Lyme Diesase

With all these random issues Copley has been having lately I decided to run a tick panel.  It was just a feeling me and Ben had- and the vet agreed to do it- although we all assumed it would come back negative.  After all we don't even have ticks in Vegas.  I use topical preventative whenever we travel and this side of the country does not have huge numbers of infections anyway.  Well guess what?  It came back positive for Lyme!

So what does this mean?  It may mean he has Lyme disease or it may not.

1. He could have been vaccinated for Lyme before we got him and the titer they see in the test is his reaction to the vaccine.
2. He could have contracted the disease before we got him, been treated for it, and now it is gone.
3. He could have been exposed but does not have an active infection (as in this is not the cause of his joint pain).
4. He could have Lyme disease.

What are we doing from here? Well we are running another test.  If this test comes back positive it will mean he IS actively infected with the disease.  If it comes back negative it is still possible that he has the disease but it didn't show up on the test.  Lyme is tricky like that.  Our plan is to treat with antibiotics regardless of the outcome of the second test.  We could wait and re-test in a few months but I feel that because he has the most common symptom (unexplained joint pain) I am going to treat now regardless.  It is tough because I am not a fan of antibiotics unless you absolutely need them and going on a month of antibiotics just because of a "hunch" makes me a little bit uncomfortable.  In this case though, with his unknown history and a positive titer I am going to go for it.

Instead of being down about this we are taking it as a good thing.  If he does have Lyme then all of his problems can finally be explained and I don't have to keep going to the vet saying "I know he LOOKS fine, but something is not quite right!"*  If his knee pain, hip pain, random eye discharge, sudden onset car sickness and (for the last week) inability to sleep through the night can be taken care of with antibiotics then I am calling it a miracle.

^^
The woods where Copley got bit by a tick.
Just Kidding
Except maybe not, if he got bit by a tick in my care it was probably in these woods.
It was a tough sly tick too- to make it through the topical tick repellent and jump off before I found it.

*I haven't blogged about it because I was a little worried I was a dog hypochondriac, but we are at the vet a lot these days.  Every time we are told that he is fine, or given some OTC idea for taking care of the symptom that I imagine the vet thinks I made up in my head.  Most recent he is on an antacid for stomach upset but in the past he has also been in for eye discharge and of course the knee/hip pain.  And for the record I still think the chiropractor has helped with his posture because Lyme or not- he is not winning any awards for "best hips" or "great genetics."