Learn to treat and prevent this illness caused by a deer tick.
Are you wondering, ‘Can dogs get Lyme disease?’ The answer is yes—definitely! If you’re worried that your dog may have Lyme disease, know that it is one of the more common dog health problems in many areas of the United States and other countries. Before you can make a diagnosis and research treatment, you’ll need to learn what Lyme disease symptoms look like. From the causes and symptoms of Lyme disease to preventing it, use the following information to care for your sick pup.
What is Lyme disease?
Before we discuss treatment for Lyme disease in dogs, let’s first explain what the disease is, in hopes that we can start preventing our dogs from getting it. Lyme disease, also known as Borreliosis, is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called a spirochete. Another well-known spirochete is Treponema pallidum, which causes syphilis. The Borrelia spirochete is transmitted to dogs, humans, rodents, horses, and other mammals by a deer tick (Ixodes species).
A Lyme tick is the carrier for Lyme disease in Europe, Asia, and the Southeast, Midwest, Northeast, and Pacific regions of North America. Lyme disease got its name from Lyme, Connecticut, where an outbreak of juvenile arthritis in 1975 was eventually attributed to the tick-borne spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Since then, the deer tick has infested dogs in Europe and Asia. If you live in areas where a deer tick can infect your dog, take precautions. There is an antibiotic for dogs, but have your dog checked by a vet before administering any treatment.
Where is Lyme disease most common?
In the U.S., more than 90% of Lyme disease cases are found where the deer tick is prevalent: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. If you live in these locations or are about to travel to areas where a deer tick can reach your dog, watch for the symptoms of Lyme disease and treat accordingly.
Sponsored Link
For a healthier pet, check out Veterinary Secrets Revealed! |
Deer ticks can be found in cool, moist environments. Common areas where a deer tick carrying Borrelia burgdorferi may live include tall grass around the edge of yards, wooded areas, woodpiles, or roadsides. Since dogs can easily access these locations, it is no wonder Lyme disease is a common dog illness. Deer ticks are active any time of year when the temperature is above 40 degrees, and most active in spring and summer. This is when people most often seek Lyme disease treatment for dogs.
What are the symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs?
Once the deer tick is on your dog, you may start to see symptoms. Lyme disease symptoms in dogs may look like sudden joint pain, a change in gait, or other nervous system manifestations such as paralysis, seizures, tremors, fever, confusion, abnormal movements, difficulty manipulating objects, fatigue, lethargy, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, behavioral disruption like anger or bizarre responses, poor balance, Bell’s palsy, and optic neuritis. Because there are many symptoms, diagnosing and treating Lyme disease can be difficult.
Lyme disease causes many canine health issues. Common symptoms include an inflammatory reaction that can affect the joints, skin, and nervous system. The most characteristic Lyme disease symptom in humans is a target-shaped rash called erythema migrans, but this has never been recorded in dogs with Lyme disease. According to Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt, head of veterinary medicine at the University of Virginia, ‘The major symptom is a dog that’s lame for no obvious reason, such as trauma, degenerative joint disease, or old age. Other common symptoms are fever and enlarged lymph nodes.’ He points out that dogs can be exposed long before any of these symptoms show up: ‘Because we know dogs can be infected with Borrelia in Lyme-endemic areas and not develop clinical symptoms for two or three years, it’s important to get a travel history of the dog.’ This is especially important for dogs that have visited or lived in endemic areas like New York State, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and central to northern California, where deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus) carry Borrelia burgdorferi.
In dogs, acute or subacute joint pain is a common early Lyme disease symptom. In some breeds, mainly Labradors and Golden Retrievers, early symptoms can manifest as a fatal kidney disease with signs of generalized edema.
It is often difficult to spot symptoms and know whether treatment is required. ‘In certain regions of the U.S., Borrelia is transmitted very commonly to dogs, but the vast majority of dogs that become infected don’t develop signs. Textbooks estimate that about 10% of infected dogs develop signs, and very few exhibit serious effects such as myocarditis (infection of the heart muscle). One problem for veterinarians in endemic areas is determining whether a dog really has Lyme disease, because many dogs walk in with antibodies from a vaccine or previous exposure that show up as positive on a PCR test.’
