Spent $800 on tests which were slow to come back due to covid. Spoke to vet yesterday. She says dog has small 5 percent titre for Lyme so "they don't treat".

OK now what I say? She is evasive. I have a dog that is barely eating and I don't know if she is drinking. Dog is about 14 lbs mix of Yorkie, Shih Tzu and something else.

Rescued 3 years ago from woman with cancer surgery who could not keep her. Nervous dog. Won't eat after thunderstorms. But now four days of coaxing to eat.

Vet did not call me. I called her just before closing. She was as I said, evasive. Dog, Posey, is getting ultrasound next Wednesday. Her symptoms are the same as those online. Slow, not eating, maybe painful walking.

I am asking here if your dog has ever had Lyme and what was the treatment for the dog? I may go to emergency hospital today. I am going to try and get the results of the testing to take with me. Here we hand the dog over and wait in the car due to covid.

So, my question would be: why do you think it has Lyme? It could be SO many things. A dog not eating could be a sign of almost anything.

As RentsDue said, lots of dogs -- without Lyme disease currently -- test with that small percentage. That's why "they don't treat" -- because it generally means that a dog does NOT have a current/active case of Lyme Disease.

I feel like you've already decided it is Lyme with very little evidence that is the case. And now may be ignoring any other options.

I'm glad you have the ultrasound next week. I think that makes sense as the next logical step?

- John...

My vet says MOST dogs here have Lyme. It doesn't seem to effect them as it does humans. Maybe it is the cause of your dog's problems but maybe you have to pursue it further.

Lyme in humans can be mild, but often severe. can look like other diseases included arthritis,chronic fatigue, MS, even ALS. Can be seemly knocked out if caught very early by antibiotics BUT has known to come back months and years later to those that have thought that they beat it.

I don't think that chronic Lyme responds to antibiotics as the spirochete that causes it develops a biofilm to protect itself

But I know some vets try it.

Also Lyme testing in humans is not very accurate, I had 3 tests, the first two said neg but I had classic signs of Lyme, A more sensitive test showed very positive.

JOHN I PAID 800 DOLLARS FOR TESTING YESTERDAY AND THE VET SAID SHE HAS LYME.

Thank you so much, Rent's Due! I did not think of that perhaps she had Lyme before I rescued her three years ago. The vet is from a foreign country and I am sure she did not say what you just said. I can see where that would be low result if it was a blood value from a previous case.

I am going to get her some fluids somewhere today so she doesn't dehydrate. I may take her to emergency.

Your dogs Lyme titer is not of a significant value. Most likely something else going on.

Keep in mind they feed off our emotions. If your nervous/anxiouse/upset it could be affecting your dog.

Well I'm not familiar with the herbals that Still Learning Has used,....Maybe... I wouldn't rule it out and am also a fan of a short-term use of colloidal silver.

But I wanted to share with you something that I feel has worked for me re Lyme. Over the years I've tried many, many things but in the last six months I've been impressed with taking the "right type" of vitamin E. I feel most vitamin E products do not work. But the right type of vit E as tocotrinols have greatly helped me.I further want to mention that it has helped a friend of mine with a very arthritic dog. He claims that his dog went from a year of being very arthritic to being almost normal. I don't know how it would affect Lyme or any of the associated effects of Lyme but perhaps you might consider it.

When I say the right type, I'm going to highly recommend a pretty inexpensive book which cost around $10 called "The Truth about Vitamin E". It's by Dr. Bruce Tan. I think you'll find it very interesting and good time to spend to do a little reading/research during this current situation.

You can go over to Amazon and order there and also look at the reviews, and, on the top left-hand of the Amazon ad showing the front page of the book there is a clickable button says something like look inside".

I still recommend the book but you can also go to "American River nutrition" website and there's a lot of information there about the compound. If you elect to get to get tocotrinols you need to get it from a certain source as tocopherols which is universally thought to be vitamin E actually block the absorption of Tocotrinols.

Many of the companies that sells tocotrinols have some tocopherols in their product making it much less effective.

You'll find if you elect to order them from Amazon that some are very expensive. I get mine from the Swanson's company that seems to have the best price per dose that I have found.. Get it from the Delta gold brand made in United States. My wife also feels that it's been a positive impact to her. I might suggest doing a little research on the matter.

I'll try to put up the link to the book from Amazon if this site will let it thru,..

That book

and here is the link to American River Nutrition,..note the top of the page and the topics,.

search.yahoo.com/search?p=american+river+nutrition&fr=yfp-t-s&fp=1&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8.

Ally, you might want to try some frozen Bil-Jac if you can find it. You need to defrost it before feeding, and, in fact, you can warm it up to make it irresistible to your puppy.

You are not happy with what your vet is doing and how your vet is communicating. Go find a different vet and have that vet look at your dog. No vet is good at 100% of everything.

