03/04/2022
💔 We had a scary week here at Ollie Bean’s 💔
Sunday afternoon, we came home from my in-laws, and Ollie was slightly limping on one of his hind legs. We didn’t think much of it, thinking he must have jumped off the couch and landed funny. No big deal 🤷🏻♀️
Monday morning, he couldn’t put any weight on the back leg, and he cried out when we moved him. He couldn’t really figure out how to walk on 3 legs, so he just didn’t move. He wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t drink, and just laid in his bed. 🤔 We thought maybe he broke something? Or it was just more stiff and sore today? We tried to find if there was a specific spot that hurt, but no specific spot seemed to really bother him. So we thought, well, we’ll see how he is doing tomorrow and go from there if he needs to go in for an x-ray 🦴
Then Tuesday morning, I reached for him to pick him up and he cried out before I even touched him 😥 I took him outside to go potty, and he fell right over. He had lost all use of his left legs. Both left legs. Panic set in. Did he hurt his spine?! What decisions was I going to have to make about my baby?
A gazzillion vet calls later, I was able to find someone to see him for an urgent appointment. I handed my limp baby to the vet tech and she took him inside. (Covid precautions)
I sat in my car, terrified. The phone rang literally 2 minutes later with a call from the vet who was with Ollie. My heart was in my throat. “He has a bit of a temp. So that along with his lameness in his legs, not eating or drinking, and pain…I’m leaning towards an infectious cause. Most likely Lyme’s and/or Anaplasmosis.” He explained what testing was recommended, and asked how I wanted to proceed. “Run all the blood tests you need to be sure, I need an answer.”
15 minutes later, I received another call from the vet, stating that Ollie was positive for Lyme’s. In March. In Wisconsin.
Thankfully, there are medications to help treat this, but I feel like a horrible pet parent, and wanted to share this story to hopefully help prevent it from happening to YOUR babies.
Ticks do not die off, even with the sub-zero weather here in Wisconsin. Make sure you are treating/using preventative measures YEAR ROUND, and save you and your pups from this super scary experience!!
Happy to report that now today, Ollie is back to his fiesty normal naughty self, and I couldn’t be happier about it!!!!! ♥️♥️♥️