Named after Lyme, Conn., where the condition was first recognized, Lyme disease is a well-known, tick-borne disease in people that can also cause joint pain and flu-like symptoms in dogs. The spirochete bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi causes the disease.
Risk factors and detection
Ticks of the genus Ixodes spread Lyme disease. The ticks live throughout the country, but most cases of Lyme disease occur in the Northeast, upper Midwest, northern California, and the Pacific Northwest. An infected tick transmits the bacteria while feeding on an unsuspecting dog, so the disease is most prevalent in the summer, when ticks are feeding. The tick must be attached for several hours to transmit the disease.
The most common symptom of Lyme disease is sudden lameness. Lameness often occurs in more than one leg and is a reaction to swelling and pain in multiple joints. Other symptoms include fever, lethargy, appetite loss, and swollen lymph nodes. These symptoms often improve in a few days, only to return later. In rare cases, Lyme disease leads to heart problems, kidney disease, or neurologic problems.
Take your dog to the veterinarian if you notice any of these symptoms. And let the doctor know if you removed any ticks from your dog recently. Other diseases have similar symptoms, so the doctor may use blood tests, X-rays, or joint fluid analysis to distinguish between them. Blood tests will indicate whether a dog was exposed to Lyme disease. However, dogs may not test positive until a few weeks after exposure. Dogs vaccinated against Lyme disease and those living in areas where the disease is present may test false-positive.
The doctor will diagnose Lyme disease based on the results of blood tests, a history of exposure to ticks, the dog's symptoms, and whether he responds quickly to antibiotic therapy.
Prevention and treatment
You can prevent Lyme disease with some common sense strategies. Ask your veterinarian to recommend effective products that repel and kill ticks, including tick collars and monthly flea and tick preventives. Check your dog daily for ticks during the tick season, which is spring through fall, especially if he plays in wooded areas or tall grass.
To remove a tick from your dog, use tweezers to grasp the tick and gently pull. If the tick's head is buried in the skin, apply rubbing alcohol or tick spray (for dogs) to the tick with a cotton swab. The tick should back out within a minute, and you can use tweezers to remove it. Place the tick in a container of rubbing alcohol or flea and tick spray, and dispose of it. Don't crush the tick with your hands, since contact with the blood can cause disease. If the head of the tick remains in the skin, it can cause mild inflammation that should improve in a few days. Don't use hot matches to remove ticks.
Talk to your veterinarian about whether you should vaccinate your dog against Lyme disease. Though vaccines aren't totally effective in preventing disease, they may reduce the symptoms' severity.
The antibiotics used to treat Lyme disease include erythromycin,
tetracycline, doxycycline, and amoxicillin. Treatment lasts for two to four
weeks, but improvement usually occurs within three days.
Prognosis
The disease may recur sporadically, requiring additional antibiotic treatment. Inflammatory changes that occur in the joints of infected dogs may cause chronic joint problems.
