Interesting. I don’t know much about renal disease in dogs, as I only have cats myself, and the main renal failure group I participate in is cat-specific. I do participate in another related group (re the use of calcitriol in pets with renal failure) that gets a few dog owners participating. I’ll be sure to mention that in the future when dog owners turn up on the group. I would assume that most TBDs are treatable, and that timely treatment would therefore tend to slow the progression of renal failure if the disease was at the root of, or a contributing factor to the renal failure. I know that renal failure tends to progress a lot faster in dogs than in cats, and while I think there are other reasons for this, TBDs might be part of the explanation, since nearly all dogs spend a lot of time outdoors and many are allowed to go for runs in wooded and brushy areas, while many cats are indoor-only or (like my cats) go outside a lot, but stick close to their suburban gardens where ticks are rare.
This allows the spirochet to basicall curl up and play dead only to return with a vengence when the treatment is stopped.
I learned a great deal, more than I wanted to know, on the Tick-L list about the treatment protocol.. there was a few cats on the list, but you are correct, the majority is dogs; and I learned that it's better to do the more extensive test and prove the dog doesn't have a TBD than take a chance.
In the case of my dog there was so many overlapping symptoms of the Cushings vs Ehrlichia that it was pure luck we discovered the Ehrlichia.