Cali is limping again! Ideas?!

Lyme.

Any type of limp, Lyme is always the first guess.

Your pup will need an ABX if it is Lyme. The vaccine would not cure it.
 
The new Merial Lyme vaccine is very different than the old Ft Dodge vaccine. Unfortunately we all got ruined on the fort dodge one. The new one is a DNA vaccine, the reaction rate is practically zero, and it does not affect the test at all.
 
ClantyreSheltie said:
The new Merial Lyme vaccine is very different than the old Ft Dodge vaccine. Unfortunately we all got ruined on the fort dodge one. The new one is a DNA vaccine, the reaction rate is practically zero, and it does not affect the test at all.
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Is the new vaccine effective, Rachel? The old one wasn't. Both of my dogs who were vaccinated at the time got Lyme anyway.
 
The new one seems to be much more effective, with many fewer reactions. They gave my moms BC the Lyme vaccine before the Rabies vaccine, based on my mothers history with her dogs and Lyme.
 
My Belgian will do that and she doesn't have Lyme disease. I'll describe what I observe. Rhi is laying down sleeping for a while on her chest with her head across her front legs. She goes to get up and one rear leg is asleep. She takes a few steps with it up in the air - sometime 6 or 7 and then gradually the feeling comes back and she continues on her merry way. It has something to do with how her body is positioned on the leg in question and how long she stays like that. The circulation, never the best the lower on the limb you go, gets more compromised and the same thing that happens to us can happen to them.
I have had her tested a few times and she is always negative. While I haven't seen it in the westies I have seen it in long legged breeds of which shelties are one. I should clarify that by saying that westies are achrondoplastic (shortened forearm) while shelties are not.
Definately get her tested but it might be nothing at all so don't panic yet.
 
I put a call in to my Vet this morning and asked him about all of this and gave him the suggestions that I have read on here and he agreed to give her a 10 day test run on Doxy to see what happens. He said that the cases of Lyme that he has seen in his 30 years usually are with multiple legs or "switching" legs but did say that he has had some false negatives in the past with the test. She will start her daily dose tomorrow morning because she had already had a Rimadyl this morning and he said that the Doxy had its own pain meds and wanted to make sure that the Doxy was working for her and it wasn't just the other giving us false hopes that she was feeling better. He stressed the no dairy thing and warned that I really needed to get her to swallow it whole because if she bit into it, she was going to start foaming and gagging. Any suggestions on getting it down? LOL She was taking the Rimadyl without a hitch (same with her Heartgard) because I guess it had a good taste to her but she does like to fight her pills when she knows something is yucky! He said peanut butter should stick enough to get it to go down (and she looooooooves her PB) but told me to be careful because she has a history of spitting pills back out. He told me that the test that he did was a Lyme, Heartworm and Ehrlichiosis I believe it was called if anybody knows a bit about it. I was at work and had minimal time (as did he) for a million questions over the phone but he did his best to help me out and said he expects to hear from me in 10 days with hopefully good news! Only time will tell I guess!

I let Cali play a bit more then we have allowed her in the past few weeks yesterday with my Mom's dogs and she definitely seems to be a bit more sore this morning (same leg). It kills me seeing her hobbling around when she goes to stand up because she is such an active dog and is always on the move. She just seems so depressed since this started and I want to get her better asap!
 
Tagg said:
My Belgian will do that and she doesn't have Lyme disease. I'll describe what I observe. Rhi is laying down sleeping for a while on her chest with her head across her front legs. She goes to get up and one rear leg is asleep. She takes a few steps with it up in the air - sometime 6 or 7 and then gradually the feeling comes back and she continues on her merry way. It has something to do with how her body is positioned on the leg in question and how long she stays like that. The circulation, never the best the lower on the limb you go, gets more compromised and the same thing that happens to us can happen to them.
I have had her tested a few times and she is always negative. While I haven't seen it in the westies I have seen it in long legged breeds of which shelties are one. I should clarify that by saying that westies are achrondoplastic (shortened forearm) while shelties are not.
Definately get her tested but it might be nothing at all so don't panic yet.
Click to expand...

I was hoping it was just how she was laying at first, but it happens no matter what position she is in and usually after only a few minutes of being down. Same type of reaction though. She will be slow to rise when all of her weight is on her hind legs from a sit position.. Then will either stand in one spot with her leg barely touching the ground for a few seconds or if she starts walking immediately she will put weight on it but "hobble" or hop for 4-5 steps and then its fine and she walks normally. The only difference I noticed is after her playing a bit more than we have allowed for a while yesterday, she seems to still be walking funny for a longer time like it is staying sore longer.
 
Lyme, when not treated, will make them progressively more sore, so that could explain why you are seeing that. Or not. It's such a guessing game when you can't get a clear diagnosis. I feel for you.

My experience is exactly what your vet told you: peanut butter! I put a dab on a spoon and stick the pill in it. Make the dab generous enough so Cali gets it all in her mouth. It's really tough for them to separate the PB from the pill, but it does happen so watch her. When all else fails, I've used canned dog food and put it in a spoonful of that too.

Good luck and please keep us posted on how it goes!
 
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