Lyme Disease in Dogs

On this page we will provide you with information on diagnosis and treatment of lyme disease in dogs and perhaps more importantly exactly what dog lyme disease symptoms are. This medical condition is also frequently referred to as canine lyme disease and is also closely linked to canine arthritis as we will go on to explain.

Ticks are a regular problem for not only dogs themselves but dog owners who have to treat them. However lyme disease ticks present a whole new problem.

What is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease is a vector-borne bacterial disease found primarily in North America and Europe. A vector-borne disease is an infection that is transmitted by the bite of creatures such as mosquitoes, flies and ticks, a prime examples being Malaria via the bite of mosquitoes and lyme disease via the bite of lyme ticks.

Infected ticks attach themselves to the skin of your dog by biting them and the result is the bacteria getting into their bloodstream and this is what causes lyme disease in dogs.

The bacteria in question is called Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted only by ticks that are already be infected. Lyme ticks just like any ticks are tiny, spideresque creatures found in woodland, moorland, heathland and other grassy areas and they love to feed on the blood of birds and mammals. By feeding on something infected with the Lyme disease bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, they too become infected and when they then go on to bite and feed on something else they subsequently pass on the infection, and this is all too often to man's best friend!

As the size of these ticks are generally very small it will be unlikely that you notice that they have attached themselves to your dog and even if you eventually do it will in most cases be too late because it only takes two days of them being attached for canine lyme disease to be effectively transmitted. Once infected typically it will take up to 4 weeks for your do to display dog lyme disease symptoms.

There are three different types of tick currently recognised as causing lyme disease in dogs with the most frequent culprit being Deer Ticks which are also known as black legged ticks.

Dog Lyme disease symptoms

Much like the symptoms of lyme disease in humans dog lyme disease symptoms can very easily be mistaken for those of many other illnesses. The signature symptoms are your dog developing a limp along with a fever and also swollen lymph nodes on the effected limb. Lymph nodes are components of the immune system which show up as small balls all over the body when it becomes ill or infected.

The limp will be for no apparent reason as there will not be any cuts or bruises on display which would provide cause for why the dog is unable to walk properly.

It may be that the lyme disease in dogs is only making your dog feel slightly uncomfortable for a few days but what this will actually lead to is further intense pains in the animal's joints and eventual immobility due to the pain.

As previously mentioned dog lyme disease symptoms can quite easily be mistaken for many other illnesses which cause swelling of the lymph nodes and a fever. It is vital to remember whether your dog as been exposed to any of the areas where it is known that it may pick up ticks, as previously mentioned these areas are woodland, moorland, heathland and other grassy areas.

The sooner that you recognise that the symptoms that your dog is displaying are those of canine lyme disease the better because without a quick diagnosis and treatment it could lead to your dog suffering from more serious illness such as canine arthritis and both heart and neurological problems.

On discovering that dog lyme disease symptoms are present then it is time to call on the pet insurance plan or dig deep into your pockets because your dog will need to take a visit to the vets. As with human lyme disease a blood test will be taken to ascertain whether or not it is actually lyme disease in dogs that your pet is suffering from.

There is a problem that is faced here and that is that the blood test may not provide a definitive diagnosis which can obviously make things even more complicated if you are unaware of what lyme disease is and are just taking the dog to the vet with no idea about what the symptoms could be for. This is why it is so important to remember or not where your dog has been, for example where you have taken them for walks. If it is possible that your dog could have picked up a tick in one of the areas we have mentioned above then even without a definitive blood test diagnosis the vet will be able to make an educated assumption and then provide the appropriate treatment for lyme disease in dogs.