Canine Lyme Disease

canine lyme disease




Canine lyme disease symptoms...

Sometimes called lymes by mistake, learn about it's treatment, what it looks like with pictures the first signs and later symptoms of the illness and how your vet will  test for the disease either with alternative or conventional treatments.


A common question we get asked is...is lyme disease contagious? and what causes it...firstly no it isn't contagious and a common cause is the dreaded deer tick bite.

Canine Lyme Disease

canine lyme disease


Sometimes but not always humans will get a bullseye rash when infected with lyme disease, as you can see in the pictures above. Below are some of the first and later symptoms of this disease.

Symptoms & Signs

  • Fever.
  • Lameness.
  • Anorexia.
  • Inflammatory joint disease.
  • Myocarditis.
  • Lymphadenopathy.
  • Glomerulonephritis.

It is important to mention that without treatment the disease can cause many problems in your dog's body, including problems around the heart, kidneys and also in your dog's joints.

What Causes Lyme Disease...?
  • This disease is caused by an infection from deer tick bites. For the infection to be transmitted the tick needs to have been on your dog for 24 hours.
  • The disease is transmitted by the deer tick, which is carrying the bacteria known as Borrelia Burgdorferi, which is then transmitted to your dog through the blood stream.
Diagnosis Test & Treatment.
  • Your dog's vet will need to do a test on your dog to see if it has been exposed to the Borrelia Burgdorferi bacteria.
  • If your dog has already been vaccinated against the disease another test will need to determine and differentiate between the vaccine and the bacteria.
  • Vaccines are available to prevent your dog from contracting the disease but this vaccine is still considered controversial by some people.
  • Antibiotics may also be prescribed by your dog's vet including doxycycline, these maybe used for 3 weeks
We would like to say thanks to Jim wilson from www.canlyme.com for the use of the bullseye tick bite rash picture .



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