My normally energetic
dog was lethargic. Although her appetite
was fine, she didn't want to spend much time off her cushion, and she had
formed a slight limp. Over a period of a
few days, the limp worsened until she could no longer put any weight on a front
leg, and walking became nearly impossible.
At first we thought
she'd hurt herself by slipping when she'd jumped off the couch; this had
happened before. But as her condition
continued to worsen, we knew a trip to the vet was in order.
It Could Be a Number of Things
The vet clinic saw
Speckles, our beagle, right away. Upon
examining her, the vet determined her issue could be caused by any number of
problems, including:
- Bursitis, arthritis, or an injury of the
shoulder
- Lyme disease
- Bone cancer
Finding a Diagnosis
Because lameness and
stiffness are telltale signs of Lyme disease, we decided to order a simple
blood test before subjecting Speckles to X-rays - those could always come
later.
Speckles had never tested
positive for Lyme disease before; if she tested positive this time, we could be
pretty sure that was what was causing her pain.
We had found just one tick on her earlier that spring; however, the vet
said he'd noticed an increase in Lyme disease cases. Some of the symptoms of Lyme disease include:
- Recurrent lameness of limbs
- Stiff walk
- Fever
- Lethargy
- Difficulty breathing
A C6 SNAP test was run
on a sample of Speckles' blood. This
tests for antibodies to Lyme disease while also getting her annual heartworm
test out of the way. The SNAP test is
similar to a pregnancy test - it gives a yes or no answer. Speckles came up with a faint positive result
for Lyme disease.
Treatment and More Answers
We started Speckles on
a course of doxycycline right away. The
vet said we should see improvement within 48 hours; if not, it was likely she
had an injury to her shoulder or even cancer.
At that point we'd need to order some X-rays to see what was going on
inside.
Before leaving the
office, a second blood sample was drawn.
It was sent off to the lab for a Lyme Quantitative C6 Antibody
Test. This test checks to see how
strongly present the Lyme disease is in the dog. Our vet told us anything above 30 U/mL was
definitely Lyme disease - Speckles' results came back at 250 U/mL!
After 30 days of
doxycycline doses both morning and night, Speckles is "cured" but will probably
always test positive for Lyme disease antibodies.
You can read more about
Lyme disease and tick
prevention in a previous blog entry.
Resources:
http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_dg_lyme_disease
http://www.caberfeidh.com/Lyme.htm
http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/8567
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Re: When the Vet Says, "Your Dog Has Lyme Disease"
