbirder]

Giving pills presents fewer problems the longer the course of treatment goes on. The dog I thought would cause most difficulty now comes and sits waiting for his turn; he hasn't quite got as far as opening his mouth for it yet!

[DLock]

I almost lost my dog last year to a tik-borne infection.

I was away when my dog stopped eating and was extremely weak. My staff took him to the vets for blood tests and said he had the infection.

He stayed at the vet for 2 days before I got back and when I went to see him he was in a bad way - just laying there, vomiting and diarrhea with blood. I stayed with him a few hours. He was on a saline drip. I left and later that day the Vet called to say he was going into convulsions and that I should come to be with him as he was likely going to die.

When I got there he looked very bad and I said if he was going to die I would take him home. I kept him on saline all night as well as other antibiotics and orals. He lived the night. He stayed on saline drip for 2 weeks. It regularly came out or got blocked and I had to find new injection sites, or injected him with up to 500cc's behind his neck if the drip stopped during the night and he didn't get enough fluid.

The vet came twice a day to check him, and soon started bringing students. She said that no one every goes to this much trouble or expense to save a dog, so it was valuable learning for her students.

Slowly, he got stronger, able to walk and eat small amounts. I slept next to him on the floor for 2 weeks straight.

But his kidney has suffered quite badly. He was put in a fairly strict diet of boiled chicken and rice in a soup. I still take him regularly to get tested.

Unfortunately, he suffered 4 large abscesses under the skin that needed to be cut out, and those wounds needed to be cleaned daily and covered, but not stitched. He recovered well. One of the abscesses on his side was cut out without anesthetic. Didn't flinch.

Last problem was he developed an infection in his testes, so he was desexed as well.

Today, he is back to his normal self, a little trimmer and much happier.

He is a large 45kg pitbull and one tough dog.

The infection came on fairly quickly, but in hindsight, obviously. If your dog gets lethargic, off his food and diarrhea for more than a day or 2, I'd be down the vet for a check.

[isanbirder]

I was going to tick "Like this", DLock, but then I thought how inappropriate that would be.

I'm sure the dog will repay you in his way... and at least you will have the satisfaction of knowing you did the best, and more than the best, you could for him.

On another forum this afternoon, where I posted the same message about tick-borne parasites, a poster said "Bedding for a dog? What odd farangs we have round here." Thank God not everybody is like that!

[Cuban]

She gave him a month's supply of antibiotics (to kill the parasites) and blood support pills (I don't know what they were).

Sorry I'm late to this thread (and I've not read every sentence within it) but antibiotics do not kill the parasites.

One needs an anti-parasitic drug for this.

The antibiotic might have been a preventative to counter any secondary infection caused by the weaken immune system.

For others finding this thread, might I suggest a recovery diet that includes lightly cooked eggs and strips of liver - dipped in boiling water for 30 seconds or so, not too much in one meal as it can produce loose stool. Both contain B12 vitamins which will aid the recovery of the red-cell count, this was probably the "blood support pills" that are mentioned. The other favourite from Thai vets is Furmeg-3, which is fish oil based. IMHO you are better off feeding them a small can of pilchards - somewhat more cost effective.

HTH

Edit.

Again mostly for the benefit of those coming to this thread through a search, training your dog to accept pills is part of what an owner should be doing on a daily/weekly basis when they get a dog. Of course I am not suggesting that you give your dog a misc pill for the sake of it, but a small pill sized lump of food offered to the dog's nose first then placed on your finger tip and pushed to the back of the tongue - hold the mouth shut, lift the muzzle and stroke the throat = pill training. Like anything if you carry out a process frequently the dog will learn that it is normal and nothing to be scared about or react against.

When our dogs were pups I would take them to the vets every two weeks or when passing in the car, as it was 24 Hr we would pop in at 6am during our walk say hello to the over-night staff and just weigh them. A visit to the vet was fun. So when there was cause to visit the vet for injections or a minor problem we had, there was zero stress from the dogs - it was just a normal thing that happens.

I do the same with paw, ears and mouth inspections during grooming, should we need to carry out first-aid the dog is used to submitting for the boss to fiddle with a paw as it's normal. We do recall the dogs mid-walk for such a random inspection just so that IF there is cause to treat a thorn in the paw, the dog knows that submit for inspection/paw fiddling is normal.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Cuban

[LeCharivari]

Sorry I'm late to this thread (and I've not read every sentence within it) but antibiotics do not kill the parasites.

One needs an anti-parasitic drug for this.

The antibiotic might have been a preventative to counter any secondary infection caused by the weaken immune system. .....

For others finding this thread, might I suggest a recovery diet that includes lightly cooked eggs and strips of liver - dipped in boiling water for 30 seconds or so, not too much in one meal as it can produce loose stool......

I don't know what bits you've read or missed, but the primary drug used to treat E.canis / ehrlichiosis (the topic here) is an antibiotic - doxycycline. There is no other appropriate "anti-parasitic drug".

Again I don't know what you've read about this particular illness, but I'd be very careful about feeding a dog with renal failure anything that could give it diarrhoea, which is what you are suggesting and which could kill a dog if fed in the treatment phase, which can last from one to two months.

[bina]

cuban: it is . doxicillin is used for treatment of one tick borne disease, azithromycin is used for babesia, an other tick borne disease, and other treatments are given as support treatments for anemia, pain, etc.

bina

[isanbirder]

With some persistence, we seem to have made progress with my four dogs. I came back from the vet this afternoon with my GSX livelier than he's been for three months. The toy poodle has a good blood profile (clear of parasites for the moment) and the other two are in high spirits.

Thanks to all who have posted; I just hope this is not a false dawn!

[F1fanatic]

With some persistence, we seem to have made progress with my four dogs. I came back from the vet this afternoon with my GSX livelier than he's been for three months. The toy poodle has a good blood profile (clear of parasites for the moment) and the other two are in high spirits.

Thanks to all who have posted; I just hope this is not a false dawn!

That's great news!

One of my dogs has come down with a blood parasite (again), with poor liver 'counts'..., so is on antibiotics and 'liver' tablets. Another is showing a 'low' parasite reading on the test kit, so is also on antibiotics and vitamin tablets.

At least once we are aware, we can keep 'an eye open' for the early warning signs.

Its difficult with adopted soi dogs though, as they are so tough they rarely show any signs! The only reason I took my dog (with the bad liver results) to the vet was 'cos she has had a 'fatty lump' for years, and it had started getting bigger and looking a little infected.

[bina]

thught we only had babesia and tick fever but it seems now we have park worm disease (a parasite that dogs get from eating stuff that may have had dung beetles in or on or near ) named for the ramat gan park... it used to only be there. now its in jerusalem so along with the other shit we have this...

Spirocerca lupi

(Esophageal worm)

its really disgusting, does lots of damage, and i believe one of the ... mectins (ivo, demor, etc) is the preventative or treatment , besides surgery which is also a treatment.... at least its one thing there isnt,as far as i know , in thailand...

(we just got notice that there is a new mosquito around here, bringing iwth it nile fever to humans, not the nile fever of horses.... loverly... )

[F1fanatic]

Its the penalty we pay (and our pets...) for living in a lovely, tropical climate.

So many horrible things I'd never heard of until I moved here!

We have dengue in Thailand (mossie borne disease), but at least (as far as I know) it doesn't affect our pets.

[isanbirder]

I usually appreciate your posts, bina, but please don't frighten us with horrors which don't occur in Thailand! We have enough here without that.