Treating lyme in minis

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rbrown

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Skip had a swollen stifle 2 weeks ago, and I later discovered a tick bite on her leg. Earlier last week she started becoming very sensitive to being touched- biting and threatening to kick when groomed or petted- which is very out of the ordinary for her. My vet is coming out this week to pull blood and we can hopefully get an answer, but she and my barn owner suspect she may have Lyme. My other thought is that she may have ulcers, as I never thought to give her ulcergard for her 3 day/1200 mile trip she took back in October (I will start treating her for ulcers if the vet thinks that is a good idea).

Anyway, I am wondering if there is anything I should know about treating lyme in minis. My barn owner says doxycycline is the usual treatment. The ticks here are just awful and I've never had to deal with them until I moved to the east coast. Poor Skip- she just got over a respiratory infection in January, and now she's sick again! Any advice or things I should be aware of would be much appreciated.
 
Living in CT, I have way too much experience with Lyme and horses, including minis. Yes, Doxy is the usual treatment, but there are others. Your minis symptoms are much like our Ruby's (sudden aggression in mare thread) which does sound like it could be Lyme. Oh, and whenever I treat with antibiotics like Doxy, I also treat for ulcers. Gastroguard at least the preventive dose, if not the full dose for a mini, or U-Gard plus Stomach Soother. I suspended the Doxy in the Stomach Soother and gave it in a dosing syringe to make sure she got it all, because she wasn't eating that well either. If you suspect ulcers anyway, I would for sure give the full treatment dose while on Doxy. And FYI, Gastroguard ( prescription) and Ulcergard (non-prescriptions for prevention) are the same thing but sold differently. I find it easier and cheaper to get Ulcergard. The treatment dose I use for Ruby (200 pounds) is 4 "ticks" on the syringe, which I think is half the prevention dose for a horse.

If you send me an e-mail at [email protected] I can forward some more info I got recently on treating Lyme but haven't tried yet.
 
Those are classic signs of Lyme. We are in the process of treating a mare now. Her blood test came back extremely high for Lyme. Our mare is getting Doxy for 45 days for her treatment. We are mixing it with yogurt to help with the horrible taste of the Doxy. The ticks are really bad this year, and its early! Our minis go out on dry lots, have individual fly sprayers in their stalls and are sprayed prior to going out! Its a losing battle.

Julie

VictoryPass Stable

Maine
 
Thank you both for the info
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Poor Skip. I feel especially awful for her because she's right in the middle of shedding, and I can't brush her! I think I'm just going to start with the UG anyway (will double check with vet).

Do either of you remember which blood test your vets ran? Someone suggested a "Lyme/multiplex test"- said it was more comprehensive.
 
My vet ran the usual "titer" which comes back as a number - the higher the number the worse it is. A Western Blot is also commonly recommended and that I believe comes back as three levels - like low, moderate, high???? I never heard of the Lyme/multiplex test. Ruby's tests didn't come back that bad - her titer was not very high and the Western Blot was "moderate" I think, and then a second test was even lower, but that was when we started the Lyme treatment. Around here I think every horse has at least a "low" titer, meaning they were exposed, and then the question is when to treat. And even a month or more of treatment often isn't enough. Good luck.
 
Skip has only been in MA for a few months (we never had tick problems in WI), but I did pull two ticks off her in late October... so I wonder what her "normal" titer would be, or if she's ever been exposed. The ticks here are so, so awful- before I moved here I think I saw 1 or 2 ticks in my whole life- and I spent a lot of time in the woods! Anyway, we'll see what the vet says...
 
By the way, usually the ticks you SEE are not the deer ticks that carry Lyme Disease. The deer ticks are tiny, like the size of the head of a pin. Important to check yourself for ticks too, especially after being in the woods or even on grass.
 