Your dog may be displaying signs of other illnesses, so contact your vet for a diagnosis. If your vet confirms that ticks and Lyme disease have affected your dog, he or she may prescribe an antibiotic.
What are the Lyme disease treatment options?
An antibiotic is usually used to treat Lyme disease in dogs. A four-week course of doxycycline, tetracycline, or rifampin is the main treatment. Symptoms usually subside after the antibiotic is given; however, this is not always the case with Lyme nephritis, a rare but fatal kidney condition that occurs most commonly in Labradors and Golden Retrievers.
As Dr. Breitschwerdt points out, ‘Borrelia doesn’t spend a lot of time in the bloodstream, so it’s hard to get an accurate lab result; it hides out in the subcutaneous tissues and then localizes in the joints. So even though limping stops after a course of antibiotic treatment, the Borrelia is still there.’ It’s important to note that even if you give an antibiotic, it may not treat the Lyme disease. Treatment for dogs doesn’t always work. He continues: ‘This was shown to be the case in experimental studies where dogs were intentionally infected with Lyme disease. Though PCR tests came back negative, fluid cultured from the infected joint came back positive. After the dogs were treated and all signs of Lyme disease resolved, they were later given immunosuppressive treatment and the infection was reactivated. This shows how Borrelia can remain in the body in a metabolically inactive form until the dog is exposed to a lot of stress or given immunosuppressive treatment (corticosteroids), which leads to reactivation.’ So although you may give your dog an antibiotic, know that Lyme disease may return.
Therefore, using an antibiotic is not indicated in high-exposure areas because many dogs that test positive may not have symptoms or signs of Lyme disease, and those who are infected may not test positive. Dogs treated with an antibiotic continue to show high levels of active antibodies to Borrelia long after treatment has been administered and signs have resolved, which can make it harder to tell whether Lyme disease is the cause of current symptoms. With all these factors, you may want to verify that your dog actually has the illness before giving treatment for Lyme disease.
How can I be sure that my dog has Lyme disease?
Verify with your vet that Lyme disease is in your dog’s prognosis before giving an antibiotic or other medications. Lab testing of blood and urine for Lyme disease in dogs can be expensive and unreliable. In fact, when it comes to lab testing, it is sometimes a toss-up, and it is often positive because it tests for antibodies against Lyme in dogs and the surface antigen OspA, which will show up positive if your dog has been immunized for Lyme disease. Another test, called an ELISA test, can be inconclusive or show a false positive. A Western Blot is a confirmatory test for Lyme disease in your dog, but it can be cost-prohibitive. In the end, the most accurate way to diagnose Lyme in dogs is a DNA-positive test of the fluid around the infected joint.
The other reason it is difficult to get a definitive lab result is the occult nature of Borrelia burgdorferi, a spirochete (spiral-shaped bacterium) that hides inside cells.
Diagnosing Lyme disease in dogs as the cause of canine health problems such as sudden acute or subacute arthritis is often a process of first ruling out other possible conditions like cellulitis, inflammatory joint disease, old age, and trauma. Because intracellular bacteria cause canine Lyme disease, it is very important to have a blood test sent to a laboratory that can give more definitive results before administering an antibiotic. According to the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), the top three general medical laboratories in the U.S. fail to detect 35% of Lyme antibodies. A negative blood test cannot guarantee that Borreliosis is not present, because the pathogen can hide within and between cells. Thus, if the results are equivocal and all other conditions have been ruled out, it’s best to assume these may be symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs and look into treatment.
If you still have questions about whether this is Lyme disease, there’s another test. The most definitive test, according to Dr. Breitschwerdt, is called a SNAP test from IDEXX Laboratories. It uses an ELISA technique to detect heartworm disease, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and the C6 peptide of Borrelia (the latter three diseases are transmitted by a tick), with nearly 100% sensitivity and specificity. IgeneX and Medical Diagnostic Labs offer Western Blot testing to see if there is Lyme disease in your dog. If the vet runs this test and finds Lyme disease, she will most likely offer an antibiotic to help heal your dog.
