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Hi, I wanted to let my other thread die because I now feel bad for thinking I should switch vets.
So, the PCR test came back and my dog is infected with bartonella henselae. This is good and bad. The good: it has the potential to be curable. The bad: this particular bacteria hangs out in erythrocytes and it's difficult for antibiotics to reach it.
She's currently on both doxycycline and azithromycin (azithromycin could be more effective for this) - also on tramadol and carprofen but I gave her a bit less this morning. She was vomiting at 5:30 a.m., 12 hours after the azithromycin, so I was concerned. She is ok now, just a bit slower, but she is definitely more alert than she had been.
Hopefully this will clear it up. She's on the doxy for 3 weeks and the azithromycin for - I forgot. Weeks.
He said she got it from either a flea or a tick. She takes trifexis but still a flea could bite her. Interesting that this is apparently the same bacteria for cat scratch fever?
I was researching this last night and read about one case in which the doxy + azithromycin did not work, and the dog was then put on prednisone for about a week, and the symptoms cleared up without returning. I printed out that journal article.
So, hoping for the best...it is good that I stayed with this vet, though I did also call my old vet in my former town, who knows my current vet and they consulted. Reason it is good I stayed with him is that he thought to send the blood off for PCR testing. I suspect that this bacterial infection is not that rare, but, is not easily detected in the clinic. There isn't a lot of information out there about it. But, as he went to the vet school that is the main center for this sort of testing, he thought to do it. Good thing!
So now I wonder, I bet there are a lot of dogs out there with similar symptoms who are not diagnosed with this. He did say lupus can be secondary to this sort of infection - maybe some dogs diagnosed with systemic lupus have this infection.
Anyway, if your dog is too young to seem to have trouble rising and is lame in all joints...something to think about. Hoping my girl will be ok. Since she was sick last evening I'm going to stay in with her tonight and make sure she's ok w/all of the meds.
Thanks so much for everyone's very helpful posts! I'm still glad I pushed for the x-rays...
Hi, I wanted to let my other thread die because I now feel bad for thinking I should switch vets.
So, the PCR test came back and my dog is infected with bartonella henselae. This is good and bad. The good: it has the potential to be curable. The bad: this particular bacteria hangs out in erythrocytes and it's difficult for antibiotics to reach it.
She's currently on both doxycycline and azithromycin (azithromycin could be more effective for this) - also on tramadol and carprofen but I gave her a bit less this morning. She was vomiting at 5:30 a.m., 12 hours after the azithromycin, so I was concerned. She is ok now, just a bit slower, but she is definitely more alert than she had been.
Hopefully this will clear it up. She's on the doxy for 3 weeks and the azithromycin for - I forgot. Weeks.
He said she got it from either a flea or a tick. She takes trifexis but still a flea could bite her. Interesting that this is apparently the same bacteria for cat scratch fever?
I was researching this last night and read about one case in which the doxy + azithromycin did not work, and the dog was then put on prednisone for about a week, and the symptoms cleared up without returning. I printed out that journal article.
So, hoping for the best...it is good that I stayed with this vet, though I did also call my old vet in my former town, who knows my current vet and they consulted. Reason it is good I stayed with him is that he thought to send the blood off for PCR testing. I suspect that this bacterial infection is not that rare, but, is not easily detected in the clinic. There isn't a lot of information out there about it. But, as he went to the vet school that is the main center for this sort of testing, he thought to do it. Good thing!
So now I wonder, I bet there are a lot of dogs out there with similar symptoms who are not diagnosed with this. He did say lupus can be secondary to this sort of infection - maybe some dogs diagnosed with systemic lupus have this infection.
Anyway, if your dog is too young to seem to have trouble rising and is lame in all joints...something to think about. Hoping my girl will be ok. Since she was sick last evening I'm going to stay in with her tonight and make sure she's ok w/all of the meds.
Thanks so much for everyone's very helpful posts! I'm still glad I pushed for the x-rays...
Please don't feel bad about looking at different vets.
Things can always look different from different views......
Thanks guys. She's really bad today and I'm losing hope :-(
There's nothing else really do to just yet, but she's back to being hesitant to stand. I just have to keep some hope that the medications work. This is awful...
One of the two dogs in the report got better quickly with just antibiotics and carprofen. the second needed a steroid, which was not started until 5 months into the dog's illness.
The joint pain appears to be due to an immune response to the infection; the joints themselves are not infected.
You might want to ask your vet about whether he would consider prednisone if your pup's symptoms do not improve soon.
I'm glad you found out what was wrong but it is so awful when they're sick and you can't "fix" it immediately. I hope you and your vet find just the right combination of therapies for her. Poor bubs. *hugs*
Thanks all - she's better today, at least for right now. This thing is so weird in that she can seem totally out of it and in immense distress, and then quite suddenly she seems better. Vice versa too though. Not long after I posted that I was losing hope she was out in the yard running around playing like crazy - she kind of overdid it and was stiff last night but a this morning seems ok. I guess it'll be off and on for a bit but I'm much more optimistic today.
Thanks for that Suzy_q - I will definitely ask him - I think he will want to do that.
Thanks all - she's better today, at least for right now. This thing is so weird in that she can seem totally out of it and in immense distress, and then quite suddenly she seems better. Vice versa too though. Not long after I posted that I was losing hope she was out in the yard running around playing like crazy - she kind of overdid it and was stiff last night but a this morning seems ok. I guess it'll be off and on for a bit but I'm much more optimistic today.
Thanks for that Suzy_q - I will definitely ask him - I think he will want to do that.
Thanks all - she's better today, at least for right now. This thing is so weird in that she can seem totally out of it and in immense distress, and then quite suddenly she seems better. Vice versa too though. Not long after I posted that I was losing hope she was out in the yard running around playing like crazy - she kind of overdid it and was stiff last night but a this morning seems ok. I guess it'll be off and on for a bit but I'm much more optimistic today.
Thanks for that Suzy_q - I will definitely ask him - I think he will want to do that.
You are welcome!
I am glad you have a diagnosis and the arthritis should get better. I'm sorry she has to go through it. My creaky joints can empathize!
Suzy Q
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