My dog tested positive for anaplasmosis in somepredental blood work. Her CBCwas normal. My vet has recommended treatment with minocycline 100mg daily for 28 days. She does not show any clinical symptoms. My husband and I are concerned about treating her since she shows no clinical symptoms. She is a small dog and weighs 24 lbs. She was Lyme positive when we adopted her 4 years ago and she was treated at that time since we did not know how long she had been positive. What are your thoughts?
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Hi there and thank you for using PetCoach to address your concern. Even if Chloe is non-symptomatic, I would recommend following through with the treatment, as Minocycline is not harmful and it is best to treat and assume the infection has been treated. This is regular practice and is done quite often. There is a confirmatory test for Anaplasmosis called a PCR. I would discuss this with your vet if you would like to help confirm an active infection. The test used in clinics typically detects antibodies, so if Chloe was exposed to Anaplasma previously and the infection resolved on its own, her body likely developed antibodies against Anaplasma and will be detected on the antibody test for years to come. So the snap test used in clinics does not confirm an active infection, just that the animal has circulating antibodies to Anaplasma, which could indicate an active infection or a previous infection. The PCR is generally an expensive test to confirm ($200-300) versus putting the animal on an antibiotic and treat for several weeks. I would discuss this further with your veterinarian if you would like to investigate further but if it was my dog, I would do the course of Minocycline and consider it treated after the course is finished. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.
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