What is Lyme Disease in dogs? It is a disease that is transmitted to dogs through a tick’s bite. The name of the bacteria that causes the disease is Borrelia burgdorferi. These bacteria have a cork-screw or coiled appearance when they are seen under a microscope.
This disease is named after the town where it was originally found – Lyme, Connecticut. The ticks responsible for Lyme Disease in dogs don’t cause the actual disease; they only carry it and transmit it. Three different types of tick are the main carriers of the disease. The majority of cases are caused by the bite of the tiny Deer Tick, also called the Black-Legged Tick.
Lyme Disease can be found in almost every state, but there are certain areas where it is more commonly found – these areas have a higher population of the ticks that carry the Disease.
There is sometimes little warning before the onset of Lyme Disease. In dogs, a victim can be normal one day, a bit lethargic the next day, and on the third day he can be suffering from such joint pain that he may have to be carried into the veterinary hospital. If you watch, however, in about seventy-five percent of Lyme Disease cases, the initial symptom will be pain localized in one front leg. There is actually tenderness in multiple joints by this time, if you check the dog closely.
Even the most attentive of owners will likely not see a tick on their dog before it can infect their pet. These ticks are very small. They actually pick the disease up from tiny rodents like the white-footed mouse, when they drink from their blood. In the winter, the tick larva is dormant, and then emerges as a nymph in the spring. Later on in warmer months, the nymphs become adults.
If you or your dog is bitten, you may or may not contract Lyme Disease. In dogs, they will sometimes develop symptoms and sometimes not. It’s something to note, as well, that you cannot catch this disease from your dog, or a mouse, just the tick.
Over ninety percent of dogs with Lyme Disease are admitted to one veterinary hospital on record with limping, usually in one foreleg. They will also exhibit a swelling of the lymph nodes in the affected leg, and a temperature of just above normal (103 degrees or so). The limping will progress, if nothing is done, to a point where the dog cannot put weight on the leg.
If the disease is caught early, you can expect treatment to cure the dog from any possible permanent nerve or joint damage. Your veterinarian will usually treat your dog with antibiotics, including Tetracycline. These medications have a good track record against Lyme Disease in dogs.
Sometimes a dog will be admitted with symptoms like Lyme Disease, but it will turn out that the dog is sick with another illness instead. If your veterinarian suspects this disease, he or she will probably start the antibiotic treatment, and add aspirin if the dog is in a lot of pain. Blood work to definitively rule Lyme Disease in or out may take too long for the information to be useful, at the outset. If the dog is later diagnosed with another illness, they can treat for that type of disease.
A dog can contract Lyme Disease more than once, but it’s difficult to determine if it’s actually a new infection, or a flare-up of the original illness. They will generally be treated in the same way. The earlier that antibiotics are started, the better your dog’s chance at a full recovery.