Preventing Lyme Disease
Providing successful dog care means knowing how to prevent diseases before they strike. Rather than treat Lyme disease in your dog, why not prevent your dog from getting Borrelia burgdorferi first? If you live in an area where Lyme disease is a common concern, a few standard preventive measures can drastically reduce your dog’s chance of infection. Plus, you won’t have to worry about giving your dog an antibiotic. It’s notable that though Lyme disease is commonly transmitted in these endemic areas of the U.S., only around 10% of dogs show signs. So, while it’s important to know the symptoms and treatment for Lyme disease, it’s best to try to avoid the illness before it strikes by following these preventive measures:
- Prevent your dog from playing in woodpiles or fallen logs, and walk in the center of trails to avoid deer ticks.
- Use a dog collar impregnated with Amitraz or Permethrin. But remember that Amitraz is toxic to horses, and Permethrin is fatal to cats. Permethrin has been associated with Alzheimer’s disease in animal studies and has been graded as a likely human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
- Vaccinate your dog for Lyme disease. The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) recommends two doses at 2–4 week intervals, then annual boosters for dogs living in areas where the deer tick is most prevalent. Puppies can be given their first shot at 9 or 12 weeks of age. If you have questions about whether your puppy can get the vaccine, ask your vet.
- Thoroughly check your dog, and yourself, for ticks immediately after each potential exposure. If a tick attaches for 48 hours or more, Borrelia bacteria can be transmitted from the tick into the host’s bloodstream.
- Another option is to remove the deer tick with tweezers (instead of heat or alcohol) so you don’t agitate the tick and cause it to regurgitate bacteria into the bloodstream before it is removed. Grasp the tick close to the skin where the feeding apparatus is to increase your chances of removing the infective parts. Immature deer ticks, called nymphs, are as small as poppy seeds and cause most Lyme infections, so you’ll need a magnifying glass and tweezers.
Can I get Lyme disease from my infected dog?
In addition to worrying about Lyme disease in dogs and treatment options, you may also be scared that you or other family members could get Lyme disease. Currently, there is no definitive evidence that Lyme disease can be transmitted from dogs to humans or vice versa. However, if your dog shows symptoms of Lyme disease or has been diagnosed with Lyme, it would be prudent to test other household members too, since the deer tick transmits other infectious bugs like Bartonella (intracellular bacteria) and Babesia (a protozoan), which are readily transmitted to humans from dogs, cats, rodents, and even fleas. In addition to talking with your vet about symptoms and treatment, consult your own doctor. Even if you’ve already administered an antibiotic or other treatment for your dog, you could still be at risk. If you’re worried that you have a dog with Lyme disease, contact your doctor to get tested.
Is there a Lyme disease cure?
In addition to knowing the symptoms and treatment for Lyme disease, you may wonder if there is a cure. Recently, there has been evidence that Lyme disease can become a chronic progressive disease in humans. In experimental settings, dogs infected with Borrelia were found to still carry the spirochete even after all symptoms of Lyme disease were resolved and an antibiotic was administered. Though signs and symptoms like limping and lethargy usually resolve after a course of antibiotic treatment, there is clinical evidence that once infected with Borrelia, the infection can be reactivated after exposure to high levels of stress or immunosuppressive treatment (corticosteroids). In this sense, an antibiotic does not eradicate Borrelia, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, even though it does resolve symptoms.
Now you know how to treat Lyme disease if your dog gets infected. If you’re worried about Lyme disease in your dog, take your pup in to get tested. This dog illness can seriously affect your pooch, so it’s best to act immediately and see if you can get an antibiotic for your dog and help your furry friend recover.
Symptoms and Treatment for Lyme Disease in Dogs
Learn to treat and prevent this illness caused by a deer tick.
