Lyme Bacteria

[Sunnysgirl]

I recently brought my 9 year old dog Rosco to the vet and when he got his blood tests run it came back with Lyme bacteria being in his body.  Now my dog is a very healthy active dog and shows no signs of sickness what so ever.  I am originally from Connecticut and have lived in Florida for 3 years so the vet thinks he contacted this when I lived up north.  Now because of the amount of time he's had this and the fact that he is so healthy and I guess cause of his age as well my vet said not to worry about it unless he shows any signs of joint pain or fever.  Should I trust him on this or do you think my dog should be on treatment for the Lyme?

[northener5]

Sunnysgirl: Thank you for your information.  Our 8 year old black lab/ springer cross all of a sudden developed a sore leg while on a walk downtown.  This was over 2 weeks ago.  Her leg still bothers her and she will not lift her head like she used to.  When we took her to the vet he thought it was a sore muscle because he could not find anything else.  We are planning on taking her back and ask for a lyme test. I am not sure if Pinto has been vaccinated or not for lyme since we do not live in an area where lyme is known to be (according to a vet website at a city 3 hours south of us.)
Now my question is, how do you get a urine test from a dog?

[ddeiman]

The c6 test can differentiate between vaccine and lyme antibodies to avoid any false positives. I'd pay the $ to get that done so you have a level number and then check urine. If urine is good then just test levels again in a few months. If they come down on there own great, that's what happening with my girl. Good luck!

[Sunnysgirl]

He did get the lyme vaccine this year and the only thing he has ever had wrong with him was a UTI last year that cleared up with antibiotics and even then he didn't act like something was wrong, I noticed spots on the bed so I had him tested.  They did blood work on him which is how the found the lyme but not a urine test.  I'm sure I can ask the vet more about this but because he said Rosco is very healthy for his age he said I should just monitor him but all the talk about kidney issues is making me nervous.  I will contact the vet back to ask some questions.  If anyone has any other information I would greatly appriciate it.  Thanks!

[Soon_to_be_DVM]

With lyme some dogs don't show any signs, some have shifting leg lamesness, and some get major kidney issues.  I would treat him with doxy because it is a cheap drug and then get him the lyme vax. Good Luck!

[ddeiman]

Actually doxy works to treat lyme if it is effecting the joints BUT if her dog shows no signs of joint issues from lyme but is positive for antibodies and it's effecting the kidneys it is treated totally different with a high blood pressure medication that actually works to function the kidneys and flush out the excess protein that can cause kidney damage so just treating with doxy isn't an option.

[mlb1234]

I am not sure what you should do but my dog also had lyme and they just treat it with doxycycline for a number of weeks.  It is pretty inexpensive so if you are worried you could just treat to be on the safe side.  

Did he ever have the lyme vaccine???  I am always confused as to whether this would also give a positive lyme test or not...

[ddeiman]

I actually went through this with my own dog and being int he field I did my own bloodwork on her. What test did they do for lyme? The accurate test to get is a lyme quantitative C6 Ab test. This will give you a level of antibodies. If it's positive you should always do a urine protein creatinine ratio with a urine sample because lyme disease most of the time shows joint pain etc but in some cases lyme only attacks the kidneys showing no outward signs but when urine is tested WOW there's you lyme disease. If the urine test is ok then I would just check blood level again in 6 mos to make sure the levels are coming down on their own and not going up. That's what I'm doing at the moment because her urine was fine and her last  blood showed levels coming down. Good luck!