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kingfisher7151
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Addisons can cause changes in renal function - and doesn't look like they checked electrolytes on the bloodwork you had there. However, if you wanted to check properly for addisons, you'd want the dog off prednisone...

And yes, BUN can be slightly elevated in raw fed dogs

There's also a test for systemic lupus you can do...I know it can affect different organs and systems in the body.

I'd say an internal medicine specialist would be your best bet.

Good luck on getting to the bottom of it.

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We have our first bit of luck!

 

He shows no signs of having a congenital kidney defect. His ultrasound revealed very normal sized kidneys, with only a little bit of irreversible damage.

 

They called in a specialist to do the ultrasound, and our normal vet watched it as well. He had a mildly enlarged spleen, but nothing crazy. Between the two of them, they are highly suspicious that this is a tick borne disease. We did all the tick titers when we first brought him home, they were negative. But he could very well have had a false negative, been early in the disease, or have had such a poor immune system that he never developed enough antibodies to show up on the test.

 

He's on a doxycycline twice a day for a month. Both vets believe that whatever he has can be stopped.

 

Needless to say, we're over the moon.

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Great news! Hope this works!

 

I'm just curious: didn't they give him Doxy back in Jan.? I don't know much about Lyme disease, except that it can sometimes be hard for people to get a diagnosis. Are titers a reliable test? I've heard of other tests... So, are they thinking that he has both tick disease AND immune mediated polyarthritis?

 

In any case- rootin' for Trooper!

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They did indeed treat him with doxy, good memory! But it was only a 10 days prescription. It's usually 4-6 weeks to treat for something tick borne.

 

Are titers reliable? In most dogs yes, but not all. There are quite a few false negatives, it's not uncommon at all. The titers look for antibodies against various diseases. But that's making the assumption that A. they've been infected long enough for the body to produce enough antibodies to show up on the test, and B. that the dog has a strong enough immune system to produce those antibodies. I suspect Trooper falls in the latter, if this is a proper diagnosis.

 

They do suspect he has both a tick borne disease and IMPA. IMPA is usually a secondary condition caused by the body overreacting to some sort of infection. That said, many tick borne diseases would explain the majority of his symptoms, including ones attributed to the polyarthritis. It's not inconceivable that he's had a tick borne disease this whole time. Prednisone is an awful, awful miracle drug that can cause as many problems as it fixes. I've decided I hate it with a passion. I think it's clouding some of his symptoms, and creating ones that aren't related to whatever he has. So where does the pred/improvement come into play? I have no idea. :)

 

They are looking more heavily at Ehrlichia than Lyme at this point. A dog from the same farm had fairly similar symptoms as Trooper. They searched for an answer for a year and a half. They finally found it, but too late. The dog died of Ehrlichia. Oklahoma has all sorts of icky crawlies though, so who knows.

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Please ask your vet to consider keeping Trooper on doxy (5 mg/lb) for at least 8 weeks (per the vets on the tick list). Don't forget probiotics two hours after dosing to keep beneficial bacteria in the gut.

 

Pred is a miracle drug because it reduces inflammatory responses, which helps in the case of health problems like arthritis. Unfortunately, it also suppresses the immune system, which is useful for immune-mediated diseases, but not for infections, so if your dog has both going on, you and your vet have to decide which is more important, the suppression to control the effects of arthritis or not suppressing in hopes that the immune system will help fight off the infection.

 

I wouldn't completely discount Lyme, because it can cause symptoms of arthritis AND affect kidney function (as can Ehrlichiosis), especially in a chronic infection. Fortunately the treatment is the same whether Lyme or Ehrlichiosis, so you've got both covered at this point.

 

Please keep us posted.

 

This site has a wealth of information on tick-borne diseases:

http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/ticklinks.htm

 

I highly recommend Gil. Ash's page, but all of them contain good, useful informtion. You can also join Tick-L from this page. It's not a high-volume list, at least at the moment, but the folks there know their stuff and are a great source of help.

 

J.

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I'll just second what Julie says about Tick-L and Gil.Ash's page. I went through a suspected TBD (it never did show positive in bloodwork, but a solid LONG round of Doxy fixed things completely) a number of years ago with a bitch about 10 days from whelping. Tick-L was a HUGE help in saving not only my best working dog, but also saving her 8 pups! The one I kept from the litter was named Tikkle (for Tick-L). She is now 9 years old and still going strong. She just finished 2nd at a cattle trial over the weekend. Hope things work out for you,

A

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I remember when one of my dogs had Lyme insisting on an either 6 or 8 week course of Doxy based on the info from this group. Vet only wanted to do 4, but he humored me. Tilly recovered and went on to live to be almost 18 (she was around 12 when DXed) with no renal issues, confirmed by biannual urinalyses.

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Out of curiosity, are people on Tick-L still saying 8 weeks?

 

TBH, I don't know. It's been 6 years in my case and I think they were saying 6 weeks at the time. Maybe someone who's keeping up there now can weigh in.

 

I do remember that the vet said he was using Cornell's recommendation of 4 weeks. Maybe it was just being updated at the time?

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We're treating this like a duck.

 

It sure sounds like I'll be making sure he gets 8 weeks of doxy. The vet may have had that in mind, she just said we'd start at 30 days. I'll certainly be his advocate. According to all the pages Julie posted (thank you!!) he's on too low of a dose. He's 28-30 lbs and is getting 200 mg per day. They said he was right in between doses, so they put him on the higher one. This puts him well above the 5mg/lb dose. Although if Emily Falk (who I think is a vet?) is correct, perhaps 4 weeks on the higher dose is the newer method. Whatever it is, we have a month before we cross that bridge. He's on his probiotics after meals, and so far he's not bothered by the doxy. He had major problems on in before, so I was nervous. But all seems to be well!

 

Tomorrow he goes for his surgery. I've dealt with plenty of surgeries with my mom, grandma, everyone, and nothing makes me more nervous that surgeries on my animals. But they're pumping him full of fluids before and after the procedure, so the drugs should flush out just fine. He'll feel much better after this!

 

Thank you all so much for all the support and information. I wish I could give thanks on a personal level.

 

This has been trying from an emotional and financial standpoint. But I look into his eyes and know we did the right thing by bringing him into our lives.

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