Lyme Disease
Northern Minnesota is a lyme-endemic area. Most people know someone who has been diagnosed with lyme disease. Lyme disease is also quite prevalent among dogs. In 2007, Cloquet Animal Hospital diagnosed 126 dogs with lyme disease. Your dog could be at risk.
Where does Lyme disease come from? Certain tick species carry and transmit the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. In our area, this is the deer tick, which is quite smaller than the brown dog tick also prevalent in Northern Minnesota.
Clinical signs, diagnosis, and treatment. Lyme disease affects animals differently, and many have no clinical signs at all. In dogs, many cases start with limping, lymph node swelling, and fever. Other signs include loss of appetite, painful joints, and lethargy. A dog can be bitten by an infected tick two to five months before they show signs of the disease.
The threat to humans. According to the CDC, about 20,000 new human cases of Lyme disease are reported in the United States annually. There is no evidence that dogs can spread Lyme disease directly to their owners. However, they can bring infected ticks into the home or yard.
How can you protect your dog? The best protection for your dog is a combination of vaccinating for lyme disease and good tick prevention. The Lyme vaccine will help booster your dog’s immunity and provide protection if he/she is exposed to a tick with Lyme disease. This is a series of two vaccines given 3 weeks apart. The vaccine is boostered annually. Tick prevention is also key to protecting your dog. Usually an infected tick must be attached for 48 hours before it can transmit Lyme. Cloquet Animal Hospital recommends a monthly topical tick preventative. Frontline plus has been found to be very safe and efficacious and does not wash off in animals that swim. It is also important to examine your pet closely after being in wooded or grassy areas and removing ticks.
Information adapted from the pamphlet “Lyme disease – awareness and prevention of Lyme disease in dogs” from Merial Limited.