Lyme Disease Test

take4roll10

take4roll10

Moderator
I've been doing some research and am still debating about giving Bailey the vaccine. I do live in a high risk lyme disease area, so I am very concerned. Bailey does get a monthly dose of k9 advantix, which is supped to repel ticks.

What I have gathered is if the lyme disease is caught early, a simple round of antibiotics will kill it. However, most dogs don't have early signs of lyme disease. So, my question is how early is considered early? And how late is too late? What I'm thinking about doing is getting Bailey tested for lyme disease once a year. The end of October or early November when the weather starts getting colder. And of course get her tested if she shows any signs or symptoms.
 
I have two dogs with Lymes disease. I will not now or ever vaccinate for Lyme.

One dog went lame in the front. Given that he is nuts, I took him to the vet for x-rays assuming he had flown off of something while I was at work. Nothing showed on x-rays. Two weeks later I came home and he was lame on the other front leg, did not eat dinner, and just looked icky. I took him to the vet and sat for two hours for a lyme test. My vet didn't even get a tech, she agreed with my diagnosis, told me to hold his leg, drew the blood and it came back positive in less than three minutes of the allotted ten. He went on 50mg of Doxy, twice a day. He was back to his regular self in two pills. He did a full 30 days of Doxy, we did not run a titer at that time.

So last spring, I took him in for a Lyme titer because he was acting punky. It came back "clinically insignificant", so I wrote his behavior off to him hating the heat. I have not had another titer done, and he has shown no other symptoms.

My other dog, Liesl, was in for a routine HW/Lyme/Healthy dog check up, and my vet was like "you knew she has Lymes, right?" Uh, no. We opted to not treat, as she was not symptomatic. I still have yet to see a symptom of it from her.

Both those dogs spent a week in the spring up in Massachusetts while I was kennel sitting for a friend who went to the National. I pulled many ticks off of them that week, and probably missed some. I rarely see ticks from my yard and none of my landlords dogs have Lymes.
 
Several of my dogs have had Lyme and all have exhbited different symptoms...some ouchy all over, one lame on one hind leg, one that just got chills once the weather turned cool. Lyme is not something you can pinpoint, but once your dog has it, you recognize his or her symptoms when they come back (and they usually do). My dogs were all tested and some were positive when they had it; some were not. The test is not 100 percent accurate either, and you have to go on the symptoms!

But the shot is not that effective, and most vets around here in Tick Central Connecticut won't even give it any more. Mine doesn't. When they show symptoms I call and we go on the Doxycyclene, and as Clantyre said, in two pills they're better. Barkley stayed on it for six weeks last summer since it was his third round with Lyme in two years.

My advice: forget the shot, it's not worth it and vets say it masks test results if you do have it done. Once your dog has it, and you catch it and get her treated, it really does improve very quickly. In the meantime all we can do is monitor them for those dratted ticks. In all that fur. :uhoh:
 
Meggie's breeder does not recommend getting the lyme vaccine, so we don't get it here.

I think your plan sounds reasonable. Good idea.
 
Abby has anaplasmosis which is another tick disease..so why get a lyme vaccine? It appears she has had this since last fall...
 
My setter had the Lyme Vaccine and still got Lyme.

Who knows :rolleyes2:

I think preventative is probably your best defense at the moment.
 
danisgoat said:
My setter had the Lyme Vaccine and still got Lyme.

Who knows :rolleyes2:

I think preventative is probably your best defense at the moment.
Click to expand...

This is a good point! Two of my Shelties that got Lyme years ago were getting the vaccine at the time. Worthless!! :mad:
 
My understanding is there was a Lyme vaccine for humans too that was pulled off the market after only a couple of years. They cited lack of interest, but I think there was heat about people getting severe arthritis from it.

It's not one I'd touch, ever.
 
We have a vet appointment tomorrow and I'm still debating about the vaccine. ughhh! :confused2:

I was all against the vaccine, but during my research I came across a new lyme disease vaccine that was introduced last year. It's supposed to be safer and much more reliable in preventing lyme disease.

It's called Nobivac Lyme. http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-news/2009/06/22/new-lyme-vaccine-for-dogs-introduced.aspx
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dv...-Lyme-v/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/604090

I'm still debating because I don't like the idea of a new vaccine. There's no way of knowing the long term side effects.

My vet says they see one dog a week with lyme disease. I live in a high risk area. We go to the park once or twice a week. I plan on going camping and up to CT with Bailey this summer.

I just want to make the right decision.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top