Lyme Disease Help

[Root Beer]

Instead of hijacking the thread in the General Section about the fleas completely, I decided to post this over here!

 

Have any of you ever had a dog that has Lyme disease and was showing symptoms?

 

If so, did you find any supplements or foods that helped the dog feel better or cut down on recurrance of the symptoms?

 

This would be in addition to or post antibiotic therapy under the direction of a vet.

 

Thanks for any input!

[doubleofarm]

All of my dogs have had Lymes at one time or another and showed symptoms or not. They have also had Rocky Mt and Ehrlichia. I have not found anything other than doxycycline to alleviate the symptoms and clear it up. I am in NJ so we are probably in the same boat as far as how serious the problem is around here. I always give my dogs plain yogurt while on a course of doxy and be careful about them being in the sun as it causes sensitivity. No dairy either other than a small spoon of yogurt.

 

I am now trying Advantix as Frontline was not doing the job. I also have added a Preventic collar and have not seen a tick in weeks. I had to resort to these two even though everything else is kept as all natural as possible.

[heartdog]

Hi- My two dogs and I have just finished treatment for Lyme.

I have a wonderful holistic vet and here is the protocol we used.

10 days amoxy

30 days doxy

Slippery Elm powder cap twice a day

An herbal product called Spiro-kete- it helps the body eliminate the die-off of the spirochette and reduce Herxing- I had it very badly for a week or so. My BC was feeling just AWFUL after after starting antibiotics. For Herx info see link

Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction and Lyme

My vet ,also, put her on Gyco-flex for her joints because of the lameness.

 

She seems fine now. The vet recommended extra garlic in her food now, too-she eats raw diet.

We use a spray called Omni for going out in the woods. It really works great and is non-toxic. It is made from Neem Oil.

Sorry to hear about your BC. I live in tick central and we battle Lyme EVERy year... it really stinks. Makes me want to move!

 

 

Deborah

 

HeartDog Studio

Art of the Dog~For the Love of the Dog

[heartdog]

Oh, I forgot and a really good probiotic twice a day several hours after the antibiotics and she has to stay on the probiotics for 6 months.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I second the probiotic - when any of my human or doggy guys are on doxy I use the stuff you can get at health food stores, which is refrigerated. Afterwards I use a gel - I think they both give better results than the powders.

 

A little raw honey will also help strengthen the immune system and perk up the appetite.

 

Ben has had Lyme and Ehrlichia (two kinds, urk), and I've had Rocky Mountain. Ben was very ill with all his bouts of tick disease - and his Lyme kept recurring for a long time afterwards. All Rocky Mountain did to me was give me a light rash, hellacious neck and head ache, and mild flu-like symptoms. But I had noticed the deer tick two weeks earlier and was watching out for it.

 

Ben and I both got Doxy each time, except the last time he was sick they gave him IV Cipro because of his history of recurring tick disease. He's been right as rain since the Cipro (two years) but that stuff was nasty.

[PennyT]

30 days are not enough.

 

The usual mg per pound is not enough.

 

Go get on Tick-L where the expertise is.

 

Remember to feed 30 minutes before dosing and to use tablets, not capsules.

 

Penny

[juliepoudrier]

I second Penny's Tick-L recommendation. Go to link I've pasted at the bottom of this message for some excellent links on TBDs and for info on joining that list. The folks there are very supportinve and helpful.

 

The recommended dose for treating lyme is 5 mg/pound every 12 hours for 8 weeks. This is what the vets on Tick-L recommend.

 

Here is a quote from Gil. Ash's tick disease page:

Important! Here is the treatment your dog should be given for Ehrlichiosis or Lyme disease.

Doxycycline, a semi-synthetic tetracycline, is the drug of choice, the most effective against Ehrlichiosis and Lyme. It is given at 10 milligrams per kilogram (1 kg = 2.2 lbs.) of the dog's body weight every twelve hours for six to eight weeks. Another way to figure this, on the basis of pounds, is 5 mg. per pound of body weight. The result for the dog is exactly the same as doxy comes in 100 mg. tabs and the result of figuring in milligrams is usually adjusted up accordingly. If nausea is a problem, you can divide the dose further, as long as the dog gets what he needs in any twelve hour period.

 

This is twice the amount recommended in the Merck Veterinary Manual and is given for a longer period of time than the VMM recommends; however, vets who deal with tick disease all the time say that the higher doses and longer administration are successful far more often in treating this disease and preventing its recurrence.

 

Dogs with Lyme disease that cannot tolerate doxycycline may be treated with amoxicillin as an alternative; it has no effect on Ehrlichiosis. I have read reports of IV Rocephin being used to save dogs in extremely bad cases of neurological Lyme..

Remember that dairy products interfere with the doxy, so don't add dairy to the food, though you can use a little dairy (like cheese) to get your dog to take the pills.

 

The reason for not using the capsules is that they can get stuck in the esophagus and dissolve there and irritate/damage the tissues there.

 

The Tick-L archives have been updated and are now pretty easy to search, even if you don't want to post to the list.

 

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

 

J.

[Root Beer]

I am happy to report that Speedy doesn't have Lyme Disease after all!!!!!

 

It's a long story, but the bottom line is that a recent blood test showed no titer for Lyme.

 

I took him to an orthopaedic vet and she found the problems that have been causing his lameness and stiffness. He has bicipital bursitis in his right front shoulder and a bit of arthritis on one of the vertebrae in his lumbar region.

 

Now to start research on those conditions!! The orthopaedic vet recommended chiropractic and massage treatments and we will probably give it a shot.