Diagnosed with Lymes

[titelines]

Hi All,

Took the dog in on Friday as he was just not himself Thursday PM. Everything checked out fine, but decided to do blood work anyway. Came back positive for Lymes. We started him on Frontline and a tick collar in April, but he got a couple of early ticks on him during the warm spell in March. One of those must've been the culprit as he was negative for everything last fall and we haven't found anything on him since April.

He's on medication for 4 weeks, as well as an anti-inflammatory for 2+ weeks. He'll be re-tested in 6 months to gauge any long-term effects.

Doctor is confident that we caught this as early as possible, but we won't really know the full-scope for a couple months.

Needless to say we feel awful, like bad parents who didn't do everything in our power to protect him; and are a little scared about what this could mean for our dog long-term.

Anyone else go through this? Any words of encouragement, questions I should ask the Vet, things we can do??

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks!

[gunmunky]

Sorry to hear about this. We got a 3 year old standard poodle this spring. The day before we were to pick her up, the owner called us informed us that she tested positive for lymes. The vet that did the tests said she had to have gotten the lymes last fall. The vet informed us that there are a lot of dogs that have or develop a natural resistance to lymes and that there is a test to check if the dog has that gene. Our poodle shows absolutely no symptoms so we opted not to give the medication. It's been over 3 months since we got her and she is in perfect health. Hope every thing works out fine and your dogs developes the immunity.

[LABS4ME]

In almost EVERY case, the dog will pull out of it fine. They are tough critters. I've had Lymes twice... 1st time was real bad... I'm still with ya'! And I'm only half as tough as a dog.

Put many dogs on ant-biotics for positive lymes test in the past and they all lived to a ripe old age! No worries, you caught it early and he will be no worse for the wear.

Good Luck!

Ken

ps Anaplasmosis.... now thta's another matter!

[Harmonica Bear]

My dog tested positive for both Lymes and Anaplasmosis last fall at the beginning of the bird season. He was having trouble walking (talk about scared). Anyway, 30 days of Doxycycline and he is just fine. Actually, he was better in 3-4 days. Treatment for both is Doxycycline, at least that is how my vet treated them.

Everything should work out fine.

[titelines]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!

Got a call from the vet and his "count" is actually very low, so we obviously caught it right away. He's on the Doxy and Prednisone so we'll see how it goes. Very encouraging so far.

Thanks again!

[nolte]

Yep no worries. Once they get the Doxycycline, they will perk right up. It will be just like you flipped a switch. It's really pretty easily treated without any noticiable effects.