A good-quality flea and tick prevention is paramount in the prevention of the disease. Your first step in preventing your pet from getting lyme disease is to prevent the tick from spreading the disease to your pet. However, if unsuccessful, the organism can cause lifelong disease and permanent damage to your dog’s body and lead to a recurrence of symptoms. Treatment consists of a four-week course of antibiotics to clear the organism. Lyme disease is treatable, but the organism can be difficult to fully eliminate from the dog’s body. Additional diagnostic testing, such as a urine sample and additional bloodwork, may be necessary to help diagnose the disease. In house laboratory tests such as the 4dx will help screen for lyme disease even if your pet is not showing any clinical signs. Your pet may start showing symptoms 2 to 5 months after the tick has transmitted the bacterial disease. Your pet may have an increase in thirst, an increase in urination, lethargy, and stiffness. In some cases the infection may cause a fever, joint swelling, kidney damage and neurological issues. The most common symptom of lyme disease in dogs is lameness. It is spread mainly through the bite of a deer tick. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can affect humans, mammals, and birds. Unfortunately, all three diseases have been diagnosed in patients in our hospital just this year. Here at Prairie View Animal Hospital we use the 4dx test to screen our dogs annually for an immune respose to three common tick-bourne diseases, lyme, ehrlichia, and anaplasma. ![]() Not only can ticks be shocking and disturbing to find feeding on your pet, but they can also pass serious diseases. Many people think that ticks can only affect humans, but, in fact, dogs are more commonly used as a host than humans.
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