I have a shepherd mix dog named Dexter who is just over a year old. From the first moment I saw him at the shelter, I loved him. He was black and tan and bouncy as all get up. When I walked past his cage, he whined and I stopped to pet him through the small chain link fence, thinking, "What an awesome dog!" I continued on my way, checking out the other cages to the sound of him whining for me to come back and play. They had named him Colby, but he looked like a Dexter to me.
I got him. And he got sick. They all do. It is probably the stress and the new shots and the mess of it all, but I contacted a woman I knew from fostering cats at my old bookstore. She practically runs the foster program at the shelter and gives so much of herself. She shames me with her giving.
She helped me get Dexter well with medicines and her abundant knowledge and before long he was good as new.. He was sassy, but a good boy. A teeny standoffish at times, but it was preferable to a dog that trailed everywhere I did, always underfoot, tripping me up when I was in a hurry.
I worked with him on tricks and leash walking and basically behaving himself and he did great. He loved everyone and other animals, and that was a good thing because I have a few animals around this house.
Fast forward to about a month ago, approximately a year after we got him. Dexter was in the backyard by our grill and he was drooling a long line of drool out of his mouth. I yelled at JR to check to see he hadn't gotten into anything. Dexter came inside and a little while later started yelping. My heart almost stopped as I ran over to him trying to get up off the floor. It was like his back end was too heavy and he was struggling to stand. I thought it might be his back and gave him a Deramaxx anti-inflammatory/pain pill that was left over from our other dogs surgery on his leg. The next day he seemed fine. A little stiff, but almost as good as new.
And the pattern starts. Good days, bad days. We thought he was getting better then he would get worse and we made an appointment, then cancelled because he would improve and finally JR brought him in to see the vet. Not my favorite vet, the other vet at the clinic we go to. She's OK, but I love the regular vet.
It is hard to find a vet that understands that you are dealing with a DOG. A definite member of your family that you love, that you don't want to suffer, that you want better, but you realize is a DOG. There is a limit to the things I will do to make them better. This fact may shock you, but there are zillions more dogs out there that need homes, that are perfectly perfect and that are being put down everyday because of space issues at shelters. I have my limit. Even if it hurts me.
The other vet, not MY vet, ran a full blood panel on Dexter and after commenting how swollen all his joints were, the worst she had ever seen, prescribed amoxicillin and told us to give it to him until she contacted us with the blood results. The results were inconclusive. No disease detected, no toxicity and no change from the amoxicillin either. She referred us to a specialist.
Off JR went to the specialist because I am watching two babies and couldn't very well take off days because of my dog. After looking at Dexter, the specialist guessed he might have an auto-immune disease. The specialist wanted to do a joint tap which would require putting Dexter under and drawing fluid from his joints, and he also wanted to take an x-ray of his hips to see what the problem was.
The tune of these two tests was $800. This doesn't count the $100 for the office visit or the money spent at our vet.. The specialist Dr. was rude and didn't have time to answer questions and as JR is telling me things through texts and the phone, I am firing questions at him to ask. After a short time the Dr leaves the room and sends in a technician who is running back and forth to the Dr with JR's/my questions. JR never did see the Dr. again.
What JR got from this visit was no matter what Dexter's problem was, he was going to be put on steroids. I told him to ask the Dr to do the x-ray to check the damage and to skip the joint tap for now. Besides the monetary concern, Dexter wasn't doing very well and the thought of putting him under and through more painful procedures didn't seem wise to me. The Dr. said no. His way or the highway, obviously.
JR brought Dexter home and we spoke with our vet asking if they could prescribe prednisone for Dexter since that was what he was going to have no matter. The vet was off, so they had to call back the following day with our answer. They said to keep giving the amoxicillin and Deramaxx while we were waiting.
Supposedly if you give a dog steroids/prednisone when they might possibly have a different problem, it can kill them. The immune system is going hay wire, trying to fight whatever the problem is and basically the steroids turn the immune system off to stop attacking the body. If you turn the immune system off with the steroids and it isn't an auto-immune problem, whatever is attacking the body will have free reign to take over.
Oh.
We made an appointment to go back to the specialist for the expensive joint tap, so they could see what the problem was. That very day we were scheduled for the procedure, Dexter woke up with no swollen joints.
We cancelled the appointment and I got back on the computer. Researching, researching, trying to figure out from other's experiences what was wrong with my dog. I thought it might be auto-immune, but some of the things weren't adding up. And then I came across a description of Lyme disease. It was too perfect.