Are you wondering, ‘Can dogs get Lyme disease?’ The answer is yes—definitely! If you’re worried that your dog may have Lyme disease, know that it is one of the more common dog health problems in many areas of the United States and other countries. Before you can make a diagnosis and research treatment, you’ll need to learn what Lyme disease symptoms look like. From the causes and symptoms of Lyme disease to preventing it, use the following information to care for your sick pup.
What is Lyme disease?
Before we discuss treatment for Lyme disease in dogs, let’s first explain what the disease is, in hopes that we can start preventing our dogs from getting it. Lyme disease, also known as Borreliosis, is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called a spirochete. Another well-known spirochete is Treponema pallidum, which causes syphilis. The Borrelia spirochete is transmitted to dogs, humans, rodents, horses, and other mammals by a deer tick (Ixodes species). A Lyme tick is the carrier for Lyme disease in Europe, Asia, and the Southeast, Midwest, Northeast, and Pacific regions of North America. Lyme disease got its name from Lyme, Connecticut, where an outbreak of juvenile arthritis in 1975 was eventually attributed to the tick-borne spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Since then, the deer tick has infested dogs in Europe and Asia. If you live in areas where a deer tick can infect your dog, take precautions. There is an antibiotic for dogs, but have your dog checked by a vet before administering any treatment.
Where is Lyme disease most common?
In the U.S., more than 90% of Lyme disease cases are found where the deer tick is prevalent: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. If you live in these locations or are about to travel to areas where a deer tick can reach your dog, watch for the symptoms of Lyme disease and treat accordingly.
Sponsored Link
For a healthier pet, check out Veterinary Secrets Revealed! |
Deer ticks can be found in cool, moist environments. Common areas where a deer tick carrying Borrelia burgdorferi may live include tall grass around the edge of yards, wooded areas, woodpiles, or roadsides. Since dogs can easily access these locations, it is no wonder Lyme disease is a common dog illness. Deer ticks are active any time of year when the temperature is above 40 degrees, and most active in spring and summer. This is when people most often seek Lyme disease treatment for dogs.
What are the symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs?
Once the deer tick is on your dog, you may start to see symptoms. Lyme disease symptoms in dogs may look like sudden joint pain, a change in gait, or other nervous system manifestations such as paralysis, seizures, tremors, fever, confusion, abnormal movements, difficulty manipulating objects, fatigue, lethargy, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, behavioral disruption like anger or bizarre responses, poor balance, Bell’s palsy, and optic neuritis. Because there are many symptoms, diagnosing and treating Lyme disease can be difficult.
Lyme disease causes many canine health issues. Common symptoms include an inflammatory reaction that can affect the joints, skin, and nervous system. The most characteristic Lyme disease symptom in humans is a target-shaped rash called erythema migrans, but this has never been recorded in dogs with Lyme disease. According to Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt, head of veterinary medicine at the University of Virginia, ‘The major symptom is a dog that’s lame for no obvious reason, such as trauma, degenerative joint disease, or old age. Other common symptoms are fever and enlarged lymph nodes.’ He points out that dogs can be exposed long before any of these symptoms show up: ‘Because we know dogs can be infected with Borrelia in Lyme-endemic areas and not develop clinical symptoms for two or three years, it’s important to get a travel history of the dog.’ This is especially important for dogs that have visited or lived in endemic areas like New York State, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and central to northern California, where deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus) carry Borrelia burgdorferi.
In dogs, acute or subacute joint pain is a common early Lyme disease symptom. In some breeds, mainly Labradors and Golden Retrievers, early symptoms can manifest as a fatal kidney disease with signs of generalized edema.
It is often difficult to spot symptoms and know whether treatment is required. ‘In certain regions of the U.S., Borrelia is transmitted very commonly to dogs, but the vast majority of dogs that become infected don’t develop signs. Textbooks estimate that about 10% of infected dogs develop signs, and very few exhibit serious effects such as myocarditis (infection of the heart muscle). One problem for veterinarians in endemic areas is determining whether a dog really has Lyme disease, because many dogs walk in with antibodies from a vaccine or previous exposure that show up as positive on a PCR test.’
