Experimental and clinical trials of long acting oxytetracycline in the treatment of canine ehrlichiosis.

Four splenectomized dogs were experimentally infected with Ehrlichia canis and treated at the point of illness with long acting (LA) Oxytetracycline at different dosages. Terramycin LA, when given at a dose of 20 mg/kg body weight (deep intramuscularly) twice, at a four-day interval, was found to have effectively controlled the disease and has replaced the usual 7-14 successive days' treatment regimen when other groups of tetracycline drugs are used. Predef 2X at the rate of 2 mg given intramuscularly concurrently eliminated the local inflammatory reaction caused by the injection of Terramycin LA. Twenty-four out of the 26 naturally infected dogs which were treated in a similar way were completely cured; one died before it could receive the full treatment, and another received a second medication five weeks after the first treatment, showing recurrent epistaxis; blood samples taken from this dog were negative for E. canis.