I called our vet's office, who was sick of us, I know. We weren't conforming to their plan and it was a pain in the ass. I asked them if they had done a test for Lyme disease and the answer was no. They didn't have the capabilities for that there. We could be referred back to the specialist for a Lyme test. But Lyme disease was tricky, sometimes the bacteria hid and it was difficult to diagnose because it masqueraded as so many other illnesses. Sometimes the test results came back negative, even when they weren't.
The drug to treat Lyme disease is Doxycycline #1 or Amoxicillin #2. It is not overly harmful to the dog and compared to steroids and other drugs, was relatively safe. My vet said they would not prescribe the drug unless they had a test result saying Dexter had Lyme. I understood. Lawsuits, freakin sue happy people, whatever...
I searched for the drug online and found I could buy Doxycycline as a bird biotic, same exact medicine, just a different label, so I bought some and reasearched myself blue in the face. To treat Lyme, you have to hit the dog hard with the meds; 10mg per kg of body weight, which equaled 3 pills twice a day for 6-8 weeks.
It had already been 2 weeks on a low dose of amoxicillin. Enough to ward off the swelling in Dexter's joints apparently, but not enough to knock it out of his system. He was still having problems getting up from the down position, was lethargic, depressed, wasn't eating right, and generally didn't feel well.
I got the meds and started Dexter on them after a day of no amoxicillin or pain meds. I was afraid that too many drugs would hurt him, but have read since that it would have been OK
JR left for Canada for work and when he returned a week later he said he could see a remarkable improvement in Dexter. He still had trouble getting up from down, still slept a lot, still wasn't eating right, but he had more spring in his step and acted like he felt a little better.
So this is where we are.
I wake up and give Dexter 3 Doxycycline with peanut butter, the only way he will take pills. I then try to get him to eat something so he has food in his stomach. He has been resisting my homemade food because I had bought an organic vitamin powdered supplement with glucosamine in it, was mixing it in his food and he absolutely hated it. He thought every time I was feeding him I was poisoning him, I think. I switched to a soft chew vitamin with glucosamine and chondroiton to help his joints and now give the over priced powdered vitamin to our other dog, Remy. Now Dexter won't eat my food, so I had to buy wheat, soy, corn, etc., free canned food at the store.
After trying to get him to eat and giving him his joint pill; I give him a milk thistle capsule to protect his liver from the drugs, then I take him for a 30 min walk. Supposedly the doxycycline pills will cause ulcerations if they sit in the stomach or esophagus, so to prevent this, you walk them.
I leave him alone for 2 hours and then give him organic unflavored yogurt to get some probiotics in his system. I am thinking of ordering a chewable probiotic, but haven't yet.
Around dinner time is when he gets his anti-inflammatory pain pill Deramaxx. I'm not sure what I will give him when these run out, but there is a huge difference in his demeanor when it is nearing 24 hours since his last pill. He needs them. I'm a little worried. I highly doubt the vet will give us anymore and I looked online and besides aspirin, which has tons of bad effects on dogs, there isn't anything over the counter I can give him for pain and anti-inflammatory properties that I know of.
When it has been 12 hours since the morning pills of doxycycline, I repeat the process, giving him 3 doxycycline, dinner and a walk.
Today I researched the glucosamine more and will start tripling his dose to help repair his joints. My feelings is the Lyme disease was attacking his joints and caused damage, damage that can't be fixed by doxycycline. So what we need to do is try to fix the damage with the glucosamine and choindroiton. I ordered a huge bucket of chewables online which I will start giving him in the morning and evening. Maybe this will prevent him from needing the pain pill eventually? I can only hope.
What makes this difficult is Dexter is very finicky. He has never eaten a treat without dropping it out of his mouth and smelling it first. He will walk away more times than not if it isn't exactly to his specifications. To give him pills is not easy. I bought pill pockets and he eats around the pill, I can wrap them in Velveeta and he spits it out, I smother them in peanut butter and he licks all the peanut butter off. Some mornings I wake up to give him his medications and actually start crying because I am so frustrated by him spitting the pills out. My other dogs would eat a pill out of my hand and be happy about it.
So there you have it. I have been busy. And tired. And worried. And hopeful. And sad. And frustrated. And angry. And loving. I love my dog. . .
I bet you thought I was going to write something romantic...
