Lyme disease

[Loveourlab]

So our 18 month old dexter was diagnosed with Lyme disease at his 1 yr checkup via the snap test. They gave him a round of antibiotics and told us he'd be fine.

Fast forward 2 months. He was limping then completely unable to use his front leg. It was swollen and he was lethargic. Went to a new vet, dxd him as having a lymes flare up, gave us stronger antibiotics and anti inflammatory. Also did a c6 which they said our first vet should have done.

Within 6 hours of meds he was 90% better. Within 24 he was 100%. My question is, they emailed me the results this morning. His c6 was 36 and considered active and to retest in 6 months. That's all they told me though. How "bad" is 36? Is this something we will deal with for the rest of his life?

We we also did a urine test to check kidneys and they are thankfully functioning fine.

[Snowco Labradors]

A C-6 of 30 or below is asymptomatic and they do not treat for it. 36 is very low. You do a C-6 prior to starting antibiotics, if above 30 you treat for 30 days and then 6 months later redo C-6 to see if level went down. I had one at 100, went down to 0, another at 300, went down to 10.

If your new vet did the C-6 after starting the antibiotic your results would most likely be on the low end and not accurate.

[Loveourlab]

When he tested positive 2 months ago on the snap he was asymptomatic. It just showed up in routine bloodwork. I had no idea there was such thing as a c6, they just handed me a 30 day supply of doxy and that was that.

Then last week he was showing lameness and we brought him to a new vet. He did an X-ray and found no injury so given his positive snap in April he assumed lymes, did blood work, sent out for the c6 and sent us home with higher doxy.

Im im just confused as to why he was asymptomatic, did a dose of doxy, the started showing symptoms about 8 weeks later. Could it have been a new infection?

[Sue]

Probably not a new infection. Most likely it was an undertreated infection from the first time.

And the cutoff on the C6 Quantitative test is 30. Vets are reluctant to treat with that number, so you are doing great by doing another course of antibiotics, as 36 is above. It's not a very high number, so the infection isn't too bad, especially since you say this time he's limping.

It's important to retest after the 6 months, to verify that the treatment worked. The number should be at least half of the original, or below. So, you'll want it to be 18 or less at that point. There's absolutely no need to do it any sooner.

Good luck.

[Loveourlab]

Thank you. Yes we have a follow up c6 scheduled for 6 months.

[shellbell]

Most vets aren't that knowledgeable about tick diseases, at least the ones around here aren't. I had to educate myself. I'm actually impressed they gave you 30 days of doxy and not just two week's worth, which is what my vet wanted to do. Minimum should be on it for four weeks, even better if you do eight weeks.

[Sue]

And a word about Doxy.

The big pharma companies have jacked up the prices to a ridiculous amount, using a previous "shortage" as an excuse.

Please ask your vet to prescribe doxycycline monohydrate capsules, rather than doxycycline hyclate. And search online or call around for the best prices. Even on the cheaper version, the price difference is disgustingly outrageous.

A couple good site to use are https://www.rxpricequotes.com/ and Prices, Coupons and Information - GoodRx

I like to use the first link.
Just start typing the first letters and a list will come up to choose from. Put in your zip code and radius (I used 50 miles) and it will bring up the prices around.
There are a few others, but this one has always worked for me.

[EmmaJo11]

We had a c6 in our clinic of 216! Hope your pup gets to feelings better. Emma was dx in August of '12. She was and has been asymptomatic. This was at a yearly wellness exam.

[Loveourlab]

We have the capsules this time. The first time we had the hyclate

[Snowco Labradors]

Just an FYI. If Doxy is unavailable amoxy can be used but in a much higher dose (if I remember it was 2000mg daily) I know this because my last diagnosis was when I was getting ready to breed and could not use Doxy. The Amoxy brought the level of 300 down to 17 and next years C-6 was down to 10.

Doxy is the drug of choice (and agreed it should be for at least 30 days, no matter the c-6 level), but there are alternatives.