Poor Caleb

On Monday morning, I noticed our 1 year-old wheaten terrier, Caleb, was limping around pretty badly. His front left foot seemed to really be bothering him and he was applying very little pressure to it. By Tuesday it seemed really bad and he wasn't putting any pressure on it at all, so I took him to the vet. $215 and a few x-rays later, they couldn't find anything wrong with him. They said the pain seemed to be in his elbow, and perhaps he pulled a muscle. The vet told us to keep him inactive for a couple weeks and hopefully he would improve. But just in case, they were going to send his x-rays to a specialist at the U of M to see if he could find anything.
This morning when we woke up, Caleb seemed to be doing a little bit better. He was walking on his foot but still limping. Then I noticed: he was limping on the OTHER leg! My first thought was that he had been faking his injury the whole time. JP used to have a wheaten when he was young who would fake injuries when his sister, Lisa, was away. Could this be a big act to get attention?
I called the vet to ask him if this is something a dog would do, and he told me he wasn't surprised that Caleb had shifted legs. That's because the doctor from the U of M had gotten back to him - he found swelling in the carpi in BOTH of Caleb's front feet and a "dropped" carpus in his right foot. The likely culprit: Lyme Disease.
I looked up Lyme Disease in Dogs online:
"The most common symptom of Lyme disease in dogs is a reoccurring lameness that may shift from leg to leg. Most commonly, it is a front leg that is affected and the lymph node on the shoulder of that leg may be enlarged. Many of the sick dogs are depressed and run fevers. Occasionally...the superficial lymph nodes all over the dog’s body are enlarged. It is common for infected dogs to have hot, painful joints when lameness is present [This would explain Caleb's elbow hurting]. They may yelp when these joints are pressed and be quite reluctant to walk. When they do walk, they walk with a stiff shuffling gait and an arched back because of the pain. Unfortunately exercise-induced sprains, arthritis, hip dysplasia and lumbar or cervical spinal problems present very similar signs."
Without treatment, Lyme Disease can lead to problems with the heart, kidneys, and nervous system. Caleb likely got it over the summer, either out at Jim & Margie's house or on one of our camping trips, even though we had tick collars on both him and Sadie. The vet said it can be months or even years before dogs will show symptoms of Lyme Disease, if they show any at all.
So...tomorrow Caleb goes in for blood work. If it is indeed Lyme Disease he will be treated. If the test comes back negative, they will do a joint tap to check for early onset arthritis (he's only a year and a half old). Please be praying for poor Caleb! He just lies around the living room all day, only getting up to hobble to the bathroom or drink some water. He hasn't finished his dinner in three days and keeps his tail tucked under his legs at all times. Sadie can't understand why he won't play with her, and it's driving her crazy.
We'll let you know what we find out at the vet tomorrow!