Lyme Disease

[Springerguy1]

Anyone have experience with treatment/recovery for Lyme Disease? My springer came down with this last week- had to carry her into the vet clinic and we weren't sure the dog was going to make it the first week. Seems to be recovering slowly but still seems to tire easy and it somewhat stiff jointed. Our springer has IMHA- an immune deficiency- so we initially thought this was a relapse and treated her with steroids. Odd, the Lyme test came back negative which isn't uncommon according to the vet. I'm hoping she'll be ready for hunting this fall. Good thing we have a 1 1/2 yr. old Brittany-- two dogs in the house is a challenge but it pays off in the fall.

[WalleyePaul]

My black lab, Casey, got Lyme's Disease when he was about 6 years old. It ended up being really serious. He couldn't walk at all or get up when he laid down. I carried him to the vet, and within a week he was almost back to his old self. He recovered well enough that he lasted until he was 14.5 years old!! I had him out in the cornfields hunting pheasant up until last winter too. I, however, just had him put away last week, unfortunately. If you catch the disease early enough, they will recover just fine. They might have some hip/joint problems later in their life, though. For the most part the dog becomes his/her old self again. Best of luck!!

[DuluthGuy]

Lyme's is the default these days for vet's (I don't know) plan. It covers about (8?) forms of physical issues right now. Ask you doctor - if they know for sure what he has - what if the pills they give/charge you for don't work? How mant more tests tell they send you to the U of M? Being as that's probably where they send your blood samples to anyway~ Ask, ask questions...

I hope it is something simple - but?

My brother's dog had Blasto - $1000's later they still get song and dance of "it might be lymes - we can't tell".

In fact ask about Blasto? Let them know you have done some homwork to - hold them accountable - they are in a business for themselves. (for all the vet's - I know you are compasionate about animals!)

B2

B2

[eskay]

My 2 yr old lab had Lyme's this last Feb! Apparently there is a long incubation period. I was fishing on LOW for a week and my son called and said that the dog wouldn't go outside. (he has an indoor kennel in the winter). He finally had to take him to the vet at 11:00pm, kennel and all. After a week at the vet's, he was home and his old self. He's showing no ill effects, But I sure went through the hot dogs hiding his meds for a month. Guess it was a close call, according to the vet. I talked to the trainer/ kennel owner, and he said that he knew of 3 guys that lost their dogs to Lyme's over the winter. Feel kind of lucky that my son was there when it hit.

[burl]

Does anybody know why your dog could still get the disease even if it has been vaccinated for it.When i brought my lab in for his spring check up he tested positve for the bacteria so the put him on meds for thirty days.He seemed fine after this and the vet said he should be ok.Why does it seam like the shots dont really do much to keep it from hapening?Burl.

[LABS4ME]

This was bantied about a few months ago. I'll post a link to the discussion we had this spring below.

I talked to my vet and there is still a question how viable the vaccine is. You will still be treating your dog with anti-biotics with a confirmed bite. It seems every dog that has a blood draw is a confirmed carrier of lymes... Could some dogs be carrying the bacteria with no clinical signs of the disease and a built up immunity? Could the fact they've been vaccinated give a false positive reading? I don't know the answers to those questions but maybe pose them to your vet... remember too that they are not actually seeing the "lymes" disease in a blood test, they are checking the levels of the dogs titre(sp?), which would be elevated in response to the disease and/or any other bacterial infection. There is not a definitive "lymes" test that I am aware of, unless they just came out with one the last couple years. Unfortunatley Lymes disease has become the disease du jour and is a common diagnosis for a lot of vets for many sick dogs.... problem is it could've been or might be some other malody and with anti-biotic treatments clears up, or unfortunatley the dog dies from "Lymes" when in reality it may have been something else.

Before everyone jumps me for my above response, I do believe in Lymes disease and I do believe it is nothing to take lightly, I just feel personally that it is being way over diagnosised, or have I just lost that much touch with reality and it has magnified umpteen fold over the last 5 or so years. Seems as we continue to "humanize" our pets, we want medical answers just as we would expect for our family members, and Lymes being an easy scapegoat has become it...

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB36&Number=534370&Forum=f36&Words=lymes&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=534360&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=1554&daterange=1&newerval=1&newertype=&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post534370

Good Luck!

Ken