My dog has Ehrlichia. How long should we wait for next treatment?

Question

Hello. We'd like a second opinion on how long we should wait between E. canis treatments? Our dog has received 2 cycles of treatment (Vibramycin, then Vibramycin and Imizol) inside of 6 months, and the vet said to wait until Jan 2019 to repeat bloodwork and medicate then if needed. His IgM load has gone from 1/100 to 1/40, and we were wondering if we should wait (would that give the parasite time to multiply?) or insist on aggressive treatment? Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Male | neutered | 2 years and 9 months old | 13.67 lbs

C. Rathjens, DVM · Accepted Answer

That sounds like an appropriate treatment. It can take 6-12 months for the antibody levels to fall back down to negative, although sometimes they never fully clear. It's very important to keep him on a good tick preventative at all times because he can definitely get reinfected at any point. He has antibodies in his system still, but that doesn't indicate an active infection. You could request a PCR test to try to look for active infection, but unless he's still ill and you and your vet can't figure out why, I don't see the value in this.

My dog has Ehrlichia. How long should we wait for next treatment?

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