Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum but what a great resource this is! I discovered it while searching for help for my (nearly) 5-year old pembroke corgi Banjo. Recently we went on a trip to the coast of Washington state but while we were there, he started getting sick. When we got home, we went straight to the pet ER. He had a fever of 105.4 and elevated blood platelets. He was put on doxycycline and amox/clav. 

The next day, we visited my primary vet who confirmed his blood platelets were elevated and put him on prednisone. He appeared to be doing a little better and after a week, he went off the antibiodics. But a few days past and he was back to feeling poor. 

He was put back on doxy but they also noticed his white blood cells were now also heightened. He was then prescribed zeniquin. He was on those for two more weeks and once again, after taken off, he began to fall backward with his white blood cells now even higher. His platelets remain adequate (thanks to the prednisone), but is still not showing any signs of improvement. 

We have an appointment with a specialist but wanted to utilize all the resources I can. Has anyone experienced this before or have an idea of what is going on? He's stable while on antibiodics but is nothing like himself and its clear this is something stronger than his meds (at least four plus weeks of them). He is very tired and obviously feeling poor. He has also weaker and has lost muscle in his head/face and around his spine. Please help me find out what is wrong with my Banjo, he's the best pup and doesn't deserve to feel like this. 

I am sorry that Banjo is feeling so poorly.  I don't know what it could be, but I hope someone else can come on and give you better info.

But I thought of one thing, does Banjo have Lyme Disease by any chance?  The only reason I'm asking is we had a dog that did have Lyme Disease and when it came to diagnosing her it was difficult for the doctors to do.  That's because symptoms appear differently than they would for dogs that don't have Lyme Disease.

1. That is definitely been something I've thought about and plan to bring it up during my next appointment. Was the lyme disease easy to control after you found the correct diagnosis? Thanks for your kind words, Banjo and I appreciate them! 

Yes, the Lyme Disease was easy to get under control.  But our vet said to always, always, always remind them that our sweet girl had Lyme disease to jog the doctor's memory, if there were serious issues, or anything challenging to figure out.

But it did make it difficult to diagnose one of her illnesses.  Still eventually they did get it figured out.

I wish Banjo quick healing, and best to both of  you.