Watch out this fall. It is warm and wet and ticks abound. So far our boy was bitten by three ticks...at least...while hunting and is on doxycycline for it. Now the dog has the disease and it taking it too.
Lyme is no joke...bad, bad stuff. Thankfully that dreaded bulls eye rash left the boy within a day or two after he began his meds. Alas it is none too kind to his tummy so he is dealing with that, but worth it.,
Nick, the dog, got a tick, was limping a little on the front leg one day and could barely stand by the next. I had to help him out of his crate and balance him to go outdoors. He would just collapse and look sad, he hurt so bad.
Fortunately within a day after he began the medicine he was back to walking a bit and now he is just a bit lame.
Meanwhile he has become outrageously spoiled. Someone felt sorry for him and carried him to a spot in front of the electric heater. As soon as he could walk again it became his favorite venue.
And treats. He wouldn't eat...too much pain I'm sure. So he was plied with animal crackers and potato chips and biscuits (the baked, fluffy people kind, not the hard crunchies for dogs). Now he scorns the dog food....ah, well, he'll get over that soon enough.
(Can't thank the fine medical professionals who prescribed the meds enough.)
Meanwhile, please watch out for those awful ticks!
Had to take two off our dog end of Oct. Put a new tick collar on him then, wish there was one I could wear!
ReplyDeleteI remember when, as a kid, Lyme Disease was heard of only in hard-core, Rocky Mountain hikers circles. Egads, I hate ticks!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that both are recovering. On a side note, we don't have ticks up here, and I've never been so glad.
ReplyDeleteOh, your poor doggie! I've had many deer ticks on me this year, and now I have a very painful hip. I wonder if Lyme affects humans the way it does dogs. Guess I should see my doctor. I always thought that if you got them off you within a day, you wouldn't get Lyme. Since I've had it twice before, I carry the antibodies so tests are always positive. I refuse to let that damn disease keep me out of the woods.
ReplyDeleteIt IS bad stuff....a friend of ours got it one summer and they didn't get a diagnoses on it for a month......he darn near died.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that ticks could transmit lyme disease in the fall!
ReplyDeleteWe lost a dog to Lyme disease. Poor dear Sootie.
We vacationed on Cape Cod. It was the 70's, a few years before the the disease was widely understood.
About the same time a very vital former merchant marine whom we knew at the harbor there, was felled by a terrible arthritis and died in a nursing home not long afterwards.
Thank God we now understand and can treat this disease.
Keep the boy on that antibiotic. He's luck he got the bulls eye rash. Not everyone gets that early warning.
Ruth, same here! I spend the whole summer reeking of Off! and now I guess I will smell like it all winter too
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I too remember when it was first discovered. The more I read the more I realize what a horror of a disease that it is!
Rev. Paul, if only I could stand short days and cold weather I swear I would move to get away from them. I am truly phobic about them and this isn't helping
WW, please, if you think you might have it, please, please, go and soon. The more I have read on it the more awful I realize that it is! You take care
LInda, we lost a neighbor to it, one of my brother's best friends' dads, back when it first showed up. They just didn't know what it was and by the time it was diagnosed it was too late for him. It is truly a horrific disease.
Cathy, it is awful! As I wrote to LInda above, we lost a neighbor back when it was first discovered. I am nagging Alan to watch his symptoms even after the antibiotic is gone. He is taking a job out of state it looks like and I won't be seeing him every day to keep after him. It is so awful. Sorry to read about your poor dog. I am so fortunate to have a great veterinarian who will help me out in situations like this one.
WHEW! I"m glad you caught if fast!!!
ReplyDeleteLinda
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LInda, awful stuff! I wrote about it in the Farm Side this week to remind hunters to be watching out for the ticks. The disease is just so horrific!
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