Lyme Disease In Dogs 

Lyme disease in dogs is transferred from a tick called Borrelia burgdorferi, which has a coiled or a corkscrew shape when observed under the microscope. This is a type of deer tick, and in order for this tick to infect the dog, the tick has to be attached to the dog for an entire 48 hours. That means that dogs that live in the northeastern area as well as the Mid-Atlantic States in the United States are more prone to getting this disease due to the natural habitation of deer in those areas. These states also include New York, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. It also includes all the coastal states from North Carolina to Maine. But of course, this is not limited to dogs that live there, as even just a short visit can make your dog susceptible to deer ticks.

There are many different symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs, and you need to look out for them especially if you have just come from any of the place mentioned, or has been in an area where there are many deer in the habitat. Some of the most common symptoms of Lyme disease are a high fever, swollen lymph nodes, suddenly experiencing lameness or difficulty in walking, a sudden loss of appetite, inflamed joints, as well as unnatural lethargy. These symptoms should point you towards making sure that you bring your dog to the vet so as to find out whether or not he is experiencing these symptoms because of Lyme disease in dogs.

Treatment Options

Thankfully, there are many different treatments for Lyme disease in dogs. If the veterinarian diagnoses your dog with Lyme disease, he will start right away with any of the following treatments: antimicrobial therapy or antibiotic therapy. Antimicrobial therapy will include the removal of any and all microbes that are found in the dogs body, and this should show results in as little as 48 hours. However, this may not be allowable for all dogs. The antibiotic therapy is done through oral medication that is fed to the dog every 12-24 hours. This oral medication is lipid soluble and is a lot cheaper than antimicrobial therapy, but this can only be given to full-grown adult dogs and not puppies. There are also other kinds of antibiotics that are usually used to treat Lyme disease in dogs, and they have proven to have a very high success rate.

If you are reading this and you do believe that your dog is indeed suffering from Lyme disease, there is no need to worry. The percentage of success amongst dogs getting over Lyme disease is very high, so it is not necessarily fatal. What you do need to do is to make sure that your dog gets the right treatment right away. Even though the disease is not essentially fatal, given enough time that tick can do enough damage to your dog that it would make it very hard for them to recover, especially in older weaker dogs. If you want to make sure that your best friend stays tick free, make sure to check them after each trip they take, especially if the trip was to a place with lots of different type of wildlife.