How old is the dog? Is this a senior citizen at the end of her life span?

Many times toy size dogs who stop eating have a "sour stomach". They tend to not be good eaters anyway and if they have a bit of stomach ache, they stop eating. Put a pinch of baking soda into their food. Baking soda neutralizes acid.

This costs you nothing, it won't harm the dog in any way, and if the problem is an acid stomach, she will start eating again in a couple of days.

You can poach a bit of chicken in water (no salt or flavorings) and use that water to tempt the dog to drink. It is important that you do not allow the dog to become dehydrated while you figure out the problem.

Stop consulting Dr. Google. Seriously. Your ultimately going to make things worse for that poor dog. Are you actually listening to the vet or are you approaching it with a preconceived idea of what it may be based on your Internet searches.

I second finding a vet that is not evasive. Our dogs are on a wellness plan; that has cut costs quite a bit. The simple cooked chicken and rice, and cooked chicken broth added to water sound like good ideas too.

For YOU I suggest rotisserie chicken from Wal-Mart. Bob Evans brand mashed potatoes ( precooked and tasty, just reheat,) from deli area or dairy and egg area of your store ( Wal-mart has those in deli area, Pick n Save has it over near the eggs and dairy.) Tatar’s and chicken leg for today’s meal, the use the breast to make chicken salad. We had chicken salad with pecans, dried cranberries, green onions and a honey -mustard dressing on wraps (tortillas) last night. So good. Pinterest has excellent recipes which has helped us get through wanting to eat something new.

Rents Due, I got the chicken. She ate 3 servings! This reminds me of when I had radiation for cancer. Food tasted off. If she has some blood and iron thing going on as the test results indicated, she might have a bad taste in her mouth and the little bit of spice might have helped. I took the meat from inside the skin so it had less spice.

RentsDue, maybe that’s why I like rotisserie chicken so much. Low blood pressure runs in our family; a couple of us have had our doctors tell us to eat more salt!

We occasionally use rotisserie chicken to get medications down. Our beloved Keeshond/Springer spaniel mix had been very suspicious of pill pockets, peanut butter with ‘something in it’ . We’d find her pills spat out on the floor. But rotisserie chicken went down too fast for her to bother trying to sort out the pill. But, yep, as Barb said, watch for spices, fats. Walmarts heavily seasoned rotisserie chickens, as a rule, definitely not a daily food.

I wish your doggie well. Take care of yourself as well.

Does your dog get to go out much, maybe sun will help.

Thank you 6 x 6. I have two masks that I wear. One is a plastic with two vents in and I cover the out vent with a cloth mask.

Busy, the type of salt can be a factor. Iodized salt is good for people who don't get much fish which have iodine in them. Iodine helps the thyroid. I think of it as more conformation that we came out of the ocean or most of our cave ancestors lived near the ocean and ate fish. So if blood pressure is low maybe the thyroid needs a little kick start. When I was a kid the only kind of salt was iodized. Now I have to go looking for it.

Ally: I was not attacking you and I am sorry you took it that way. I find it odd that almost everyone in this forum said the same thing: Dogs often test as "small 5 percent titre for Lyme" and it doesn't mean that they have it. We all said the same thing -- that it might not mean Lyme and you should look into other options.

Then you YELLED AT ME IN ALL CAPS while thanking several others for the exact same answer.

Again, I wasn't attacking you. I was trying to help. But you've already made up your mind, so it didn't matter.

I wish you and your dog good luck.

- John...

OK this is the last I'm going to post on this matter.This is for general inflammatory response. Not sure it has any relevance to your dog but inflammation is at the basis of most chronic diseases,,so under the envelope of,... it can't hurt AND may have an impact to YOU and your health so it isn't time lost on learning about it.

Here is another interesting piece of information/s that you might take the time to learn. Its about a half hour long (and I usually speed these paybacks to 1.5) so its shorter,..has good references. BTW I don't sell the stuff or have any connection with its sales,..

Its up to you,..

It IS a webinar but I think you will find the references valid

youtube.com/watch?v=Jg5_ZCzcLPg

Thank you Hollis, I will watch that now. I took her to the new appointment with a different vet at the same practice. The yesterday vet arrived for her hours and yelled at me for switching vets. I did not switch vets. The staff put me into an empty slot with another vet to give Posie some fluids as she was not eating well and might be dehydrated. So the yesterday vet said which vet are you going to see and I gave the name of the other doctor. I didn't get the meds she promised yesterday, she never called me back and did not explain the $800 results to me. She is also difficult to understand and she told me that Posie had Lyme and they would not be treating it as the result was low.

So new doctor is a young doctor and he was very nice and was willing to explain, as others did here, that Posie had Lyme at some time but had no clinical symptoms now. He gave her famotidine and fluids and Cerenia and she is doing well right now. I gave her some boiled chicken tenders and some small pieces of the Rotisserie chicken and she enjoyed that very much and is now sleeping. Saying she has no symptoms compatible with Lyme is not quite right according to online vet sites. But OK for now.

