Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever? Probably Not.

A reader writes:

I live in Alabama, and recently a friend had her dogs tested for tick-borne diseases. Neither had specific signs of disease, but both had been bitten by ticks because she lives in a rural area, and one is middle-aged and had some vague "lessened energy" signs.

The tests for both dogs came back positive for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and they are now on doxycycline.

Hearing that, another in our group of dog friends had her healthy dogs tested, and they came back positive for RMSF. So, another just started treating her dogs without testing since the tests are expensive. Several others are now having their dogs tested.

My reader wondered what was going on? Are her friends being ripped off, or is there some horrible new contagion sweeping the nation?

My answer back:

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) was not diagnosed in dogs until the 1970s, and is self-limiting and generally asymptomatic. In short, it is generally not a big deal, and once a dog recovers from RMSF, the dog is immune to the disease for life.

Look around you: Are you reading about an epidemic of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in humans or pets? Are you hearing about dogs in your area dying from RMSF? Is your dog seriously sick?

No, I didn't think so.

I would worry about almost anything and everything before I started to worry about RMSF, and my dogs are in the woods and field every week in the area of the country where half of all RMSF is to be found! You and your dog are more likely to be struck dead by lightning that catch RMSF.

What is particularly telling here is that you have two asymptomatic dogs being diagnosed with RMSF by the same vet. Now that's an interesting coincidence! And how convenient that the tests are expensive!

What, exactly, is the veterinarian treating to prevent?

After all, treatment of the dog is not necessary to prevent the spread of RMSF to humans. Ticks that feed off of dogs are done feeding and drop off (or are pulled off) and dogs have such an attenuated strains of RMSF, that dog ticks almost never pass on RMSF to humans. Again: You are far, far more likely to be struck dead by lightning than to get RMSF from your dog's ticks.

So again, I am not clear why this person's dogs were being tested, or why the dogs were being treated.

If your dog is seriously sick, and RMSF might be the issue, the proper veterinary protocol is NOT to test and wait for the results -- it's to give the dog doxycycline immediatly and see if it gets better very quickly. The test for RMSF takes too long and is too expensive, while the cure for RMSF is quick and cheap and harmless to the dog even if the animal turns out to be clear of RMSF. You do not even need to go to a vet to get doxycycline. Simply dose your dogs with bird doxycycline for a week (10-20 mg /kg body weight given twice a day).

For the record, I doubt that either of these dogs had RMSF at all. RMSF is amost always seen in younger dogs, not older dogs, and general lethargy in a middle-aged or older dog could be due to almost anything.

And please, let us not talk about "never being too careful." If I tell my doctor I had a headache last night, and he wants to give me an MRI, that's NOT good medicine; that's fraud.

Do you get an upper and lower gastro-intestinal workup every time you have a case of diarrhea? Do you go the hospital for an x-ray every time you pull a muscle? No? Then stop doing it for the dog!

Dogs deserve veterinary care when sick, but mild lethargy in a middle-age dogs, or a short-term limp after running around in the forest is what we all get -- dog and human alike -- and is no reason to rush off to a vet. It will probably get better in a week or two without veterinary care, same as the minor aches and pains we humans have from time to time.

Still worried about RMSF? Then simply treat your dogs for ticks and fleas on a regular basis, and check them over after you come in from a walk in forest or field, and again a few days later.

Tick prevention is good medicine; running to the vet in order to do expensive testing for every little thing is not.

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