lyme diesease pets get it too

[Arlene]

I have been battling Lymes disease ..well not me.. but Shea my sweet dog.... she has been acting so old since I got her wayy back when and then last Sat she could not walk at all.. would not go out to pee or do her "business" and I carried her.. she just laid down on the cold ground... I knew something bad was up. I started looking for arthritis meds for her.. then when she would not go again when I tried.. and she would not eat.. I called the doc and took her to the vet ER.
cost me 330 dollars to learn that she has had lymes disease for a LONG time..

they said if I had not brought her in she may have died due to kidney failure ..

BUT the good news is with that $330 I got 3 weeks of some meds for her and after 8 days she is sprinting and hopping around like a puppy.. jumping on me and her eyes are so clear.. before she looked almost blind.. I thought she was just old all this time.. this morning she jumped on me and almost knocked me down.. she was hopping around and twirling around and being all happy... I think I have a new dog. !!

anyway!! I wanted to post some info on the disease for others.. Lyme disease never even crossed my mind..

I will post in the social section soon.. on that I am alive and where I have been..

[Arlene]

WHAT IS LYME DISEASE IN DOGS?
Learn About this tick-borne disease
by T. J. Dunn, Jr. DVM
Updated August, 2005

What is Lyme Disease in dogs? Transmitted through the bite of a tick, Borrelia burgdorferi is the scientific name of the bacteria that Blood tests can assist in the diagnosis of Lyme Disease in dogs.causes Lyme Disease. TheseClick to see enlarged image in a new window 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. See the image on the right. Reference for the identification of this tick is at (http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/medical/deer_tick.htm). Its scientific name is Ixodes (pronounced eye-zod-ease) scapularis. Lyme Disease in dogs has been reported in every state but certain geographical areas are much more likely to harbor bacteria-carrying ticks than others. To see close-up images of a different specie of tick (that does not usually transmit Lyme Disease) feeding on a dog, view here.


The tick's body size varies depending on the stage of its two-year life cycle. I show my clients a life-sized photo of the tick whenever I diagnose a case of Lyme Disease because often the dog owners are skeptical about the presence of ticks... "It can't be Lyme Disease, Dr. Dunn. This dog has not had a single tick all year. I know because I've checked her every time she's come indoors." Smaller than the head of a pin, these ticks are hard to see! They don't glow in the dark. They don't make the dog itch. And they are very quiet about what they do. Yes, cats do contract Lyme Disease but very uncommonly. The Ixodes tick is often called the deer tick because the adult stage of the tick prefers to feed on deer. However, it will feed on other creatures such as skunks, birds, canines and people. How do these ticks come to carry the Lyme Disease-producing bacteria in their tiny bodies? (Take a look at the UPDATE at the end of this article, too). Here's what happens:

Life Cycle:

Size comparisons fo Ixodes and Dermacenter ticks.
This photo (click to enlarge) shows the AMERICAN DOG TICK (Dermacenter variablis) male and female on the left edge of a postage stamp. Four Black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) are displayed on the right edge of the stamp; they carry the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease. There is a female (largest tick) and male and two nymphal stages of the Black-legged tick.

Tiny rodents, such as voles, and especially the white-footed mouse, harbor in their bodies thousands of the Borrelia bacteria without getting sick. In the early spring while the white-footed mouse goes about its business, some lucky Ixodes tick larvae (from newly hatched eggs laid late the previous fall) grab onto the mouse and begin to feed on its blood. During this feast, the tick larvae acquire many bacteria from the mouse's fluids. The bacteria think this is just great because they can survive and multiply in the tick's gut just as well as in the mouse's. And, what's even better from the bacteria's point of view, their huge numbers won't kill the tiny ticks either. The bacteria have now gone from the host, a white-footed mouse, to the tick carrier called a vector, and are thriving - a bacterial reproductive bonanza!

When winter comes, the tick larvae lie dormant, dreaming of warm-blooded creatures upon which to dine come next spring. Tick larvae like the little white-footed mouse but will settle for you or your dog. The bacteria are doing fine too; they're just going along for the warm ride inside the little mouse.

Once the warmer spring temperatures arrive, the six-legged tick larvae matures into the eight-legged nymphal stage. Later in the summer, the nymphs reaches the adult stage. The young adult ticks, still harboring all those bacteria without ill effects, just happen to find themselves riding the legs of a white-tailed deer. Banquet time! After the ticks suck the deer's nutrient-rich blood, they can mate and produce thousands of eggs. The following spring the eggs hatch into a new batch of larvae.


