Limpy dog

Waldo seems to have developed a limp late last week. We noticed he was a bit droopy and he was favoring his right rear leg so I took him to the vet on Thursday. Last year around this time, the same thing happened. His energy was low, he began to limp, and he was sleeping on his back with all four feet in the air.

After that trip to the vet, it was confirmed that he was Lyme positive, despite having the vaccine. We are also faithful users of FrontLine every month. It can get cold here in the winter, but I still keep up his FrontLine applications when it is not officially tick season. So, least year he was put on a treatment course of docycycline antibiotics and Previcox for pain.

Since he was showing 2 of the 3 symptoms from last year, our vet ran a C6 blood test for Lyme and put him on the same course of treatment. The next day (Friday), the results came back negative (meaning no active Lyme in his system). Given the result, we have the following choices as to what may be wrong:
1) an autoimmune reaction to leftover Lyme in his system
2) early arthritis
3) a ruptured ACL (although my vet did a physical exam and felt nothing wrong)

He will continue with the doxy and Previcox for a few more days. He has shown marginal improvement on the meds, as in he is now touching his right toes on the ground rather than lifting up the entire foot. If he is not better by Thursday, we may need x-rays.

In the meantime, I need to rest him completely - no running, jumping, stairs, etc. Someone needs to tell him that though...!