Lyme disease

[Tanya]

interesting. so a dog can test positive for lime but if the test is low (30 or below) you would actually not treat at all?

There is great debate on the topic, some say you have to treat lime others say you wait for symptoms. I prefer this more specific answer of levels.

[Sue]

Tanya, I would (and will) treat either way. I just got back a c6 quant on one of my dogs, it was only 14. However, I am treating, and will also be starting treatment on my other, who I haven't done the c6 on yet, no matter what the number is. I feel it's better to be safe than sorry. When she had it 3 years ago, her numbers were 31, just above the so-called cutoff. And the 6 month check was 10. So, no matter what the number is, she will start doxy after her clavamox is done.

There is so much controversy with Lyme, it's very politicized. Are you aware with humans, there are doctors that are being brought up before medical licensing boards, and losing their licenses and fined high amounts because they're treating kids with a longer course of meds than is recommended by IDSA (Infectious DIsease Society of America)?

Same with dogs. Vets are reluctant to provide an appropriate course of treatment, so people (myself included) end up buying bird biotic to get the right dosages into them.

[Tanya]

Tanya, I would (and will) treat either way. I just got back a c6 quant on one of my dogs, it was only 14. However, I am treating, and will also be starting treatment on my other, who I haven't done the c6 on yet, no matter what the number is. I feel it's better to be safe than sorry. When she had it 3 years ago, her numbers were 31, just above the so-called cutoff. And the 6 month check was 10. So, no matter what the number is, she will start doxy after her clavamox is done.

There is so much controversy with Lyme, it's very politicized. Are you aware with humans, there are doctors that are being brought up before medical licensing boards, and losing their licenses and fined high amounts because they're treating kids with a longer course of meds than is recommended by IDSA (Infectious DIsease Society of America)?

Same with dogs. Vets are reluctant to provide an appropriate course of treatment, so people (myself included) end up buying bird biotic to get the right dosages into them.

We had a few dogs in rescue that had Erlichia (another tick-born disease) and the vet here was searching in their files on how to treat, they had never seen it. And yes many people say they would treat either way, which is probably what I would do. There is much more lyme where I am located, and in fact, the number of ticks this year is absolutely NUTS so its a hot topic everywhere. As I mentioned in another post, Ticks were not even on my radar until the last few years, so while I have been a lifelong dog owner, the entire "tick" think is brand new and I am learning. It really sucks how many things we need to drug our dog with for their safety these dogs. Even if you skip some vaccinations or titer you still are faced with Heartworm and Tick-born issues (and probably other things in other places). And you have so much controversy.

The news here has been reporting that doctors here are clueless about lyme and many people go undiagnosed for a very very long time because it's not on their radar. So I guess a new reality for humans as well as dogs!

[Snowco Labradors]

My girl that had a 100 c-6 had symptoms, I treated. The other had a 300 with no symptoms, I treated. Followed up 6 months later and both are good to go. The 100 dog came down to 0 and tested neg on next snap. The 300 dog came down to 17 and tested positive a year later so I did another c=6 and she came down to 10. she will most likely test positive again in feb and I will do another c-6 to check level, because I have no idea if she was bit by another lyme infested tick or is it just that she needed to be treated with an antibiotic other than doxy because she was being bred.

I treated her with amoxy (safe for breeding) and am ok with the results but wonder if I had been able to use doxy would she have come down to 0.


Who knows.............. I just have to keep testing yearly and go from there.