TNS

[Heartful]

I am wondering if anyone here has a BC who is a TNS carrier? If so have you had any issues with autoimmune reactions? Intermittent fever of unknown origin? Changes in blood count values? Reply here or PM me if you would like.

 

My dog (In tact 3 year old female) is a carrier and has had all of the above 1-2 times/year and while carriers are not supposed to show immune related disease I am rather suspicious. She also had a severe reaction to her 2nd rabies vaccine.

[mjk05]

Yes, we've had a few TNS carriers (have 3 at the moment aged between 12 and 5, and my parents' 10yo ex-working pet dog is a TNS carrier too), and no, none of them have ever had reactions to vaccinations or intermittent fevers or any issues with blood results. We don't do rabies vaccination, so I don't know about that, but our TNS-affected puppies did have minor vaccine reactions (localised swelling, mild malaise) to usual puppy vax. None of the carriers have shown any abnormalities.

[GentleLake]

Can't offer anything on the TNS but I hope you're somewhere were you can at least get a medical waiver for future rabies vax.

 

Best wishes working through this.

[kingfisher7151]

I don't know for certain my dog is a carrier, 50% chance. Regardless, I know a bunch of TNS carriers, we took in an affected dog and I'm in contact with his siblings' owners. None of these dogs have ever shown symptoms like you described.

 

Puzzling, because those symptoms were exactly what our affected dog had. Except, you know, without the dying part.

 

TNS sucks. Sucks sucks sucks.

[Heartful]

Will definitely get a waiver for rabies in the future. Titer testing this year. She did fine with her annual vaccine with premedication of benedryl.

 

I contacted Opti-gen about her test results - asked them if they'd ever had a false negative but wanted to clarify whether she was clear or a carrier. Plan to re-test with UCD.

 

Thanks everyone!

[GentleLake]

She did fine with her annual vaccine ...

 

What "annual" vaccines are you doing? None of the core vaccines require annual boosters. Duration of immunity for most of them are at least 5-7 ears and some probably lifetime.

 

There's no way I'd be giving a dog with the problems you seem to be having annual vaccines. Heck, I don't do it for my healthy dogs.

[Liz P]

Lyme and lepto only last a year, as does Bordetella.

[GentleLake]

Lyme and lepto only last a year, as does Bordetella.

 

I don't consider those core vaccines and don't think most people do.

 

But, yes, they only last a year at most.

[Heartful]

Distemper, Adenovirus, ParvoVirus, Parainfluenza. She only ever had a reaction to her second rabies vaccine and since I work in a veterinary practice which is open 24/7 and sees emergency and critical care cases (lots of parvo). She had puppy vaccine series, then again at one year and one at 2 1/2. I discussed vaccine protocol for her at length with the boarded veterinary internist I work for and will reduce to every 3-5 years depending on exposure.

[Pam Wolf]

In the States if your dog is on a farm or out in the countryside it should have Lepto. the number of cases has increased in recent years as city vets stopped giving the vaccine routinely

[Liz P]

In the northeast we practically considered Lyme to be a core vaccine. In some parts of the country, lepto may soon be considered one too as the incidence increases. Core vaccine definition varies from dog to dog and region to region.

[GentleLake]

Well, I'm in the Northeast (upstate NY) and the Lyme vaccine didn't even work for my dogs. 2 out of 3 tested positive, one with real symptoms.

[kingfisher7151]

With regards to the DNA test, I highly doubt it was incorrect. Trooper lived to a pretty extraordinary age (18 mos.) with TNS, the vast majority of affected dogs die in their first few months of life.

 

They also usually have changes in their appearance, particularly a "ferret-like" head. They also have been reported to have forms of mental retardation, which Trooper also had. I'll attach a few pictures to show what Trooper looked like, it's a fairly distinctive look.

 

 

Who's cutting onions....

[Heartful]

Heartbreaking

[Tommy Coyote]

That is so sad. I had never even heard of TNS.

 

is it more prevalent in some areas than in others?

[kingfisher7151]

To my knowledge, it's not regional. Perhaps some pockets have bred more carriers than others, but 7-10% of the border collie population carries it. I've heard speculation that it's more common in Australian lines, as well as show lines. Trooper was entirely working bred, though. Poorly working bred, but working nonetheless. It's still quite uncommonly tested for, unfortunately.

[Liz P]

In my experience, most vaccinated dogs who test positive don't get ill. Of the ones who do, most have very mild symptoms as compared to unvaccinated dogs. One exception I know of is my very own dog, who developed Lyme encephalitis and had a seizure/stroke event. He was successfully treated and recovered. Later a titer test came out for Lyme vaccine and he was found to be a non responder. So, he was essentially not vaccinated.