Lyme Disease and Dogs: Common Symptoms & Lyme Disease Treatment

Lyme disease in puppies is a sickness that is newly recognized. This type of dog disease is transmitted by deer ticks. Lyme disease in pets not only infects puppies but could also infect humans. The two seasons for the largest number of exposure to Lyme disease in pets is during spring through fall.

This dog disease appears mostly in the Midwestern and northwestern part of the US. Since 1975, several cases of Lyme disease in pets have been reported in more than 40 states.

White-footed mice and white-tailed deer are the hosts for the deer tick that is the direct cause for transmitting Lyme disease in pets. Since the ticks do not fly or hop, they wait on the ground where plants grow in tall-grassed or wooded areas that are heavily inhabited by mice, deer, and ticks. They wait patiently and eagerly to stick on to anything that brushes up against them.

Deer ticks can strike a dog on any part of the body, although they often attach and bite at his head, ears, neck and even his feet. This is where Lyme disease in a dog begins. A tick's bite barely causes sensation, unlike the painful bites from bees and mosquitoes. Dogs and other animals can be saturated with ticks and not show any distress.

Symptoms of Lyme disease in pets include fever, slowness, and sudden onset of lameness mixed with warmth, pain, and swelling in his joints. Sometimes a round area of inflamed skin around the tick bite may emerge with Lyme disease in pets, even though it may be hard to notice this due to the thickness of a dog's coat.

Call your vet right away when you notice any symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs. Those who recognize the early stages of Lyme disease can prevent your dog from suffering. When Lyme disease in your dog reaches its progressive stages of infection, your dog could suffer from paralysis. If this disease is left untreated, Lyme disease can attack the front and hind limbs. It will then attack the muscles in the chest area and even disable the respiratory muscles. This can cause the dog to suffocate.

If you believe your dog has Lyme disease and that the disease is in its progressive stages of infection, immediately call your vet. Hospitalization is necessary for progressive stages of Lyme disease in a dog.

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Article by Kelly Marshall from Oh My Dog Supplies - where you can find designer dog bowls to match any decor