For Those of You Who Have Experience with Lyme

[cmdrcltr]

My horse has just tested positive for chronic Lyme with a titer number of 1968. Given the fact that he came from a location with high incidence of Lyme, and that he has had occasional trouble with stiffness since I purchased him, it is possible that he has had it for a long time-4 years or more.

I’m interested in hearing from anyone who has treated a horse that you know had Lyme for a long period of time. What were the results of your treatment? Were there residual effects from the long-term Lyme that never went away?

My vets are telling me that it is senseless to investigate other issues until I treat the Lyme, and I did emphasize with them that I wanted to investigate his stiffness/off-ness in the most cost effective way possible as my horse budget is very tight. However, I’m terrified that I will spend $1200+ on treating the Lyme, only to find that there is more that needs to be done, or that I’ll find our whatever is causing his troubles is beyond what I can address.

Thanks in advance for any input and insight.

[beowulf]

Horses who have lyme will almost always have a high lyme titer or positive snap test, even after the initial incubation/infection. IIRC, it takes years for it to subside, and lyme is always present. Lyme disease carriers will be affected by it for the rest of their life.

Lyme is a very life-altering disease, even for horses. Clinically speaking, one of the most prevalent symptoms the disease is present is arthritis and joint pain/stiffness.

If I were you, I’d treat for lyme before pursuing any other diagnostics. Doxy is not that expensive in the realm of horse medication, and it will make a difference if your horse has lyme.

[Parrotnutz]

Treated a horse for chronic lyme……I recommend going the IV oxytet route followed by oral doxy……how do I know? I tried just oral doxy first but got much better results after the IV treatment. Also my horse’s bit E was depleted from the lyme so he got vit E added to his supplements ….made a big difference in his soreness. Yes there can be long term effects and will depend on how long the horse actually had lyme…which most of us don’t really know, only time will tell you. Treat it aggressively!

[Laurierace]

Agree with the above. IV oxytet is the way to go.

[cmdrcltr]

Thank you for your replies. I know IV oxytet is the gold standard. That is the planned treatment, followed by 45 days of oral doxy. My question isn’t really about how to treat; rather I was looking for people’s success (or not) with treating Lyme after possibly years of chronic infection.

[SonnysMom]

My horse Sonny had Lyme and a torn suspensory in his hind leg. We had to treat the Lyme first to be able to narrow things down to the suspensory. Heck to even the correct leg. He was just so body sore and cranky. The lameness was never consistently on the same leg until we got the Lyme out of the way.

Having personally lived through Lyme multiple times it makes you ache everywhere.

Treat the Lyme first then do additional diagnostics if he still is NQR.

[SonnysMom]

Duplicate post