I am so paranoid about ticks on me! They make my skin crawl, yuck. I check myself over REALLY well multiple times after I'm on the trails. I have only seen the bigger ones on me/Skip- I'm not sure it's even possible to find the tiny deer ticks on her with her dirty winter coat
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Our Vet wouldnt do the Titer test,, they had too many that showed neg and the horses when having the Western Blot test came back med and high. We did the Western Blot test. Once your horse has Lyme I do believe they will always test low for Lyme. You just have to keep an eye on them cause it does come back with some.

I hear ya on being paranoid on ticks. Everytime I feel a tickle or anything, I am looking for ticks!!! LOL I know with our horses its been really hard on them, its amazing how fast the doxies kick in

Julie

Victory Pass Stable

Maine
 
Good to hear that the meds will start making her feel better soon. I'll have to talk with my vet and see what test she's going to do... maybe I can skip the titer and just do a Western Blot. I'll be so glad when this is over! Now to just get my vet out... neither vet can come until next week
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Maybe they'll let me just start the doxy- I don't want her hurting for another 5+ days.
 
Update: Vet was finally able to make it out to pull blood today, and oh my goodness... I have never, ever seen Skip behave so badly! I was totally horrified. We had to twitch her, put a chain over her nose, and there were 4 of us trying to hold her down. She is normally not a problem for vets, but something is really, really bothering her. My poor girl
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We started her on doxy on Friday, since she was so miserable and everyone agreed it was probably Lyme, but she hasn't gotten any better yet. In fact, she's getting worse- I still can't touch her to groom her, and now I can't pick up her feet without her kicking out. She's also become lame/is moving differently, and looks uncomfortable. I am really hoping we can get to the bottom of this quickly (test results are supposed to be in by the end of the week), and that she starts feeling better soon. I just moved her to a new barn, and I'm afraid we are making such an awful first impression
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Vibes for Skip would be much appreciated- it's hard to see her so miserable.
 
I would suggest you contact Bonnie Fogg, the Animal Communicator with a LB Banner ad....This sounds so much like what we have been going through with Ruby.
 
Thanks Targetsmom. I won a reading with a local animal communicator and am hoping she'll be able to talk to me this week.
 
I am so sorry you and Skip are having such a problem.I have used Bonnie Fogg on several occasions and she really can see the issues.don't know who your other communicator is, but IMO you can't beat Bonnie.She is very quick to respond.Hope your baby feels better soon.
 
I just wanted to update- I talked to Bonnie this morning, and I'm so hopeful that between her insight and the lyme test results, Skip will be feeling better soon. Her Lyme results should be back on Friday- so far, the doxy doesn't seem to be doing much (it's been 5 days now). Our new ideas are that her teeth are hurting (she just had her teeth floated a day before she started biting me, so I'm going to have the dentist back now that I have an idea of where, exactly, she's hurting); she needs a chiro adjustment for her back (I felt a bump right where Bonnie said I would!), and that her front hoof is hurting her. My poor baby- no wonder she's been sour lately with all of these issues she's having. I'm really hoping my next update is to say she's feeling better!
 
Isn't Bonnie amazing??? The front hoof could hurt from Lyme. When my big horse had Lyme, 2 farriers and 2 vets thought he had an abscess because he was 3-legged lame, but that turned out to be Lyme.
 
That is good to know, because I looked at her hoof and couldn't find anything unusual, asymetrical, etc. Bonnie hit my other mare's personality right on the head- she said Kandy had very a strong energy, which is the perfect way to describe her! I'm very glad I talked with her- I imagine it would have taken us quite awhile to figure out the teeth and back issues, so I'm glad I won't have to wait for things to become obviously bad to realize what's hurting her!
 
Update: her Lyme test came back negative! I was so sure it was Lyme. She is so unhappy, and she bit me yesterday. I'm going to try a chiropractor, and get her teeth rechecked, since her behavior issues started right after her teeth were done. The only other thing I can think is that this is a mare issue, but I don't remember her being like this when I had her 3 years ago.
 

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