Hi everyone:
I have a question for you. I hope someone can address this. My old girl 12 , Tasha, the one with Glomerulonephritis and paresis had her routine blood work done last week. We do it every 3-4 -6 mos depending upon how she is doing. We also did her protein/creatinine ratio again. She was seen for her paresis and has been on pred for a week, now weaning off for the next week.
Anyway, her values all remained pretty much the same from November. Her Albumin was the same, etc. Her protein/ creatinine ratio went down but that may or may not be a good thing. I read recently that it can mean renal failure, but the vet said all the other urine and blood work was actualy quite good for a girl her age w/o Glomerulonephritis. Hmmm.
Well the thing is this. Normal Hct is around 38. After her surgery Jan, 06 it was 21. She was put on meds and later found to have Lymes which was treated in March. But in February it went up to 38, then in March to 42.2. IN November it had gone down 36.3, and now in March it is 27. That is slightly anemic, but I am concerned about the drop in the last 2 tests. We will test her in 3 weeks again with a full CBC. I am dropping off a stool sample as well, even though no blood is visable to the eye. Her other bloodwork is not remarkable except for a slight rise in her WBC.
My question is this. I read a few days ago, ( Can't find the article) that a dog who is infected with Lymes can become anemic. She just had her snap test and it was a dark blue again. The vet ( new one) said she expected it due to her infection last year. And she is not necessarily re-infected. I asked about running a C-6 test, I think it is called and she said Lymes would not cause the anemia.
I am wondering why after major surgery and 3 transfusions ( Jan 06) her Hct was 21, and after megadoses of antibiotics it shot up. She was also tested in January and found to be producing RBC's. I am also wondering about Lymes reinfection. If I can find information to support this theory I can get her to run the test.
She is supposed to go to the cardiologist Friday for her coughing, paresis episodes. I could have them draw blood there if I can find the info.
If anyone else has had experience with Anemia and their Labs. PLEASE write to me here or privately as I need to find out what is going on with my girl.
TIA! A

Well, I'm not a vet, but I can tell you what my experiences with this have been. I have a girl who had tick disease-like symptoms but tested negative for all the normal tick diseases. She was treated with Clavamox and Doxycycline and improved, although I still felt she wasn't 100%. I had my vet do further testing and it turns out my girl had Bartonella, also known as cat scratch fever, which is a tick borne disease. She was treated with Zithromax and improved. When she was first sick and during the months before she was diagnosed with the Bartonella she had anemia. When she was treated definitively the anemia went away. My vet told me at the time that we would use her packed cell volume numbers as a way to monitor her tick disease and to be watchful for recurrences.

I have a friend whose dog has had Lymes and this dog recently had a Lymes relapse. Both times she presented with anemia and after appropriate treatment the anemia resolved.

Thanks Susan!
I have decided to have the C-6 test done on Friday at the cardiologist's appointment. This stuff is too nasty to watch and wait.
Thanks again!

I also have an old girl here with Lymes, she never tested pos for it, even on a C6 test. She did get a pos on a Bowen test. She too started with mild anemia. Unfortunatley, she now has chronic Lymes due to first being treated with steroids. My original vet when I first took her in thought that she was in the process of herniating a disk in her back. Something told me that this was NOT what was wrong with her, but I allowed them to use the prednisone on her. She improved but later had relapses. I asked about Lymes and was told we don't see Lymes cases here in Michigan and the vet did not do any blood work at that time, just put her on the pred. We ended up going to something like 5 different vets. I would highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of the book "Everything You Need to Know about Lymes Disease and Other Tick-Borne Disorders" by Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner. Second Edition.

I had a dog that had Lyme disease and my vet said he would need to be retreated for the Lyme disease if he was ever on Pred.

BH,

Your comment about your vet suspecting herniated disc in your dogs back interests me.

One of our senior dogs had this just a few weeks ago and x-rays only showed slight arthritis, but this dog could hardly walk and was hunched over as if in abdominal pain. This is the 4th time in a year.

Always clears up after a couple bufferin and chiropractic visits.

Could you describe a bit more how your dog acted as I wanted this bitch checked for Lyme and the vet didn't think it was necessary.

Could Lyme symptoms come and go that quick with just bufferin. I would think not.

Hi Patty; I originally saw this article in the LRC Inc newsletter but it mentions back pain, herniated disks:
http://www.drschoen.com/articles_L1_11.html

When I originally took my girl in she could hardly walk and was hunched over in pain as you mention. It progressed to the point where she could not get up at all. I also had a chiropractic adjustment on her but it did not help her, in fact I think it made her worse. One thing that did help her tremendously was acupunture. Interesting you not that bufferin helps her, I did not try that but did give my girl Deramaxx for a few days and it did clear up for a while.

Also, I found out later that any type of asprin, steroids, NSAI's can give false neg on Lymes testing. I think that this is why she also tested neg on the C6 test.