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Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:16 pm
by rschmeider
Anyone have success using cephalexin for Lyme disease. Last time I was at the vet it cost me $450 visit with a Doxy script... I was hoping this will work if I catch it early.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 5:12 pm
by dog dr
wont work. i do think you can use Amoxicillin though.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 8:23 pm
by DudeRN
nope. doxy is the go-to for Lyme. I believe amoxicillin is used for Lyme in children, not sure about dogs. Different bacteria are susceptible to different antibiotics, so you can't substitute randomly.

I am really surprised the the doxycycline is so expensive though. My dog got a month of it this fall, and I think it cost us around $50 if I recall correctly. Maybe the bloodwork is what is costing so much?

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 5:51 am
by luvthemud
DudeRN wrote:nope. doxy is the go-to for Lyme. I believe amoxicillin is used for Lyme in children, not sure about dogs. Different bacteria are susceptible to different antibiotics, so you can't substitute randomly.

I am really surprised the the doxycycline is so expensive though. My dog got a month of it this fall, and I think it cost us around $50 if I recall correctly. Maybe the bloodwork is what is costing so much?
I agree, sounds high priced. I picked up 20 100mg tablets last year and while I don't recall exactly how much I paid, I remember thinking "wow, that was cheap".

Good article, although it makes no mention of dogs: http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/di ... tment.html

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:11 am
by Munster
Have the vet send the perscription through Wal-Mart. I think I only paid 175.00 for it.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 1:13 pm
by Sharon
LInks say not a good idea due to poor in vitro activity , but do some reading for more info.

https://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=n ... me+disease

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 11:08 am
by rschmeider
Thanks everyone for the info. My script was 150.00 and ER fee plus tests got me up to 450. My older GSP came up really lame overnight on both back legs. We thought it was a herniated disc.

I live in a high lyme area. I was hoping to catch this lyme disease before it gets to this point. My idea is to test the attached tick when i pull it of the dog. http://lymealyzer.com/ Never used it and did anyone this yet?

If the tick comes up positive . I was going to run the dog on antibiocs for 9 days.. Amoxicillin?

Doxy up in down in price in my area and at one time was hard to find.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:53 pm
by luvthemud
Don't take this question the wrong way....but why not vaccinate?

And


Do you have ticks this time of year? I was finding them after we had a little snow on the ground this year and I thought that was very strange.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:09 pm
by Sharon
My vet says that if there is any green at all showing , there are ticks.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:53 pm
by luvthemud
Sharon wrote:My vet says that if there is any green at all showing , there are ticks.

Well that is certainly good to know, albeit a bit disappointing. Tough little bugger's for sure!

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:00 pm
by rschmeider
Almost lost a dog on the vaccines.. Also,my good friend setter just came up positive on the vaccines

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 11:50 pm
by ezzy333
rschmeider wrote:Almost lost a dog on the vaccines.. Also,my good friend setter just came up positive on the vaccines
I think you will find that is normal but doesn't mean they have lymes.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 3:14 pm
by fourtrax
Many dogs will contract Lyme's that have been vaccinated. Not huge numbers of ticks here. We are in the woods a lot during Spring - Fall.
Use a topical & have had all vaccinated. All 4 of our dogs have had Lyme's at one point or another over the last 5 years. Vaccs. are not iron clad.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 8:19 am
by dog dr
rschmeider wrote:Thanks everyone for the info. My script was 150.00 and ER fee plus tests got me up to 450. My older GSP came up really lame overnight on both back legs. We thought it was a herniated disc.

I live in a high lyme area. I was hoping to catch this lyme disease before it gets to this point. My idea is to test the attached tick when i pull it of the dog. http://lymealyzer.com/ Never used it and did anyone this yet?

If the tick comes up positive . I was going to run the dog on antibiocs for 9 days.. Amoxicillin?

Doxy up in down in price in my area and at one time was hard to find.
did you get an actual lyme diagnosis?

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 2:51 pm
by DudeRN
the lymealyzer looks neat, but getting a positive result for the tick doesn't necessarily mean it transmitted lyme to your dog. And I would want to be very sure about the dosing. Just doing a quick google search, you need to base dosing on the weight of the dog, and treatment is for more like 21-28 days, twice a day.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:19 am
by rschmeider
Dog Dr...Yes, PVSEC drew blood and ran levels on my older dog. He was back to normal in 3days on doxy. Ran a 30 day course.

Lymealyzer..Sitting in the medical kit..Most likely will get my chance this spring to use it.

