Today we finish the two-week course of antibiotics we've been giving our 5-year-old golden retriever for a tick-borne disease. We sort of knew she wasn't feeling well. She'd been a little lethargic, and had some off-and-on joint pain that didn't seem to be related to activity. Then, she had the seizures, and we headed for the vet.
The diagnosis was anaplasmosis. While she gets an annual Lyme's vaccine and monthly tick prevention medication, these weren't effective against anaplasmosis. But the antibiotics the vet gave us were.
She seems to be back to her old self. Thank goodness, no more seizures.
While there's snow on the ground now, Bill and I are thinking ahead to the new year and the next tick season. This $300 vet bill caught us by surprise, especially since we thought we had been taking reasonable precautions against tick-borne illness. But this dog has a thick coat that makes it hard to find and remove ticks.
We usually have her coat cut very short once in the spring because of ticks and once in the fall because of burrs. I think we'll budget for an extra midsummer cut next year.
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