Dog Lyme Disease

An Owner's Guide to Lyme Disease in Dogs

Lyme disease in dogs is a condition that can cause a wide range of problems with your dog. It can damage the heart, kidneys, or joints if left unchecked. This disease usually occurs in southern states, northeastern states, California, and Mississippi. However, it can occur in virtually any part of the United States.

Cause

You may be wondering what causes this disease. Dog Lyme Disease is transmitted via tick bite. The tick that carries this illness is infected with a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. The bacterium can't be transferred immediately though, as the tick has to stay attached to your dog for one or two days.

Symptoms

If your dog is affected by this illness, he will show a range of symptoms. Most dogs developing limping, especially in one of the forelegs. Although this limping will be hard to detect at first, it will become much more noticeable as the disease progresses. Other symptoms include swollen lymph nodes, loss of appetite, and fever.

Diagnosis

The veterinarian's first step in diagnosing Lyme disease in dogs is to take a medical history and discuss your dog's symptoms. These symptoms will appear suddenly, which points to Lyme disease. The condition can be definitely diagnosed through a blood test to detect the presence of the aforementioned bacterium.

Treatment

Dog Lyme Disease should be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. If not, permanent damage can be done to your dog's joints and nerves. The preferred method of treatment is through the use of antibiotics. These drugs must be taken for at least three weeks. If your dog is experiencing a lot of pain, your veterinarian may also prescribe aspirin.

Prognosis

Although treatment lasts for about three weeks, most dogs will start feeling better within a couple of days. However, the disease may recur in months or even weeks. This will require another round of antibiotics.

Lyme disease in dogs is a potentially serious disease. However, there are many other diseases that can affect your dog such as canine bloat. Any responsible owner should want to know the causes and symptoms of some of these conditions in case they affect your dog. Dog-illnesses.com provides all of the information you need about a wide range of diseases. So, stop by right now to learn about some of these conditions like canine Cushing's disease.

Anyone know a good site that has information on dog lyme disease?
My dog has lyme disease and has kidney failure so i want to get more information to see if we can save her and reverse the damage on her kidneys.

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My poorly dog - Lyme disease?
I have a yorkie terrior, and a couple of months ago, she had a tick on her which we removed - she was fine. Just lately, she has been showing signs similar to arthritus - stiff joints, cant get up steps etc. She is 10 yrs old, so I put this down to age. I have read an article today which suggests she could have lyme disease! I will be getting her to the vets tomorrow, but am scared I have harmed her more than necessary due to 'ignoring' her symptoms! Had anyone had an experience of this?

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Is This Dog Lyme Disease Rash? =(?
Today was my birthday, so my husband took off work and we went to the park this morning with our dog. Her hair is super short & very fine, so ticks are very easy to spot. Plus, she gets K9-Advantix every month and she had a Lyme Disease vaccine in June 2009. We were only at the park for maybe an hour and a half. When we got back to the car, we checked Maddie (our dog) for ticks. She had one on one of her hind legs. It had already bitten her. My husband pulled it off and it crawled away, so I'm assuming the head came out. I just noticed a dark pink, almost circular mark about the size of a dime near where the tick bit her. Is it possible that his is the beginning of Lyme disease? =( We've done everything humanly possible to prevent it.... flea & tick repellent, Lyme vaccine, and checking her for ticks. If it is Lyme, is there anything that can cure it? What does it do physically to dogs? She's running around and acting normal... Maybe I'm overreacting, but I would be just devastated if she has Lyme =( If it matters, she's almost 2, 60 lbs, greyhound mix.

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Strange lumps lumps on my dog? Lyme disease vaccine related? 1 removed, now new ones appearing?
It all started 2 weeks after our dog got the lime disease vaccine, he is 11 a beagle/terrier mix and extremely healthy with no prior medical problems. First there was a bare patch that turned red and became a small lump. Over time it opened up into an open sore and grew to about the size of a golfball cut in half, and was only in the skin as you could get your fingers under it. Like idiots we let him lick it and it began to smell so we had it removed by the vet. Now about a week after it was removed we noticed other smaller than a marble cut in half sized lumps on his neck and back of his head. I haven't counted but there must be over 5. We are worried that these will turn into the other thing in which case we probably couldn't save him.............. What we are wondering is if there is any connection to the lime disease vaccine as we have now learned that it is not being administered by some vets and the vet we went to, (he hasn't had to go to a vet for anything but shots his whole life,) and all of the problems started about two weeks after it was administered. They are just red lumps at first, the hole and smell was likely from him worrying it, what the heck are they? Have any of you seen these before? They seem only to be itchy and not hurting him but are growing and multiplying. Is there any connection the lyme disease booster? No the vet didn't completely rule it out, he just said he had absolutely no clue what it is. Right now it is looking rather grim, as he has developed soreness in his ribs for some reason. You can't put pressure on his underbelly from his neck to the end of his ribs without him growling and snapping at you...I have no clue how this ties in but we may have to go back to the vet soon, though I don't know what will happen when we do damnit. I mean from the base of his neck, not the upper neck, so mainly just the ribcage. He also won't go up stairs or jump into a chair, we think it is because of this. OH! And he also had swelling under his neck about 5 hours after he got the booster, it was pretty bad but as we live far away we waited to take him in and though he go the chills everything went away.

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Is It Safe To Kill A Tick With HARTZ Ultra Guard Flea & Tick Spray ...?
Since our vet moved, we don't have another one in our town. I found something on the dog that felt like a bump. When I looked closer, it looked like some kind of bug attached to his neck. I found out that it's a tick; at least, that's what I was told it was when I spoke to someone about it. I'm not comfortable with the idea of using tweezers, or using a hot needle to burn the tick with; with my luck, I'll get everything out but the head. I went and bought some flea & tick spray. I fell into conversation with someone at checkout who told me that, if the tick dies while it's head is still in the dog, it can still give the dog lyme disease or some other kind of disease. That got me paranoid all over again. The bottle says that if I find a tick on the dog, to spray the tick directly. I called the toll-free number, and was assured by the person on the other end that nothing will happen to the dog if I kill the tick with their spray. But since this was the person who was representing the Hartz product, I wasn't sure about the answer. I called 3 different vets out of town; the first lady took down my information and told me that the vet would give a call when she was back. The second 2 that answered didn't call the doctor, but both told me that the tick could still do damage if it dies while its head is still in the dog. When I asked if I should just not use the spray, I was told that it was at my discretion ... wtf? The first vet that I called contacted me back before the end of the day and left a message, since I wasn't at home. She said that I should watch the dog closely for infection (any redness around the area) if I was gonna use the spray. When I got the message it was close to closing time. I called back, and the girl who answered left for a minute and came back with the same message. I asked her directly, 'so is it alright to use the spray'? All she said was, 'I guess so'. Is there anybody out there who has had first-hand experience with killing these blood-sucking vampires off of their dog? Can you tell me if it's safe to do it with flea & tick spray, or do I have to get a way out of town to his vet for the vet to remove it? PS: I've read that the symptoms of lyme disease is paralysis, lethargy and loss of appetite ... he hasn't displayed any of that. He still jumps out at me whenever I go outside, and he has a very healthy appetite. His eyes are normal, and he's still very alert and on-the-watch for intruders. I don't know how long the tick has been on him, but it's seemed to have turned white. Do ticks die while still on their host ... or do they suck their blood forever?

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