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Our 10 year old boxer could no longer jump on the bed was leaning his head to one side and trembling. We took him to the vet and they gave him pain meds which didn’t help that much. We then took him to a neurologist and she said without an MRI they couldn’t diagnose him but thought it was either a brain tumor or a bacterial infection and started him on clindamycin to take with the pain meds. Within a few weeks he was back to his old self. It must have been a bacterial infection. Why didn’t it show up in his bloodwork then?
I'm nothing but another forum reader - I'm not a phlebotomist, nor a doctor. But I have had a lot of blood tests in my life, and my dogs have had also.
I'm pretty sure that for most infections, you have to be actively testing for the particular infection before you can find it. Since tests cost money, people don't test for EVERYTHING - the cost would go sky-high. And there are no direct tests for some things - Lyme disease is one. They have to look for the antibodies against the Lyme bacteria. Nobody has designed a direct test yet.
Sometimes diagnosing stuff hiding in the body takes an ultrasound or maybe even an MRI. Ultrasounds are cheap compared to MRIs - which cost thousands of dollars to perform. Blew me away when a vet told me how much they cost. I even went and asked other vets, and they confirmed it.
Anyway, a lot of times the most practical and least expensive route is to treat the symptoms - which is what the clindamycin was for. In your case it helped, meaning the infection diagnosis was correct. He might still have a tumor as well, but I'll knock on wood, and congratulate you on a successful outcome! I hope you have many years of companionship with your boxer buddy!
I'm nothing but another forum reader - I'm not a phlebotomist, nor a doctor. But I have had a lot of blood tests in my life, and my dogs have had also.
I'm pretty sure that for most infections, you have to be actively testing for the particular infection before you can find it. Since tests cost money, people don't test for EVERYTHING - the cost would go sky-high. And there are no direct tests for some things - Lyme disease is one. They have to look for the antibodies against the Lyme bacteria. Nobody has designed a direct test yet.
Sometimes diagnosing stuff hiding in the body takes an ultrasound or maybe even an MRI. Ultrasounds are cheap compared to MRIs - which cost thousands of dollars to perform. Blew me away when a vet told me how much they cost. I even went and asked other vets, and they confirmed it.
Anyway, a lot of times the most practical and least expensive route is to treat the symptoms - which is what the clindamycin was for. In your case it helped, meaning the infection diagnosis was correct. He might still have a tumor as well, but I'll knock on wood, and congratulate you on a successful outcome! I hope you have many years of companionship with your boxer buddy!
I couldn't rep you but wanted to say your post is very supportive.
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