Good thoughts for Apollo: UPDATE

willowchow

calliecritturs

(like you only get mumps once???) 

This is Willow's 2nd time with Lyme. 

I've been to a handful of different meetings on Lyme's Disease, & everyone, except for the one quack who didn't think that dogs could contract Lyme's, agreed that it could be contracted more than once, & that immunity from it was not a given just because a dog had contracted the disease & fought it off.

The most interesting meeting involved a lecturer who believed that once a dog contracts Lyme's, it always harbors the bacteria in it's body, but sometimes the bacteria will express itself, while other times it will lie dormant. 

That's sort of what I was told too Amanda.  That they will have some sort of number that is "normal" for them as far as how many organisms are in the body.  Willow's C6 was over 600!! They said it was one of the highest they've ever seen.  That tests for how many organisms are currently in the body.  Once she's done with treatment she will need another C6 to see where her "normal" is.  It's different for every dog but on average it should be under 30.  (this is what the ER vet told me this past weekend)

BlackLabbie

CoBuHe

So, just this round of meds for 28 days will take care of it?  Glad he is home.

Yup, after the meds he will be tested again.

I'm so pissed at myself because last year at his annual I chose to skip the Lyme vaccine because I didn't want to over-vaccinate him....

Don't be pissed at yourself.  I'm 30 miles north of you in the lap of Lyme country, and we never vaccinate for Lyme because the vaccine is not that effective.  My dogs are routinely tested for it every year, and for the other tick borne diseases.  My older dogs have had Lyme twice and the younger one once.  Fergie never got it, because the ticks were so easy to spot in her Yorkie hair.

I'm very late seeing this, but wanted to offer healing vibes for Apollo.  As much as I wish I were living back home in New England, I will say one of the very few things I like about our area of Oregon is that ticks aren't very prevalent.  In several years of walking our dog here in parks and fields, he never once had a tick.  When we briefly moved back east, we were finding them on him weekly.  It still gives me the willies thinking about it!

Anyway, give Apollo some ear rubs from me, and I hope he's feeling like himself very soon!