Your dog may be displaying signs of other illnesses, so contact your vet for a diagnosis. If your vet confirms that ticks and Lyme disease have affected your dog, he or she may prescribe an antibiotic.
What are the Lyme disease treatment options?
An antibiotic is usually used to treat Lyme disease in dogs. A four-week course of doxycycline, tetracycline, or rifampin is the main treatment. Symptoms usually subside after the antibiotic is given; however, this is not always the case with Lyme nephritis, a rare but fatal kidney condition that occurs most commonly in Labradors and Golden Retrievers.
As Dr. Breitschwerdt points out, ‘Borrelia doesn’t spend a lot of time in the bloodstream, so it’s hard to get an accurate lab result; it hides out in the subcutaneous tissues and then localizes in the joints. So even though limping stops after a course of antibiotic treatment, the Borrelia is still there.’ It’s important to note that even if you give an antibiotic, it may not treat the Lyme disease. Treatment for dogs doesn’t always work. He continues: ‘This was shown to be the case in experimental studies where dogs were intentionally infected with Lyme disease. Though PCR tests came back negative, fluid cultured from the infected joint came back positive. After the dogs were treated and all signs of Lyme disease resolved, they were later given immunosuppressive treatment and the infection was reactivated. This shows how Borrelia can remain in the body in a metabolically inactive form until the dog is exposed to a lot of stress or given immunosuppressive treatment (corticosteroids), which leads to reactivation.’ So although you may give your dog an antibiotic, know that Lyme disease may return.
Therefore, using an antibiotic is not indicated in high-exposure areas because many dogs that test positive may not have symptoms or signs of Lyme disease, and those who are infected may not test positive. Dogs treated with an antibiotic continue to show high levels of active antibodies to Borrelia long after treatment has been administered and signs have resolved, which can make it harder to tell whether Lyme disease is the cause of current symptoms. With all these factors, you may want to verify that your dog actually has the illness before giving treatment for Lyme disease.
How can I be sure that my dog has Lyme disease?
Verify with your vet that Lyme disease is in your dog’s prognosis before giving an antibiotic or other medications. Lab testing of blood and urine for Lyme disease in dogs can be expensive and unreliable. In fact, when it comes to lab testing, it is sometimes a toss-up, and it is often positive because it tests for antibodies against Lyme in dogs and the surface antigen OspA, which will show up positive if your dog has been immunized for Lyme disease. Another test, called an ELISA test, can be inconclusive or show a false positive. A Western Blot is a confirmatory test for Lyme disease in your dog, but it can be cost-prohibitive. In the end, the most accurate way to diagnose Lyme in dogs is a DNA-positive test of the fluid around the infected joint.
The other reason it is difficult to get a definitive lab result is the occult nature of Borrelia burgdorferi, a spirochete (spiral-shaped bacterium) that hides inside cells.
Diagnosing Lyme disease in dogs as the cause of canine health problems such as sudden acute or subacute arthritis is often a process of first ruling out other possible conditions like cellulitis, inflammatory joint disease, old age, and trauma. Because intracellular bacteria cause canine Lyme disease, it is very important to have a blood test sent to a laboratory that can give more definitive results before administering an antibiotic. According to the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), the top three general medical laboratories in the U.S. fail to detect 35% of Lyme antibodies. A negative blood test cannot guarantee that Borreliosis is not present, because the pathogen can hide within and between cells. Thus, if the results are equivocal and all other conditions have been ruled out, it’s best to assume these may be symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs and look into treatment.
If you still have questions about whether this is Lyme disease, there’s another test. The most definitive test, according to Dr. Breitschwerdt, is called a SNAP test from IDEXX Laboratories. It uses an ELISA technique to detect heartworm disease, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and the C6 peptide of Borrelia (the latter three diseases are transmitted by a tick), with nearly 100% sensitivity and specificity. IgeneX and Medical Diagnostic Labs offer Western Blot testing to see if there is Lyme disease in your dog. If the vet runs this test and finds Lyme disease, she will most likely offer an antibiotic to help heal your dog.
