For the past four weeks, I have been working with my veterinarian trying to determine the source of lameness in my almost 10-year-old Golden Retriever, Penny. Early in the week before Thanksgiving, she began favoring her right front leg. The limp got so severe that she was unable to bear weight on it. The vet opted for a conservative course of treatment that included x-rays (looking for a tumor or broken/dislocated bone), steroids (Prednisone to reduce the inflammation that was present) and an antibiotic (Cipro), on the chance there was an infection somewhere.
Over the last four weeks, the severity of the lameness alternated between practically non-existent to crippling. Four weeks to the day of our first vet visit came the new symptoms. Penny had grown weaker, unable to walk any distance. Her tongue, gums and inside her ears were almost white. We went back to the vet, who ran a blood test, and determined that her white cell count, red cell count and blood proteins were all significantly sub-normal. My vet referred us to specialists at the local emergency hospital. Upon arrival, they asked: "Has your dog had exposure to ticks?". The answer is "Yes, she had a very nasty bite weeks ago - it was red and inflamed and required several days of treatment to get it to clear up". They kept her overnight and gave her a transfusion for the severe anemia. In addition, they started her on a course of two new antibiotics: Doxycyline and Baytril.
Despite the best efforts of all of us, Penny has continued to regress to the point where she is no longer able to walk more than a few feet without collapsing to the ground. She is very weak, lethargic, disinterested in food, and the most recent symptom, the inability to urinate. She is currently with my regular vet, and I await what I am sure will not be good news.
Looking at the symptoms in hindsight and connecting the dots, it became apparent that Penny fell victim to the tick-borne disease ehrlichiosis. She has all the symptoms of a dog that is in the chronic phase of the disease, which unfortunately, is rarely succesfully treated. By the time a dog manifests symptoms, which can easily be mistaken for other diseases, it's probably too late.
Please take a look at Jasper's Canine Tick-Borne Disease Information Page for a comprehesive description of Ehrlichiosis and other tick-borne diseases.
I am personally grateful to the many people who posted their stories on the Web so that I was able to learn about this insidious disease that's about to claim the life of my best friend. It's certain that most veterinarians would not make the jump from lameness to tick disease, but for the life of your dog, you must insist on bloodwork to eliminate it as a cause of your dog's condition.
