Poor Toby :(

For those of you who know me, you know that one of my best friends is Toby, my Golden Retreiver. He is a young, spunky, crazy, loving, energetic, nutty dog.....but you just have to love him!

On Friday when I got home from work I realized he was limping on his front right paw. I was thinking that he stepped on something or got a splinter from one of the decks. I figured I would wait the weekend and see how things progressed. I thought that by today (Monday) he would be putting more weight on it and he would be fine.

Wake up this morning and he is not putting any weight on it what-so-ever. Time to call the Vet! I set up an appointment for this morning at 10:00. The poor guy :(

At the Vet I can tell he is hurting. He is completely out of is and just staring off into the distance. The Vet finally sees us and starts checking him out. His paw is really sensative and he is running a little fever of 103 degrees. (Canines have an average temp of 101 - 102.5) He takes some blood for some tests and decides to take some X-Rays to make sure there are no foreign bodies in his paw, since there is a lot of swelling.

After waiting for about 10 minutes Toby comes back from the X-Rays.

Vet: "Good news, there are no broken bones or foreign bodies present" as he is showing me the films

Me: confused "Then why is Toby limping?

Vet: "Bad news is, he has tested positive for Lyme Disease!"

Me: "Oh" (as all I can think of are the massive amounts of ticks I have picked off of him since we have moved back to NJ, despite the use of Flea and Tick repellents. NJ ticks are persistent buggers)

Me: still really confused "How is that making him limp"

The Vet goes on to explain how the disease causes bacteria to iritate joints which leaves them in costant pain.

So, now that we know what it is, the Vet fills my hands full of medications to help fight off the Lyme. 3 pills, 3 times a day for 1 month!

I bring Toby back home and start feed him his breakfast of medications and I head off to work. After a whole day of worrying about the poor guy, I get home and he is actually acting a bit better. My Dad told me Toby was trying to play fetch (while being on 3 legs still). He was also hobbling around with a great deal of excitement when I got home, which made me smile.

I think it is safe to say, that good 'ol Tobias is on his way back to good health.