Hey everyone, I just came back from doing blood work at the vet, and my dog tested positive for anaplasmosis. I know it’s a bit dumb asking questions here when I was just with his vet, but they honestly did a bad job explaining everything. My dog doesn’t have any issues right now and seems perfectly fine aside from the positive test. They gave me options to either go through $150 of testing to see if it’s active, or to skip testing and buy the pills. I went for the pills because it didn’t make sense to pay for tests when the pills are $60. After googling, I read that doxycycline can be tough on the digestive system, and now I’m worried to start giving him the pills. Should I call the vet to do the tests, start giving the pills, or wait to see if symptoms start? Any advice would be helpful! Thanks!
Weight and age of the animal are considered when prescribing. The antibiotic will start working with the first dose. This is a tick-borne disease, and it will damage your animal more than treatment. Only you can decide if testing or starting treatment is appropriate for your situation.
When you say appropriate for my situation, are you talking more about money or about my dog’s condition? I’m not worried about spending money for tests, but the vet did a horrible job explaining the differences.
Both. Financial and quality of life for the animal. If you feel the vet wasn’t up to your standards, consider getting another opinion. Hope things work out for you both.
If money wasn’t an issue, I’d do the testing but also take the medication. It’s like you taking an antibiotic; it might upset your stomach. You can talk to the vet about probiotics if that happens.
If money is no object, then have the testing performed. If you don’t want to spend the money on testing, then I would recommend giving the Doxy. Doxy is very safe and much safer than not treating the dog.