She will have her ultrasound on Wednesday and the doctor is an Internal Medicine vet and the machine is new and the new vet today said she is very good. Ultrasound is the best diagnostic tool I have ever seen.Age of machine matters and doctor who reads it should be Board Certified or have incredible experience.

Glad to hear you got someone who was patient and explained things well. Even more glad that she is doing better. Hope the ultrasound goes well.

Ally,

Well it sounds like things are getting better,

Rents Due, none of my dogs would ever eat at the vet. For one I took her fancy antique dish and cooked her favorite and she would not. That is the one that was the hormonal stew with pink nose and red hair. One time she would not eat at home. They said I had three days to get her to eat or she would have to come back. She had extensive Mast cell tumor skin surgery. So I went to the store and asked for some Filet Mignon. So this one guy cut some for me after I explained about the dog. The other meat men yelled at him since they said that quality was for them only. She ate.

So today I have to find something I can put a pill in. I browned some Brown and Serve sausage and she ate it but the pill fell out. I will try liverwurst.

The bothersome issue I still have is that after I syringe in some Carafate/sucralfate she will eat in a few second. That drug is a coating for open ulcers. It goes right to an ulcer and clings to it. That tells me she has one in her throat somewhere. When I mention it to either vet, they look up in the air and tell me that the Pepcid or the Cerenia, which is for motion sickness, will work. It's as if I said that aspirin stops my headache and they said no, take a Tums. See where I am going here?

Thanks HOllis for your good wishes.

Ally, if you are near Philly - go to emergency clinic VSEC in Levittown. They definitely helped my dachshund. He ended up dragging his back paws and crying in pain. We feared the worst as doxies are prone to back injuries. Turned out it was Lyme's dz. They gave our doggy a shot and he walked out of the clinic on his own four paws that night.

I just checked their website, they are providing services 24/7.

My dog has lyme and didn't produce any symptoms until a year after exposure. He ran a fever and was throwing up food and water. He was put on antibiotics and was ok after that. The vet said there can be flare ups years after the initial exposure.

Also he was just diagnosed with vestibular syndrome, which I thought was a lyme flare up since he was throwing up again. Vestibular is a neurological disease, which causes vertigo. The dog loses balance easily but will gradually get better over a few weeks.

CJ, your pup has our sympathies. Our beloved Keeshond/ Springer got Old Dog Vestibular disease. After the first time, we kept motion sickness medication (Dramamine, if I recall) on hand per the vet’s direction. At the earliest sign of vertigo we gave her that, it really nipped it if we got it in right away. That was scary to see when we didn’t know what it was. We thought she’d had a stoke or something.

Ally i hate be the bearer of bad

But sometimes you let them go

No mistakes no head aches

You went above and beyond

Prepare your self for a heart ache

no suffering and no miserable

I have walked this walk more than I care to

Elena, I know about VSEC! They treated several of my pups over the years. I had some trouble with their diagnoses though and had to go to CARES instead near Oxford Valley Mall. One of my moms dogs had irritable bowel and also had gastroenteritis so bad they had to scope him at VSEC. They sent him home with NO meds. I kept calling them for help and they wouldn't take my calls anymore. The same vet and one other is still there so until they die I will not go there. I fixed his problem by changing his diet. But some of the vets are good and there is a liver specialist there if anyone needs one.

So she is much better today. I give her sucralfate in the morning that coats her ulcer wherever that is and she wants to eat. It's a powder with some aluminum in it that binds to the protein of an ulcer. I looked it up online and the dosage is four times per day and it actually cures ulcers. Other meds have to be given 2 hours before or 2 hours after the sucralfate.

I was able to give her the Pepcid the vet prescribed by powdering it and mixing it with cream and sucking it into an injection tube, no needle, and squirting it into her throat. I found a compounding pharmacy just a few blocks away and will call them tomorrow when they open and ask them to compound the Pepcid into a liquid that I can syringe in more easily. She felt really good last night after I gave her the Pepcid. I can't get her to eat something with the pill in it. I got liverwurst but that was a NO. She will only eat something freshly cooked. If it has been in the fridge she doesn't want it. I am wondering if she sniffed up some covid since it can cause deadening of sense of smell. The only place she has been is to the vet but maybe some came in on my shoes or clothes and she sniffed it up? I keep different shoes for going outside and don't bring jackets etc. past the back door.

