Split: Split: For Hope and Steve

[Hope]

Note: from what I read, most dogs have sub-clinical infection of that parasite. But in times of immune suppression or great stress, IMHA can “flair up” so to speak. I wonder if the chicken bone/vomiting incident two days before he got sick could have triggered it. This is probably all crazy speak but I was just wondering!
Hope

[Patrice]

Hope,
Yes. Read this page:
https://sites.google.com/site/tickbornediseaseindogs/babesiosis

[Patrice]

Protatek Labs is the most advanced lab in the US for testing tick diseases in dogs. Dr. Holland is the Dr. Dodds of the tick disease world and will be very gracious to take phone calls from vets or owners. I highly recommend you contact them on Monday.

Imizol is the treatment. It is expensive and can be a bothersome shot, may need to be given twice (read the information about giving the shot carefully).

Please read everything on this page and also follow every link that Gil has on this page for complete information. You cannot find better information about Babesiosis than what Gil has collected from years of research

[Hope]

Thank you, Patrice! I worry about if it is this obviously and the Pred therapy allowing the infection to get worse.
I’ll contact them Monday.
Hope

[Patrice]

I have been on Tick-L, a list for dog owners and tick disease, for over 7 years now. It is one of the things that I personally look out for when owners post to that list, signs of IMHA.

The spleen is the organ with which humans and dogs generally fight Babesiosis. It is a very active in providing immunity in this case. Dogs and humans that have had splenectomies are advised not to travel to foreign countries specifically to avoid contracting this disease. When Chance had his spleen removed, my vet advised me to be cautious about him contracting Babesiosis.

There have been several cases where vets had to treat not only the tick disease but simultaneously treat the autoimmune hemolytic anemia. In those cases it is not treat one or the other, it is treat both. So prednisone has been used for treating these dogs, usually along with doxycycline. I am not sure if doxy is considered a front line defense for this.

But Gil notes that Imizol is often used. Dr. Holland has far more information than I can provide you. Some dogs remain asymptomatic carriers. She will probably want to know if the original dog that bit Steve would be available for a blood test. If this were me I would ask my vet to see if they can obtain that. That would not confirm that Steve is infected but would give you reason to have him tested.

[Hope]

Hiya Patrice,

I am planning on calling dr. Holland Monday but I also sent off an email to her just in case she would answer that.
I read a little more and I saw that enlarged spleen is often seen — I’m happy that on the latest ultrasound (Wednesday), that wasn’t noted. I also saw that dogs with this usually have thrombocytopenia; I’ve never known PLT past his first weekend in he hospital but then it was 747k. Maybe I’m wrong about this then but I still want to follow the avenue to know.
Thank you for the info though on the Pred..that makes me feel a lot better. I had a sinking feeling of “omg we’ve been making him worse!” When I first read about the controversial use of corticosteroids last night.
Unfortunately I’m almost positive we will not be able to find that dog.. The whole situation was really odd. He was hanging on the lawn with his dogs unleashed like I said but he wasn’t a patient and no one knew him. I am thinking he just lived in the neighborhood and was out causing trouble. One of the techs tried to grab him and he literally ran; she yelled after him asking if the dog was vaccinated at least and he yelled yes while he kept running. I should have paid more attention to this and I’m kicking myself for that – it was literally 2 hours before I was leaving to go out of town though and the vet said it was probably fine so I guess I just let it lapse. The ouch is never got inflamed or oozed or anything, it just scabbed and healed up.
I’ll keep y’all posted — from what I’ve read, the best and most accurate way to test for it is real pcr. IDEXX has a real pcr panel that checks for ticke borne diseases including this one. My vet gad said he had Steve checked for tick diseases but I’ve never seen this panel on any of my bills so I’m not sure what test he used. I might ask him to pull some blood and send it off definitely.
Thanks so much!
Hope

[Hope]

Hello lab result experts!
What’s the difference between PCT and PLT? I know pct is plateletcrit so the amount of platelets in the blood? If a dog has low pct, a high PLT would be expected, right? Because platelets are being produced at an increased rate?

Thanks all!
Hope

[Patrice]

PLT measures the absolute value or number of platelets. This sounds pretty straightforward but often is not owing to platelets desire to clot. Often you will see a notation “platelet number adequate.” This indicates that there was some clotting of platelets on the feather edge of the slide but the tech determined that the value was appropriate.

PCT measures the percentage or portion of platelets in the total blood. This value measures the mass of the platelets. It helps screen for quantitative abnormalities, cytopenia or cytosis.

Platelets, just like red blood cells, vary depending on their health. So, in practical terms, platelet mass can be different in illness. This value, similar to those quantitative values that measure red blood cells, are not viewed as a singular value but rather viewed as part of a complete “profile.”

Ok, everyone stop yawning. ;-}