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Hi all, I am currently traveling and living in an old camper for awhile, before we left, I had my old dog at the vets and they found she has Lyme disease and that her liver is not functioning properly.
We have Doxycycline 100 mg tabs 2 a day for the Lyme for 28 days, which sounds about right. Poor old dog was limping badly but seems better now.
Anyone have experience with Lyme in dogs?
I'll post about the liver problem later as i am out of battery...
I have taken doxy myself for lyme disease ... makes you feel like shit all day ... have given it to dogs too (they seemed okay but probably felt off as well).
Regarding a known, specific liver problem, a vet would have to monitor her liver function to be sure.
Jack
Thanks for the info Jack, yeah those antibiotics do make you feel like crap. The old dog seems happy enough in the trip, I think she likes seeing all the people we meet.
The vet really does not seem to know what is wrong with her liver. They said the problems could be caused by toxicidity, cancer, or by an infection. They did a general blood panel and then a specific test for liver function.
Her liver numbers on the blood test were 10 times higher than they should be and the vet wanted to do more tests. I had one more test done but it showed nothing except that her liver is not functioning properly.
The vet prescribed Denosyl for her. That is supposed to help liver function and she has had 6 of the pills so far. She is about 11 years old, and in good health otherwise, except for her liver and the Lyme disease.
Her ALT is 1843 now, and normal range is 12 to 118, a year ago her ALT was 200, which was still high but not 10 times normal range like it is now. Her ALB is 505 now and normal range is 5 to 131, and last year it was 53. So her liver numbers are way off. Vet asked if she was eating ok and she is, but she sleeps a lot.
The vet wanted to refer me to a specialist for doing an ultrasound test for about $500 which would show any mass or abnormality, but that is a lot of $$ and I am not sure it would find the problem. An x-ray was suggested too.
I feed raw mostly but we are now traveling and living in a camper, so it is hard to feed raw on the road. So she is getting kibble too. The vet of course did not like the raw feeding… what can you do?
Anyone have any input about the liver problems and the meds?
Thanks!