Lyme Disease and Your Dog

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection. It's been around for a long time but made headlines back in the 1980's when there was an eruption of the disease in a Connecticut town called Lyme. The bacteria is carried by a common deer tick. It's passed by a bite. Both people and pets can be infected, tho the disease will manifest differently.
For humans the vast majority of those bitten by an infected tick will experience flu type symptoms fairly quickly. Some will develop joint pain and later arthritis. A small minority will go on to develop neurological problems and a small minority will develop a heart rhythm problem. So there are some serious long-term problems for infected people.

For dogs, it takes weeks to months to first show symptoms. Most infected dogs - as many as 90% - will NOT become symptomatic. Those that do may experience arthritis type joint pain and inflammation and sometimes fever. Heart and neurological symptoms are rare. Long term however, dogs can develop kidney damage.

Dogs don't transmit the bacteria to humans (or cats), tho they may bring infected ticks into the house... who then go on to bite and infect household people.

Detection and Treatment:

Lyme disease can be detected with a blood test. It responds well to antibiotics so if detected reasonably quickly, the arthritis symptoms may reverse and you'll likely avoid the longer term problem of kidney damage.

Prevention and Vaccination:

Lyme disease is very regional. 90% of all confirmed cases have come from the North-East and North-Central States in the US. More specifically for human cases: 85% in the States from Massachusetts through Virgina, 10% from Minnesota through Wisconsin, 4% from North-Western California and 1% from elsewhere.

Since a common deer tick is the carrier, wooded, deer-populated areas pose the risk. In those areas you naturally want to be very vigilant about ticks.
                     
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There are 3 types of vaccines. They can only be effective for dogs that haven't been already exposed to the bacteria and there is some possibility that they may cause the disease for a minority of dogs receiving the vaccine. The type of vaccine believed to be most effective is a recombinant vaccine that blocks the bacteria from passing to the dog from the tick. A different type of vaccine used a killed version of the bacteria. It's possible this type of vaccine produces the disease in a small number of dogs.

Vaccines for dogs are not without risk. Know enough about the risks and benefits of vaccines to feel comfortable deciding how to best care for your companion. Keep them healthy, happy and in your life. Get more vaccine and nutrition guidelines for well cared for pets at DogAndCatZone.com


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