Tick Testing

I am not a vet or a specialist in this field but, I can briefly tell you that over the past few years a new and possibly deadly disease is striking the greyhounds. These are the tick-borne diseases.

Greyhounds, as a breed, seem to be unique in their susceptibility to these diseases primarily because of travel to and residency in a variety of states and the potential widespread infestation of ticks at greyhound breeding, training and racing kennels. Because Greyhounds are transported across state lines for racing and training purposes and to adoptive homes, and the fact that they are used as blood donors, there is a much greater possibility for widespread transmission of these diseases, that were once thought to be more geographically isolated. Moreover, the greyhound breed is known to be very sensitive and easily stressed, increasing their susceptibility to these diseases.

Some greyhounds can be silent, asymptomatic carriers of at least one or more of the tickborne diseases. Your dog may have been infected with, or exposed to, a number of tick-borne disease agents which could be uncommon to our area. In many cases, greyhounds may actually appear perfectly healthy, with virtually no symptoms of disease, but be in a carrier state. In the acute stages of the disease they can experience any of the following: high fever, depression or lethargy (which in my opinion is always hard to spot in a greyhound since they sleep 90% of the time,) anorexia, anemia diarrhea or constipation, loss of appetite or loss of body weight, vomiting nose bleeds, skin hemorrhage or other unusual bleeding, swollen legs or lymph nodes, nervous system disorders, such as stiff gait, head tilt, seizures or twitching, pale gums and/or inner eye membranes.

Unfortunately, we as a rescue group cannot financially afford to do this test as part of our pre-adoption medical on every Greyhound. What we would like to highly recommend is as part of your greys next physical is to have a tick panel done on them. The charge will vary depending on your vet but, it is well worth knowing and catching it in early stages rather than waiting until the above symptoms occur which could be too late! We have randomly tested over the years (especially if the dogs have come to us tick infested or from deplorable situations.) Some have tested positive and some have not. We have treated the ones that tested positive and up to now have had positive results with no resulting deaths. The treatment will vary from weeks of antibiotics to a special series of injections depending on which disease they test positive for.

The tick diseases are Canine Ehrlichiosis, Canine Babesiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme Disease, and Valley Fever. These are all covered in a basic "Tick Panel."

There is only one lab in the country that specializes in this test. Make sure your vet sends the blood test to this lab only or you're wasting your time and money! The lab is ProtaTek Reference Laboratory, 574 East Alamo Street, Suite 90, Chandler, Arizona 85225. Their phone number is 602-545-8499. All this consists of is a simple blood test that is mailed to the lab (preferably rushed.)

We are not trying to frighten everyone, but, we are finding more and more cases of this across the country and isn't it better to know and treat than to let this potential killer lie unnoticed until it's possibly too late?

If your vet has questions or is not familiar with these diseases or procedures they are welcome to call the REGAP office, or the Hecker Doctors, or the greyhound Protection League at 1-800-446-8637 or Protatek Labs and we can help them out!