I work outside and live to be outside.l get the dam thing on me more than the dogs...So at a recent trip to Med Express for a tick that I got on my back at work. I was showing a rash .They whiped the tick with alcohol and removed it..Then they gave me 2 doxy and said that will be enough to kill the bacteria if any.

??? If the tick comes up positive with the lymealyzer test, like to do the same..Do you think 2 doxy or 2 amoxicillin is enough??

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:12 am
by dog dr
im not a human dr by any means, but i cant imagine 2 pills would be enough to do anything. On dogs i do doxy 5mg/lb 2x a day, or amoxi 10mg/lb 2x a day, treat for a month. I know at least 2 people that had to insist that their dr test them for lyme disease; doesnt seem like they think its a big deal in people.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:02 am
by luvthemud
dog dr wrote:im not a human dr by any means, but i cant imagine 2 pills would be enough to do anything. On dogs i do doxy 5mg/lb 2x a day, or amoxi 10mg/lb 2x a day, treat for a month. I know at least 2 people that had to insist that their dr test them for lyme disease; doesnt seem like they think its a big deal in people.

2 doxy for one day is what my Dr prescribed for me last spring as well. I will have to check how many mg they are. Thought they were 100./

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:07 pm
by DudeRN
I think the difference in the dosing for dogs versus humans is that we usually get the dose of doxycycline after finding an attached tick, not a positive lyme titer. Longer term dosing of antibiotics is necessary if you get a lyme disease diagnosis.

Dogs usually get the antibiotics after they've started showing signs an symptoms, which can be a couple of weeks after infection and the lyme has had a chance to become firmly entrenched.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 10:09 am
by rschmeider
Let say you have a dog that was exposed to Lyme..Came up positive on the snap test..You had high levels with titer test..Ran 30 days of doxy..Ran titer again levels are down to minimal .

Then you find a tick 6 months later that got past the preventives..Came up positive with the Lymealyzer test..How would you handle it?

Dog is showing no signs.

Thanks again for your input

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 12:06 pm
by DudeRN
it is a dilemma, isn't it? if you were pretty sure how long the tick had been on -- not engorged, or you find it right after coming out of the field, I probably wouldn't do anything. I'm not a vet, but I would think you wouldn't do anything unless the dog starts showing signs, and then treat with the standard 30 days of antibiotics.

whether you should treat the dog for a positive tick that you think has been on for more than 24 hours, I would ask your vet.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:17 pm
by RayGubernat
My vet suggested using Minocycline HCl 100mg. twice a day.

She said that she was having real problems getting Doxy and it was stupid expensive for some reason.

There is apparently no veterinary approval for minocycline use in dogs, but it is approved for human use.

Talk to your vet.

RayG

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:48 pm
by DudeRN
I think you want to be real careful. You've invested a lot of time, money and love in your dog, you wouldn't want to have your trusted hunting companion to get chronically ill because you wanted to save a few bucks. I think you should get a very clear guideline from your vet -- the right drug, the right dose, the right frequency and the right duration and whether to give it at all. If you have that, and you can decide you want to buy your own antibiotics and give them following the vet's directions, you are on a better course. good luck.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 10:28 pm
by rschmeider
DudeRN wrote:I think you want to be real careful. You've invested a lot of time, money and love in your dog, you wouldn't want to have your trusted hunting companion to get chronically ill because you wanted to save a few bucks. I think you should get a very clear guideline from your vet -- the right drug, the right dose, the right frequency and the right duration and whether to give it at all. If you have that, and you can decide you want to buy your own antibiotics and give them following the vet's directions, you are on a better course. good luck.
You think im trying to save $$$...Lol

Maybe this will help you understand..http://www.hopkinsarthritis.org/arthrit ... treatment/

When you go to Med Express they are using this treatment I pasted above.
Why let the dog catch lyme disease. When you can prevent it.

Re: Cephalexin for lyme

Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 1:27 pm
by DudeRN
no, sorry, I guess that didn't sound right. I just wanted to say I am sure that you really want to be sure that what you are doing is going to keep your dog healthy. which is of course what you are trying to do.

as you can guess from my user name, I am an RN and we get people all the time who don't take all of their prescribed antibiotics, or try taking a leftover antibiotic from three years ago against a cold, etc. just be sure what you are giving your dog is going to work, but you also don't want to overmedicate your dog. antibiotics have side effects, and overuse also promotes drug resistance.

good luck