Bella has Lymes Disease

[Cookiebaker]

What an awesomly cute picture!!! So very glad Bella's back to her playful self!! What a refreshing sight.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

AWWWW
Sweet Bella ... so good to see you up and running full force again!
... Looks like Ripley doesn't want to give you a minute to rest!

[marysmerrycats]

Im glad she's doing better! I just read this thread, how awful that had to be!

[iceyshiver21]

Oh, Bella.....Its good to see that you are getting better

[Tom&Pam]

I just read about Bella, as we just found this site yesterday. I hope Bella is doing fine. Thank God that vaccines are available now for this disease.
Tom & I took our 2 dals everywhere and enjoyed many trips together ( the whole family of 4). In the fall of 1986 we camped a total of 2 weeks in Michigan, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Dandy was a large stocky, rather shy, but totally sweet dalmatian and at 11 years old had some arthritis problems, but still loved to play with his older "brother" Smokey. They both just needed to rest a lot.
His symptoms seemed to get worse in the next couple months, normal one day and hurting the next. One January Sunday, he was miserable. I was planning to take him to the vet the next day. That night I cuddled around him and slept on the floor. Morning came and Dandy seemed as good as new. One week later, he was struck down again. We took him to the vet. Ex-rays revealed a possible spinal cord injury near his tail, and he was given steroids. He now had collitis symptoms. The vets kept him for several days, but he was not improving. We brought him home with medication. We hoped the surroundings would help him recover. His hind quarters would not support him. We held him up sith a towel to go outside. His appetite was not there, although he tried to eat, I think, to please us. The next night, we felt he was in too much pain. We called the vet, who met us at the hospital. By the time Tom carried him into the office, Dandy seemed to be comatose. The vet gently injected the serum that put Dandy at peace, at age 11. This was on 1/20/87.
The 5/22/89, issue of "Newsweek" had a cover story about Lyme Disease. After 2 years of wondering what happened to Dandy, I finally knew.
Dandy had all the classic symptoms of Lyme Disease. I had never before heard of it, and doubt that the vets in Illinois thought about it either. I'm sure he got it on our Wisconsin trip. I remember brushing off small black bugs. I thought they were tiny spiders. I also know that one of his "elbow" joints swelled up, at some time during his illness. But, it went away.
Smokey lived another 2 years and died peacefully at age 14, with no signs of Lyme Disease.
We definately use Frontline for Buddy, our 7 year old dalmatian. From,
One Pam to another.

[oodlesofpoodles]

Pam, Glad to see Bella's feeling much better. Hoping all the way better.

[Pam]

Tom&Pam, thank you for your note and welcome to Pet Talk!! You know it's funny because my brother's name is Tom!! I am so, so sorry to hear about what happened to Dandy. You described his symptoms as being hurting one day and normal the next and then back to hurting. That was what gave my vet his first clue. He said that is the way Lyme acts and he had seen 200 little furry patients with it so I figured he knew what he was talking about. If it had been a sprain it wouldn't have been an on again/off again thing and there was also the blood test too. Back in the 80's when your Dandy went through this I don't think very much was known. It was just coming to the forefront and the reports were scattered. I now have both Bella and Ripley on Frontline and Bella will be getting her second dose of the vaccine after she finishes her antibiotics. There are so many humans here in South Jersey with Lyme as well. There are quite a bit of pine forrests and the disease naturally is worse in wooded areas. I am so grateful that we were able to help Bella quickly by getting her on the antibiotics and I am so sorry that you did not have the benefit of the knowledge that we have today. I hope others may benefit from this thread and can nip this thing in the bud if, God forbid, it should strike.
P.S. Another similarity - my daughter's cat's name is Dandy!

[K9karen]

Thank God that our beloved pets are now considered more than that.....and that medical/vet science has improved so much in all these years it can add years of life to our "furkids" . Ithat have benefited from chemo and survived Lymes and other diseases. I wish my vet was my family doctor..such compassion and not monetarily motivated. I found the Pam and Tom and Dandy references realllllly spooky....WOW! I'm so so happy that both our lovely Bella and and new friend, Buddy are doing great!