I was reading Deja's story about her dog and I realize that I had no idea what
lyme disease is, so I thought I'd look it up for myself and anyone else who might not know.
This came from
ThePetCenter.com and there's a ton more info there if you want it.
Lyme Disease in Dogs
Transmitted through the bite of a tick, Borrelia burgdorferi is the scientific name of the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease. These microscopic bacteria are a type called spirochete... they have a coiled or cork-screw appearance under the microscope. The disease is actually named after the town in Connecticut where an early outbreak was first described... Lyme, Connecticut. (Remember, ticks don't cause the disease, they merely harbor and transmit the bacteria that cause the disease.) And being fussy little bacteria, not just any ol' genus of tick will do as a carrier. At least three known species of ticks can transmit Lyme Disease. However, the great majority of Lyme Disease transmissions are due to the bite of a very tiny tick commonly called the Deer Tick, or Black-legged Tick.
Of the hundreds of cases of canine Lyme Disease that I have seen, over 90 percent of canine patients were admitted with signs of limping (usually one foreleg), lymph node swelling in the affected limb, and a temperature of 103 degrees (101 to 102.5 degrees is normal). The limping usually progresses over three to four days from mild and barely noticeable to complete disuse of the painful leg. Once the dog starts to be affected by the bacteria, Lyme Disease can progress from a mild discomfort to the stage where a dog will be in such joint and muscle pain it will refuse to move; it is not uncommon for an owner to have to carry a sick dog into the
animal hospital. Over the span of two or three days a dog can progress from normal to completely unable to walk due to generalized joint pain. In addition to joint damage, the bacteria can affect the dog's heart muscle and nerve tissue. If the disease is diagnosed in time, treatment can cure the dog before permanent joint or nerve damage occurs. Certain antibiotics, such as the Tetracyclines, are very helpful in eliminating the disease.
Can a dog contract Lyme Disease a second time? Yes. But, quite honestly, we don't know for sure if the reoccurrence is a second, distinct infection or a flare-up of the original episode (because the Borrelia organism replicates quite slowly). And, since dogs can harbor the bacteria in their tissues a long time before the disease is evident, Lyme Disease cases are showing up all year long. In the northern states, however, the summer months are the busiest for Lyme Disease case presentations.
Fortunately, over ninety percent of dogs treated within the first week of obvious signs of Lyme Disease will respond rapidly to treatment with a tetracycline antibiotic. This medicine is administered for at least three weeks. In my experience, five percent of dogs will have some type of relapse of signs such as cardiac or neurological difficulties even after treatment . Some of these patients will experience chronic, lifelong joint pain from the damage caused by the bacteria and its direct and indirect stress to joint tissues. The earlier the antibiotic is started in the course of the disease, the better the patient's chances of a complete recovery.
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