Tess, my 6 y/o yellow girl is not doing well these days, and I'm looking for any and all advice:

In 2005 Tess woke up one morning and literally couldn't stand. She had hot, swollen hocks and was very painful. Tick panel done at this time was all negative. My vet started treatment immediately with Doxycycline and referred her to the orthopedic vet, who tapped her joints and did a C&S. Culture came back positive for staph (thought to be a skin contaminant) and strep. Ortho vet changed treatment to Clindamycin for six weeks, I believe. Dog got better, but not great. After 3 or 4 months dog was still just not right, and my vet and I decided to test for further tick diseases. One of the tests came up positive for Bartonella, so treatment was given with Zithromax for six weeks. Tess seemed to make a full recovery at that time and was able to return to field work. Since then Tess has had one episode of pain in her hip and back, which was successfully treated with accupuncture and chinese herbs by the holistic vet. Tick tests done at this time were negative. Tess was feeling great after that and was running well enough to finish her MH title.

This summer Tess had her first litter. First puppy was stillborn, second puppy delivered naturally was robust, third puppy had to be delivered by c-section due to dystocia. At the time of delivery of section there were two dead fetuses also delivered. These appeared to have died early on in the pregnancy, although not simultaneously, as one was a bit more developed than the other. The night of c-section Tess tore stitches in her incision, which was odd, because I know my vet is a stickler for knot-tying, so to speak. Tess had to have a surgical repair of her incision the next morning, and had a good bit of trouble post-op with what we thought was an allergic reaction to the stitch material used.

About 9 weeks after delivery Tess was spayed, as I knew I wasn't going to breed her again and didn't want to risk pyo after having dystocia. At the time of spay my vet commented that Tess's uterus, ovaries, and stomach tissues were friable and fragile. (This probably explains why she tore her abdominal stitches from her section). Tess had bleeding along her incision line after her spay and had to have additional staples placed - even though my vet had been ultra careful with stitches after having trouble with c-section incision.

Tess is now 5 months out from delivery, almost 3 months out from spay. She's lethargic, appears painful, is intermittently lame, and now has the appearance of a much older dog. She has lost muscle tone along her spine and her head looks different to me. My vet and I ran a CBC this week and sent a thyroid panel to Michigan. Thyroid still pending but vet called last night and said that CBC was normal except on smear, where she showed lymph cells and something else I can't remember. Vet from Antech brought up the possibility of tick disease without knowing anything about this particular dog's history.

I'm worried that Tess is moving to the chronic phase of tick disease. The lethargy, stiffness, and loss of muscle tone around eyes and spine are symptoms of progression of TBD. My vet and I have already discussed treating for TBD whether or not she tests positive on titer, and both of us think this is the thing to do. We are waiting on Michigan results before we start treating with antibiotics (this should be by the end of the week).

So - suggestions, anyone? My vet is more than willing to entertain any and all suggestions and I am willing to do whatever it takes to make this dog feel better. I'm worried that if she is moving to the chronic phase I could lose her, and am willing to pull out all stops to prevent such a thing. Sorry so long but I'm looking for any and all help with this problem. Thanks in advance.

I haven't had much experience with TBD, but a couple of years ago, my nine year old male was failing. His skull muscles and tissue were shrinking and he couldn't open his mouth to retrieve. His movements were stiff and his spine was rigid. We ended up treating him for an infection of some sort in his head and he is now 11 and doing very well. He was treated from symptoms, not from any substantiated tests. He did not have meningititis.

So you did do Doxy for at least a month up front ? It does take that long to work for tick borne diseases. Have no other idea.

I can't remember exactly how long we gave Doxy originally. Several weeks, I know, but I can't remember if fit was a month or not. Clindamycin was given for six weeks, then 3 or 4 months went by, then a six week course of Zithromax. We have done multiple tick titers on this dog in the intervening years since her original course, and all have been negative.

If it is ehrlichia, she needs to be on doxy for 6-8 weeks. Our girl was diagnosed with it and was put on doxy for 2 weeks. Symptoms disappeared but returned within the year. Next vet put her on doxy for 2 months and she has been symptom free since then.

These tick borne diseases are a challenge to treat because many vets don't recognize the symptoms. The first time we went through it, my vet refused to test for ehrlichia because she said that we don't have ehrlichia in this area. After another vet correctly diagnosed my dog, first vet became a believer and began testing for it.

Good luck.

I have no advice for you Susan, but just wanted to say I'm sorry you are going through this. Tess is a wonderful little girl. She is in my prayers. I hope you and your vet are successful in finding a cure for her.

ehrlichia requires 6-8 weeks of Doxy to fully recover.
had two dogs in the past, both recovered on this regiment.

Janet

You might want to try the Tick-L list

http://www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?SL1=TICK-L&H=APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM

Did they just do the in-house test, or the C-6?

http://www.lyme.org/bbipr.html

You also might want to contact Jean Dodds.

Best of Luck.

Hi Susan
Could you find out exactly what the CBC manual Diff smear abnormal findings entail? It could be very important in trying to help you with some ideas. There have been reports of co-infection of B.burgdorferi and Ehrlichia.

Thanks
Lisa M

Lisa, everything on the CBC was dead normal, except under "remarks it stated "immature lymph cells, few" and "marker cells, few".

We've started Tess on Doxycycline and my vet is going to try to get in touch with the tick disease expert at NCSU this week. We plan to draw blood next Monday and send it directly to NC State for Dr. B to test in whatever way he wants to.

Thanks everyone for your responses.