Lethargic Husky?

[laurdam]

First things first, I've been to the vet already so this is just me trying to pick out possibilities and first hand accounts from other pet parents. This might be a bit long though...

My six year old husky Missy is just not being her self. Nothing else is physically wrong with her but about a month or so ago she started to sorta slow down. Me and my roommates noticed she was just sleeping or laying in bed all day which isn't super abnormal but she was no longer getting up to pester them to play or go on walks. She would just lay and 'mope' about as they call it. It progressed to being less excited about her favorite things like walks. Where she once bounced off the walls and barked excitedly even if the word was whispered in conversation she now just perks up her ears slightly, in fact nearly every time we need to physically push her to get up to go.

Now that's not to say she's limp on the ground or on the bed. She's not limping and has no sore areas. She in fact plays with our new puppy who is about 6 months old and rough houses with him on and off. She will have these small bursts of energy when she sees a rabbit outside or if we go to the park of playing, barking and rolling around. But they are short and in between there is nothing but laying and sighing.

Missy was diagnosed with lyme after a clinic blood test in the end of January (poop test was fine). She was given all her shots at that clinic and showed no negative side effects from them. My personal vet said we should hold off on full medication as it could make her sick. The blue dot test she thinks they did can bring up false positives and show she was bitten by a tic with lyme but has yet to develop it just yet. We held off on medication and she seemed fine then.

Once she started slowing down I figured it was the lyme coming into play. But my vet doesn't think so. She has no sore joints or bones, she has no swollen areas and being lethargic on it's own isn't normally common with lyme. To be safe she is on a 10 day prescription of antibiotics just in case it is in fact the lyme. My vet just thinks she looks like she feels crappy. Something isn't right. But her gums are nice and pink, wet nose, eyes and ears check out, no blocks in her stomach that she can feel. No strange lumps or odd body issues. No real loss of appetite as she's always been a grazer (eating more like a cat) and she will still beg for table scraps and will eat a whole bowel of rice and boiled chicken in one sitting no problem. Slowly but she will eat it all and get's slightly excited for treats. Again...very slowly but she wants to eat and will. Her blood work came back clean as well. Levels all normal which stumped my vet. She's showing signs of being sick but we can't figure out what it is.

In general it's almost like a depression with random happy moments. This started before we got the puppy as well, we thought perhaps it was lack of exercise so we try and go out every 4 hours if not 2. We've been going to the dog park at least twice a week and also going for a mile walk normally once a day which she will go on but she's dragging behind a little around the end, normally she's leading and excited about walking or jogging.

Beyond her pills I've been feeding her a small basic vitamin with each meal since she's eating nothing but boiled chicken and rice (she needs a full meal in one sitting for her pill and it's the only way to make sure she won't get an upset tummy) but I'm thinking of fully switching her food to either NOW or Wild Callings in very small amounts. Maybe it's the food she's been on?

If my vet dosn't see any improvements we are going for ultra sounds and possible EKG after her pills are done. But has anyone else dealt with this sort of thing before? Literally nothing physically wrong but being lethargic?

[Margot49]

Sorry, it is late here and am just reading this before bed.

Has she been tested for Erlichiosis? They get this from ticks.  
Has her thyroid been tested? If not, ask that a T-3 and T-4 be run.
Could be cardiac related.  Might be a good idea to have those run.
Please come back to update.  Maybe someone else on the forum can add more.

[laurdam]

I'll have them run all of those to be sure. Thank you I didn't even know to ask about those sorts of things!

For right now the antibiotics seem to be helping slightly. She has some more energy but she's maybe at 65-70%. Fingers crossed that the full treatment will take care of what ever is bothering her.

I also switched out her food slowly, adding some new kibble in with the chicken and rice with a daily vitamin. It's the first day of that so hopefully I'll be able to update on that soon too.

Thanks so much for response though! Her lungs and heart sounded good and strong but it's still worth a mention. We are going to screen for full tic related illnesses as well.