So this morning I gave her the sucralfate and she rushed to the plate I had for her with scrambled egg and mild sausage and some of the leftover rotisserie chicken and ate it. Yesterday she ate a piece of freshly cooked boiled chicken breast. It has to be fresh. After my cancer surgery in 2014 I could only eat purchased Whopper burgers for days and egg drop soup from the Chinese place. One of my tenants would get it for me. Posie is better and will see the Internal Medicine vet on Wednesday for an ultrasound. I am not giving her the Cerenia. It's for motion sickness and prevents vomiting by doing something in the brain but she isn't vomiting. It was making her dizzy. I also stopped giving her and the others a snack at night before bed because that would cause acid in the stomach over night.

Thank you for the info about the Lyme disease and that it could flare. I will ask the Ultrasound vet about that. Maybe she is smarter than these people.

BET, thank you. I know about the doxy. Had to take it myself. Fish antibiotics can be not quality. Did you hear about the man who died after his wife supposedly gave him fish hydroxy? Of course he had an insurance policy and maybe she gave him something else. Yes, I had a full blood panel, SpecCpl for pancreatitis, negative; Lyme Titre which was 14 out of 30 so they don't treat; Thyroid. This vet has tiered charges. If a person has money and they know it they charge them at Level A. I am at Level A due to the rentals. People who have no money do not get charged. I have seen that while waiting for my bill. The vet actually asked me to help pay for someone's dog's cancer treatment so I donated. It's fair and not fair at the same time. I don't have the income I had before but they don't change my Level of payment.

CJ, thank you for letting me know what your vet said about flare ups. I do think she had a flare up. The local folks here are a bit lacking. Posie's vet is from India. She didn't like that I was talking to the other vet so she told me to choose. I chose him due to her outburst at me, and her mistakes over time. So he is pretty much right out of vet school. There is an old timer there but he is crazy. I watched him choke my mother's dog in order to pill him. He lifted the poor guy up by the neck and when the little guy struggled to breathe he opened his mouth so the vet popped the pill in. I was horrified so I don't see him for anything. They are a five minute drive away. I have to rethink that. Their decent vet left a few months ago.

Sounds like the Cerenia might do the same thing as Dramamine. Anybody reading this, do check with your vet before giving Dramamine. It’s been quite a few years since we had that beloved dog, I could be wrong.

But, when our dog got the Old Dog Vestibular disease, she would refuse to eat, presumably because she was so nauseous. It took a couple of days of treatments with whatever the vet prescribed that first time before she would eat, even tepidly. Took more than a week before she seemed close to normal. But, after that, at the first sign of it, we gave her ( again, I think it was Dramamine, but that’s one of the details I don’t store well in memory. Check with your vet.) Our dog had maybe, oh, three-four times where she just started getting wobbly, or circling, or hitting walls after that first episode. The medication at first sign made symptoms disappear with hours, and appetite came back each time within the day.

hey ally googgle ccr

OK, on , I will do that. She is very perky today and is taking her meds in a little cream.

Probably bone cancer. At her advanced state, our vet already knew that quality of life was the important thing to us. We weren’t going to subject our wonderful girl to any tests or surgeries at 17years old , just a month or two shy of 18. It wasn’t but maybe two weeks after I showed the spot to the vet when the light went out of her eyes, she had little appetite on a weekend. We had our daughter bring the grandson over, we put our doggie in the wagon took a family walk. Got her to eat the tiniest bits of rotisserie chicken and cooked hamburger over Sunday. Made it to Monday, called the vet to ease her out. We feel we did right by her, any tests or treatments at her age would have just brought fear, pain, no recovery.

Thank you for the kind words. I could see that she might be looking over our little red beagle. Our Penny has calmed down greatly since becoming our dog, and is become such a great family dog. Still a ways to go, but if our old girl is guiding our newest beagle, together that would be another great dog.

The age thing is one trouble with adopting these rescues of unknown history. We knew exactly how old our Keeshond/Springer mix was, as we got her from the Keeshounds family. Knew the day she was born. With our beagles, it’s a guessing game.

Busy, yes they are our little cousins on the evolutionary tree. A medical researcher found that out by training some Yellow Labs to sit in an MRI with ear plugs. Their brains light up in the same places that our's do with the same kind of stimulation, pleasure, pain, food etc.

@ on [WI],

Do you mean Creedence Clearwater Revival? (your googgle ccr comment)

Proves you have good taste, but what does that have to do with the poor suffering dog?

Early days (after high school) I lived with roommates, they took in a dog (undefineable mix) that looked to have suffered a (auto?) accident that left his back leg lame. Quite a limping gate. I used to take him for walks in the nearby park. One day some hippy guy comes by says "I'm a dog healer, can I try and help your dog?" So he sits the dog down, takes the lame leg gently in his hands and starts humming a steady tone. Dog is paying attention but accepting, not struggling. Several minutes of this, then we all get up and try out the results. Dog definitely walking a little better. We arranged to have some more sessions, which helped even more. Guy wouldn't accept any money. Dog didn't get 100% better, but at least 50 - 60% better for sure.