Fox Focus: Lyme Disease in Dogs

by Dr. Steve Levy

Lyme disease, named after the Connecticut town where it was discovered, poses serious health risks to humans.  If not properly diagnosed and treated, the disease can ultimately cause serious neurological problems for those people who become afflicted.  But humans aren’t the only members of our society who are at risk for infection.  Our four-legged canine best friends as well as other companion animals can become infected.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium called a spirochete and is transmitted to man and animals by the bite of the deer tick.  These small blood-sucking parasites are active in Connecticut for most of the year with the risk of tick bite and infection reaching its highest point in the spring and fall.  Ticks hide in the grass, brush, bushes, along trails and road sides.  Ticks get onto our dogs when they rub against the vegetation where the ticks are hiding when they walk in these areas.

Humans suffering from Lyme disease may have a red rash and may develop Lyme arthritis or neurologic signs like facial paralysis.  In dogs, infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease bacterium, is most often associated with canine Lyme arthritis.  But severe and often untreatable kidney failure can also occur.

Signs of Lyme arthritis in dogs include: lameness, reluctance to move, swollen joints, poor appetite and fever.  Dogs with kidney failure from Lyme disease are very ill and are physically depressed, have poor or no appetite, drink a lot of water, urinate excessively, and often vomit.

When a dog acts like he or she may be ill, it is up to the owner to seek attention from a veterinarian.  The veterinarian will then make a diagnosis based on the symptoms the dog displays and results of a rapid test that can be run to determine if the dog is infected with the Lyme organism.

Lyme arthritis in dogs is generally treated successfully with antibiotic drugs like amoxicillin, penicillin, or doxycycline.

Read more on the Fox Memorial Clinic web site.

About Fox Focus

The goal of the Fox Memorial Clinic is to provide quality veterinary care to pets at affordable rates. Quality service includes providing pet owners with the knowledge to become the most responsible pet caretakers possible.

To attain the goal of creating a community of responsible pet owners, Fox Memorial Clinic spotlights Pet Health related topics on a monthly basis in Fox Focus.

This column is featured in the Connecticut Humane Society’s e-newsletter, Petcetera.