My horse was recently diagnosed with Lyme disease with a timer of 9,700. My vet said this was significant, and we have started 2 months of Doxy, vitamin E and MSM. Has anyone had a horse with titers this high that fully recovered? This is a sport horse that does high level activity and competition.
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Not that high, but 6800 for chronic. Which titer is that high, there are three Lyme’s titers tested.
I did six weeks of minocycline, vitamin E and it stayed down under 500 for three years. Horse is a 1.3m jumper. He started spooking (which is not him) and he was retested and the chronic titer is now over 6,000 again. I will do the same treatment plan and hope it works as well as it did last time.
My horse is sensitive, so I do my best to manage his world. He is on gastric support and pre/probiotics.
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Yes. I had one a few years ago above that range. It’s been chronic. He seems to get it again every other year. Last year the titer was in the 7000s.
It has not impacted his performance height but it has impacted his overall comfort. A dead give away he is having a flare up and/or reinfection is he starts grinding his teeth and stepping away from the block. We pull titers every fall now.
It’s been awful getting the antibiotics into him. We went with oxytet this year and he had a really bad reaction to it. I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread for other people’s experience.
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I should add that my vet, who is new since my horse was treated a few years ago, wanted to start with oxytet and then do the minocycline. I decided to just do the mino since it worked well last time.
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I had one over 8,000 years ago when it wasn’t as common. It caused an issue with his eye and very weird lameness. He definitely had it before I bought him because his whole demeanor changed. We treated with 5 days oxytet then 60 days minocycline. Doxy really is the lowest med and, then minocycline then oxytet. My vet did not recommend doxy for such a high level. We never had to re-treat but pulled yearly titres to keep an eye on it.
For supportive care after treatment we did chiro and massage. It is NOT recommended during. They need to basically mentally block out the pain and usually are really tight through their muscles. After treatment when they’re not as body sore a good massage therapist can do wonders.
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Interesting that your vet didn’t recommend Doxy, whereas mine did. So confusing…
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Which factor was that number for - acute or chronic?
Minocycline is better for chronic, doxy for acute.
Both tend to benefit from a few doses of IV tetracycline to jumpt-start things.
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My vet didn’t recommend doxy for my horse who had high chronic Lyme. They said it isn’t strong enough and doesn’t work as well. For mild cases I’m sure it’s fine but it might be worth getting a second opinion.
Yes. I am in CT and most horses on our farm/friends’ farms have had it and fully recovered. I have one who has chronic Lyme now, which we treat when symptomatic with minocycline. Doxy has worked in the past but if it doesn’t, ask the vet about mino. Good luck!
From my experience it more depends on symptoms and age rather than the titer.
The mental symptoms tend to subside easily in all cases that I’ve seen (confusion, grumpiness).
The physical symptoms will become less but if they are really severe will never totally fade.
Two examples, both had similar titer counts:
- 22 YO gelding. Mental symptoms and some hind end weakness. Full recovery with no long term issues.
-28 YO gelding. Significant hind end weakness and lack of coordination. Improved enough to be pasture sound, but was not rideable due to him sometimes forgetting he had hind legs and totally eating it.
