Has your dog been diagnosed with Lyme Disease? This is a disease that is transmitted by tick bites. If you have recently been hiking the wood or your dog has been running thru tall grass, your dog could have easily picked up a tick.
What is Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease is a spirochete bacterium that is known as Borrelia burgdorferi. Most cases of Lyme disease are seen in the up upper Midwest, Northeast, and the Pacific coast.
When a tick bites your dog, they transfer these bacteria to your dog. A tick will need to be attached to your dog for 24 to 48 hours. Your dog can easily pick up ticks when they are outside running in tall grass or when you are going on a hike in the woods.
Signs of Lyme Disease
The main sign of Lyme disease in dogs is shifting leg lameness. Your dog may be lame on one leg and the next day not using a different leg. They will also have a decreased appetite, swollen lymph nodes, and seem stiff when they are walking. If Lyme disease is not treated, your dog can have kidney disease and even death.
How to Diagnose Lyme disease in dogs?
Lyme disease can easily be diagnosed by a blood test. Your vet will want to perform a physical exam and run bloodwork. This bloodwork will also check for liver and kidney abnormalities and help your vet be able to develop a treatment plan for your dog.
Your vet may also take a joint fluid sample to make sure that there is not an infection in their joint capsule. Most dogs who live in popular Lyme disease areas will test positive for Lyme disease. Not all positive animals are treated for this disease.
Treatment of Lyme Disease
If your dog is positive for Lyme disease and is showing signs of this disease, they will be treated with Doxycycline. This is an antibiotic that will help kill these bacteria. Only about 10% of dogs who are positive for Lyme disease will need to be treated. In severe cases, your dog may have to stay in the hospital on IV fluids and injectable medications for them to fully recover.
How to Prevention of Lyme Disease?
One of the best ways to treat Lyme disease is to prevent your dog from getting ticks. There are many great monthly flea and tick medications that your dog can take to help kill any ticks that they come in contact with. This helps decrease the time that the ticks are attached to your dog, thus preventing the ability to transmit Lyme disease to your dog.
Final Thoughts
If your dog has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease and is showing signs of this disease, your vet can easily treat your dog. Usually, with 30 days of medication, your dog will quickly and successfully recover. Remember that prevention is way easier than treatment. By giving your dog flea and tick prevention, you can easily help prevent your dog from catching Lyme disease or many of the other diseases that are carried by ticks and fleas.
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