Preventing Lyme Disease
Providing successful dog care means knowing how to prevent diseases before they strike. Rather than treat Lyme disease in your dog, why not prevent your dog from getting Borrelia burgdorferi first? If you live in an area where Lyme disease is a common concern, a few standard preventive measures can drastically reduce your dog’s chance of infection. Plus, you won’t have to worry about giving your dog an antibiotic. It’s notable that though Lyme disease is commonly transmitted in these endemic areas of the U.S., only around 10% of dogs show signs. So, while it’s important to know the symptoms and treatment for Lyme disease, it’s best to try to avoid the illness before it strikes by following these preventive measures:
- Prevent your dog from playing in woodpiles or fallen logs, and walk in the center of trails to avoid deer ticks.
- Use a dog collar impregnated with Amitraz or Permethrin. But remember that Amitraz is toxic to horses, and Permethrin is fatal to cats. Permethrin has been associated with Alzheimer’s disease in animal studies and has been graded as a likely human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
- Vaccinate your dog for Lyme disease. The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) recommends two doses at 2–4 week intervals, then annual boosters for dogs living in areas where the deer tick is most prevalent. Puppies can be given their first shot at 9 or 12 weeks of age. If you have questions about whether your puppy can get the vaccine, ask your vet.
- Thoroughly check your dog, and yourself, for ticks immediately after each potential exposure. If a tick attaches for 48 hours or more, Borrelia bacteria can be transmitted from the tick into the host’s bloodstream.
- Another option is to remove the deer tick with tweezers (instead of heat or alcohol) so you don’t agitate the tick and cause it to regurgitate bacteria into the bloodstream before it is removed. Grasp the tick close to the skin where the feeding apparatus is to increase your chances of removing the infective parts. Immature deer ticks, called nymphs, are as small as poppy seeds and cause most Lyme infections, so you’ll need a magnifying glass and tweezers.
Can I get Lyme disease from my infected dog?
In addition to worrying about Lyme disease in dogs and treatment options, you may also be scared that you or other family members could get Lyme disease. Currently, there is no definitive evidence that Lyme disease can be transmitted from dogs to humans or vice versa. However, if your dog shows symptoms of Lyme disease or has been diagnosed with Lyme, it would be prudent to test other household members too, since the deer tick transmits other infectious bugs like Bartonella (intracellular bacteria) and Babesia (a protozoan), which are readily transmitted to humans from dogs, cats, rodents, and even fleas. In addition to talking with your vet about symptoms and treatment, consult your own doctor. Even if you’ve already administered an antibiotic or other treatment for your dog, you could still be at risk. If you’re worried that you have a dog with Lyme disease, contact your doctor to get tested.
Is there a Lyme disease cure?
In addition to knowing the symptoms and treatment for Lyme disease, you may wonder if there is a cure. Recently, there has been evidence that Lyme disease can become a chronic progressive disease in humans. In experimental settings, dogs infected with Borrelia were found to still carry the spirochete even after all symptoms of Lyme disease were resolved and an antibiotic was administered. Though signs and symptoms like limping and lethargy usually resolve after a course of antibiotic treatment, there is clinical evidence that once infected with Borrelia, the infection can be reactivated after exposure to high levels of stress or immunosuppressive treatment (corticosteroids). In this sense, an antibiotic does not eradicate Borrelia, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, even though it does resolve symptoms.
Now you know how to treat Lyme disease if your dog gets infected. If you’re worried about Lyme disease in your dog, take your pup in to get tested. This dog illness can seriously affect your pooch, so it’s best to act immediately and see if you can get an antibiotic for your dog and help your furry friend recover.
Symptoms and Treatment for Lyme Disease in Dogs
By Howtodotips
Learn to treat and prevent this illness caused by a deer tick.