Lyme Disease in dogs

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection which is spread by ticks. The Lyme disease-causing bacteria, known as borrelia, enter the dog’s bloodstream via the tick's saliva. It takes around 24 hours after the tick bite for the infection to take hold, so swiftly removing the tick can prevent an infection.

Depending on how strong their immune systems are, 5-10% of all dogs infected with borrelia show symptoms. If the dog is physically fit, the dog’s immune defences are usually able to fight off an infection fully.

The disease is named after the small American town of Lyme, where it was discovered.

Causes and symptoms of Lyme Disease

Ticks are known to spread many diseases, although Lyme disease is certainly the best known of those infections. As for the ticks themselves, they usually become infected with borrelia from wild animals and then pass them on with their bites.

Once the dog has become infected, the borrelia may remain inactive at the bite site or activate immediately in order to enter other areas of tissue or the joints, where they cause symptoms. Typical symptoms include general exhaustion, fever and chronic joint inflammation. As borrelia can be activated at different times, it is often difficult to link symptoms to a tick bite, as the symptoms can appear several months after such a bite.

Inactive borrelia in the dog’s body may be activated during times of particular stress. This means that stress, other infections or a weakened immune system may trigger Lyme disease symptoms.

Classic symptoms of Lyme disease are:

Fever
Exhaustion
Loss of appetite
Swollen joints
Various types of lameness without an obvious cause
Swelling of the lymph nodes
Kidney infections

A classic sign of Lyme disease is when a dog begins, seemingly without reason, to limp on one leg and then on another. For this reason, dog owners should always take note if their dog has been bitten by a tick and then inexplicably starts to suffer from lameness on different legs. Four-legged friends who aren’t eating well, who aren’t digesting their food as well as they normally would and have bouts of fever may also be suffering from Lyme disease.

As the symptoms can vary widely and a tick bite may not always be noticed, Lyme disease is often a so-called diagnosis of exclusion, which comes into focus when other causes are ruled out.

Diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease

The method of choice for proving an infection is an antibody test. However, a positive result does not mean that the animal actually has symptoms of the disease. Almost all dogs have antibodies in their blood. For this reason, acute symptoms may also have other causes, especially as they are very general in nature. Symptoms may include fever, listlessness, refusing food, swollen lymph nodes, lameness and kidney infections. In very rare cases, there may be redness at the site of the tick bite on the dog, and this redness may move to other areas of the skin.

The medicine of choice against Lyme disease is high-dosage antibiotics administered over a minimum of four weeks. This treatment brings about rapid and - especially in the early phases - sustained improvements. Furthermore, the symptoms are treated. Dogs suffering from severe lameness are also treated with painkillers, while those with kidney infections are given an adjusted diet, anti-inflammatories and drips.

Once an animal has been infected once, it is unfortunately possible for new bouts of illness to occur again and again, as the pathogen is very resistant and can also “hide” deceptively in the dog’s body.

In this way, the borrelia bacteria can shut themselves off within the affected tissue, where it is difficult or impossible for antibiotics to reach them, and where they can cause a new bout if they are reactivated.

Joint inflammation caused by borrelia can become chronic, thus constituting a permanent burden to the dog. Chronic, recurrent kidney infections can also come about as a delayed effect of Lyme disease. In this case, the animal must be treated for symptoms permanently, but it will not be possible for the root cause to be cured - only for the symptoms to be relieved.

The earlier Lyme disease is diagnosed, the better the prognosis is. The exceptions to this are kidney infections which have been caused by borrelia. In this case, it is always to be assumed that any prognosis will be given with caution.

Is Lyme disease in dogs catching?

If a dog is infected, then neither other dogs nor the dog’s human can catch the infection from them. The bacteria are transferred only from the tick to the dog. Infected ticks can also transfer Lyme disease to humans.

Preventing Lyme disease

The best weapon we have against Lyme disease is good prevention, which primarily consists of keeping ticks away from your dog in the first place. For this, you should use veterinary items such as Spot On, collars and tablets. Alternative, natural therapies or items bought via the internet/over the counter are not usually effective and do not provide reliable protection. And even if your dog is protected, make sure that you inspect your dog thoroughly after walks in natural areas, and always remove the parasites with a pair of specialised tick removal pliers. If the tick is removed by hand, its body may be squashed, as a result of which the contents of the body - along with the pathogens - are emptied into the dog’s blood. The tick’s head is often left behind in the dog’s skin and this will also cause a localised infection. The wound needs to be disinfected afterwards. A vaccine against Lyme disease does exist, however it is the subject of great controversy among veterinarians. One issue, among others, is that dogs who have become infected unbeknownst to their owners may develop life-threatening kidney problems following a vaccination. Make sure you speak to your vet in order to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of a vaccination in your dog’s individual case.

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