My dog has Lyme disease

[RoughCollie]

My dog has Lyme disease. I am posting this because you could have knocked me over with a feather, I was so surprised that this was the dx.

 

Aidan is an 18 mo old terrier, in great health, always bouncing around, active and very playful. He frequently moves from place to place by jumping from one piece of furniture to another. He loves doing somersaults -- we stop him b/c we are afraid he will injure his neck. He eats well, and has never lost his appetite. He is well-groomed, and I check him every day for ticks and he has never had one on him that I have seen.

 

We apply Frontline Plus and give him Heartgard Plus every month. He is vaccinated against Lyme disease and kennel cough, plus all the regular vaccines dogs usually receive.

 

Thursday morning he was fine. I left to run errands and when I got home at 2 pm, he was limping and didn't walk unless he felt he had to.

 

I examined his left front leg and foot, and nothing was wrong. I called the vet and he said to keep him quiet and to bring him in on Monday unless he gets worse. Funny thing is that I was going to take him to the vet on Monday anyway to get another Lyme disease vaccination. I thought he had a hairline fracture.

 

One of the kids slept on the couch and Aidan (the dog) stayed downstairs instead of coming upstairs with me like he usually does. He weighs 50 lbs, so carrying him around was not an option.

 

At 5 a.m., he crawled upstairs, and ended up in front of my DD's bedroom, unable to walk and obviously in a lot of pain. We figured out how to get him downstairs (he was not cooperative b/c he was in pain and I cannot carry a 50 lb. dog) and took him to the emergency vet.

 

The vet took one look at him and said he has Lyme disease. Of course he was tested -- one of those tests cost $95 and the results aren't back from the lab yet. The other test showed positive for Lyme disease.

 

So he is on a painkiller usually given to dogs with arthritis, and antibiotics, both once a day. 12 hours after he was first given the meds, he reverted to his usual self.

 

A couple of our neighbors have dogs, so I called them about this, and found out that *all* of their dogs have Lyme disease too.

 

So far, this has cost $400, and he goes back on the 18th to be tested again to make sure the antibiotics are working. The emergency visit part of the bill only increased it by $40, btw.

 

Upshot is that if your dog suddenly turns up lame and there is no obvious cause for it, get him checked for Lyme disease. Yes, even if you've never seen a tick on him, and have always made sure he is properly medicated and vaccinated against this disease, and give him the very best care possible.

 

Aidan also had hookworms, btw, even though Hartgard Plus is supposed to treat and control roundworms and hookworms. Seven months ago, while he was also on HP, he had roundworms. So it doesn't hurt to have your dog checked for these because obviously HP doesn't treat and control these worms 100% of the time for 100% of dogs.

[Mama Geek]

:grouphug: I am sorry. My last dog had Lyme. He was about 10 when he was diagnosed. We had taken him to 1 vet that said he was just getting old. I came across a video of a dog that had lyme online and told my dh that is what the dog had. We called a different vet whom we had heard had lyme himself and asked if we brought him in if they would give him the lyme test. The vet was surprise when the test came back positive because the dog acted fine in his office.

 

It is hard. He was on antibiotics for at least a month, but it might have been longer. He did have more joint pain as he got older and at 15 we had to put him down. He was a husky and spent 1 1/2 years in Alaska starting when he was 12 or 13. He loved it there and flourished more than we ever expected. He loved the snow and the idea that he just might get a chance to chase a moose. (No, he never got to.) I think the time there and the exercise he got there extended his life by at least 1 1/2 years.

[gingersmom]

That is so scary. I always felt very confident that if I gave my dog vaccines, monthly medicines and vet check ups that she would be safe from something like Lyme.

 

Hope he makes a speedy recovery! :grouphug:

[besroma]

:grouphug: I am so sorry. He is beautiful.

[ktgrok]

Tick diseases suck. Lyme is actually one that seldom comes up positive right away, just like in humans, but down in Florida we see a lot of erlichia, another tick disease. Dogs do better than humans with it though, if that makes you feel better. We do recommend at least annual bloodwork to check platelets and such, as well as the initial antibiotics and symptomatic treatment.

[Remudamom]

Just wondering if the vac could have made him sick. I heard it wasn't reliable yet?