So where do you and your dog fit in this chain of bacteria, mouse, tick and deer? Although the tick, during various stages of its life cycle, prefers certain creatures upon which to feed, it is quite willing to belly up to a table where people or dogs are the main course. Regardless of the stage - larvae, nymph or adult Ixodes tick - if these critters carry the bacteria in their bodies, people and dogs can become infected if bitten. Sometimes, but not always, clinical sickness (observable disease) results.

What percentage of Ixodes ticks carry the bacteria? That varies according to regions. Research has shown that in endemic areas of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, nymphal-infected ticks ranged from 25 to 50 percent, and, in north central regions, 10 to 16 percent. It is the tiny nymphal stage that is the most responsible for transmitting the disease.

Ixodes tick life stages...

There is no evidence that people can contract Lyme Disease directly from wild or domestic animals. In other words, you can't catch Lyme Disease from your dog or from a deer. But if infected urine or blood were to come in contact with an open wound, who knows? And as time and evolution go on, variations of disease producing organisms can be a threat.

Signs of Lyme Disease in DogsPups can contract Lyme Disease, too!
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). TheClick to enlarge Ixodes Tick (nymph) 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.
Generally, the diagnosis of Lyme Disease is based upon clinical signs and history. For example, if a dog ran or played normally a few days ago, has had no signs of trauma or previous arthritic discomfort, and now displays tenderness upon palpation of the affected limb and has a mild fever and swollen lymph nodes, I'm going to seriously consider Lyme Disease as a possible diagnosis.
On the other hand, just as in human medicine, Lyme Disease is called "The Great Imitator" because it has often been mistakenly diagnosed when another disorder is present, such as an autoimmune disease, lymph tissue cancer, Blastomycosis, or septicemia. Just as vexing is the fact that at times other similar-appearing diseases are diagnosed when the culprit is actually Lyme Disease. There are published reports of Lyme Disease being misdiagnosed and over diagnosed in human medicine.

Keeping other disorders in mind, if I suspect Lyme Disease, I start treatment immediately, generally prescribing an antibiotic such as tetracycline and possibly some aspirin if the dog is in a lot of pain. Many veterinarians do not wait for blood tests to confirm the tentative diagnosis because in dogs the information obtained may be Vaccinating against Lyme Disease in dogs has been widely utilizedconfusing and require too much time to hear back from the lab. I have seen patients that from clinical experience I know have Lyme Disease, yet their blood test curiously indicates no exposure to the disease. And there are numerous cases of normal-appearing, healthy dogs with positive blood tests for Lyme Disease.
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.

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

www.thepetcenter.com/gen/lyme.html

[Arlene]

here are some links

www.vetinfo.com/dlyme.html
that one seems to be good.. some doc answering questions from pet owners.

www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/jake/mosaic/lyme.html

www.marvistavet.com/html/body_lyme_disease.html

www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/showarticle.cfm?id=256

[Arlene]

anyone have any personal experiences with Lyme's disease please post it here.. thanks. I never even knew and this girl has been hurting for so long..

[silkifyre]

Awww, poor Shea! Her former owners didn't take very good care of her. Luckily, you were able to find out and treat her illness. Hopefully, she won't suffer those possible future flare-ups. But at least, if she does, you'll know what it is. Glad she's doing so much better. Wow, that's some really fast-acting meds ya got there!

Thanks for that info, too. I hadn't known quite all that before.

[Arlene]

well there she was outside dog.. and the symptoms are just like an old dog with arthritis. so they would not have known.. I emailed her and told her about shea and she said one of the other dogs is limping around a bit.. she is carrying it in to the doc soon. they better be careful . they have goats also.. wonder if the goats can get it?? and the bunny wabbits.. >. she has about talked me into getting the darn bunnies.. I love them but am scared something will get them.

took the meds 8 days to kick in.. is that fast? and she still has this week and next weeks of meds to take.. then another trip to the doc to recheck for the disease. but she is so much better.. hopping around and rolling in the snow... and getting into more trouble .. she was running in here and playing with lady knocking things over.. she is a HUGE dog.. she cant act like that in here. haha.
and she needs a bath.. pee yeww