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Treatment

If this disease is caught early, your dog will more than likely be treated with antibiotics and sent home. Depending on the severity of th einfection, your veterinarian will prescribe either a standard or long course of antibiotics for your dog. If anemia is also present you may also need to go with a course of steroid therapy. In most cases, only severely anemic, or very ill and listless dogs will be hospitalized. Fluid therapy, and possibly even blood transfusions, will be necessary to stabilize your dog if the condition has progressed to a severe stage. Left untreated, this disease can have fatal results.

Living and Management

Your dog will need to be checked by your veterinarian for progress within a week of treatment, when a red blood cell count will be performed to examine for mycoplasma levels. An infected dog can remain a carrier of the disease even after complete recovery. If you have other dogs in the home you will need to monitor them for possible symptoms and act quickly if symptoms do appear. In addition, breeding of affected dogs should be avoided until your veterinarian has given you the all clear.

The condition or disease described in this article can affect both dogs and cats (though it is not communicable between the two species). If you would like to learn more about how this disease affects cats, please visit this page in the PetMD Pet Health Library.