[MariannNOVA]

Oh, gosh. Poor Aidan -- he is so beautiful! :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

[kokotg]

I'm sorry :(

 

My dog Oliver tested positive for lyme disease--he wasn't having any symptoms; it just came back positive on a routine blood test--so maybe years after he'd gotten it. Vet put him on antibiotics, and he seemed fine. But he did wind up down the road with congestive heart failure, which is pretty rare in little dogs and which can be a long term complication of lyme. He lived 3 years after that diagnosis with medication, until he was 16 1/2....but I do wonder if he would have had more completely healthy years without the lyme. So it's good that you're catching this early!

[ktgrok]

I'm sorry :(

 

My dog Oliver tested positive for lyme disease--he wasn't having any symptoms; it just came back positive on a routine blood test--so maybe years after he'd gotten it. Vet put him on antibiotics, and he seemed fine. But he did wind up down the road with congestive heart failure, which is pretty rare in little dogs and which can be a long term complication of lyme. He lived 3 years after that diagnosis with medication, until he was 16 1/2....but I do wonder if he would have had more completely healthy years without the lyme. So it's good that you're catching this early!

 

I've actually seen more congestive heart failure in small dogs than big ones...but maybe that is because the practices I was at had a large number of small dog patients. We see it in terriers especially it seems.

[Twigs]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

[vettechmomof2]

I've actually seen more congestive heart failure in small dogs than big ones...but maybe that is because the practices I was at had a large number of small dog patients. We see it in terriers especially it seems.

ditto here with the small dogs, terriers especially.

[vettechmomof2]

I am sure that you were informed that Lyme has increased this year a huge amount.

With the hookworms, you can have breakthough amounts of worms show through in a fecal but the company claims that the Heartgard should treat the worms. However, I prefer Interceptor just with the unavailablilty of it right now is frustrating :(

With hookworms they thrive and live in the soil for YEARS! So it is vital that as soon as your dog goes to the bathroom, you pick it up and throw it away. These parasites will not die in the cold, they will just wait until it is warmer.

If you have been giving Aiden heartgard year round then i would have your vet contact heartgard company ASAP. The vet is easier to be the ones to do this as they can fill out the paperwork and show receipts that you have purchased the right amounts of the product. The company should pay for the testing (fecals) and any further testing and treatment for the hookworms.

:grouphug:

[kokotg]

I've actually seen more congestive heart failure in small dogs than big ones...but maybe that is because the practices I was at had a large number of small dog patients. We see it in terriers especially it seems.

 

really? interesting! I can't remember where I read it's rarer in small dogs. Maybe I'm just making it up :D and he probably was a terrier mix.

[Denisemomof4]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: the good news is that I hear dogs respond well to treatment. I am surprised this happened with the use of Frontline. i am shocked that HP hasn't worked better.

 

I have pulled several hundreds of ticks off my puppies alone this year. Your post confirms that my desire to stay away from Frontline is right. We are looking at other options: tick tubes for the yard next year, diamataceous earth (although that kills the good with the bad) :sad: and other treatments for the dogs.

[Lizzie in Ma]

:grouphug::grouphug:, poor puppy. Hope he is on the mend soon.

[Impish]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

[AngieW in Texas]

We still haven't figured out what's wrong with our 9.5yo golden.

 

For her, it started off with refusing food and then vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy. It started the day she went for her vaccinations, so the first thought was a vaccination reaction. The vet tried treating her with a steroid injection, cirenia (for vomiting), and benadryl. She switched from vomiting to diarrhea, so we stopped the cirenia and she took the diarrhea med (don't remember what that one was).

 

She was still sick a full week later, although at least she was eating again, so they suspected that she might have a mass on her spleen. The xray and the sonogram were both normal, but her bloodwork was wonky. The vet said she was going to test her for tick-borne diseases, but then ended up running just a regular blood panel (was the relief vet instead of our regular vet).

 

One week later, the regular vet figured out that the relief vet never did the tick panel, so she ran that and also tests for atypical Addison's.

 

So far, everything is still negative except that her bloodwork is wonky. She isn't eating like she used to. She used to eat all her food within seconds of it hitting the bowl, but now it takes her all day. The vet had us go ahead and do a course of doxycycline just in case it was too early for the tick panel to show up positive.

 

She wants us to come back in two weeks and do bloodwork again. I think we're going to skip it at this point. We've already spent about $2000 to be told that they don't know what the problem is.