Lyme Disease Prevention Awareness!

Lyme Disease Prevention Awareness at Glove Cities Veterinary Hospital!

Thanks for tuning in as we focus on Lyme disease prevention awareness. Lyme disease has been recognized for over a century. It is currently the most commonly recognized arthropod-borne disease in humans and one of the most commonly seen arthropod-borne diseases in clinical practice for our companion animals.

What Causes Lyme Disease?
• Lyme disease is caused by a spiral shaped bacterium (spirochetes) called Borrelia burgdorferi. Within the United States, New England accounts for >90% of the cases of lyme disease with prevalence in the northern Midwest, California, and some southern states. Infection occurs only after a tick (nymph or adult female) has been attached to the host for at least 12-18 hours

How Is The Disease Transmitted?
• Ticks transmit Lyme disease by first seeking out and attaching themselves to the host. The primary mechanism of transmission is a direct bite by the tick on the person or animal. After the tick attaches to the animal or person and begins to feed, spirochetes that are present in the body of the tick move into the saliva of the tick and then into the person or animal on which the tick is feeding. The danger of transmission of Lyme disease is thought to increase significantly after 12 hours of feeding, usually when the tick becomes engorged.

What Are The Clinical Symptoms?
• Lyme disease in dogs often presents in either acute, or sub-acute (chronic) arthritis. The arthritis causes a reoccurring, intermittent lameness seen in one or multiple joints. Dogs may develop sudden acute pain in one or more joints/limbs. The affected joints may be swollen, hot and painful, and your pet may develop a fever, become lethargic, and have less or no appetite. The acute phase may become sub-acute after 3-4 days where the lameness becomes intermittent and shifts legs/joints. Your pets lymph nodes may become swollen as well. In more severe cases renal failure and less commonly, cardiac and neurologic dysfunction can be seen. Based on experimental studies, it can take up to two to five months after tick exposure to develop clinical symptoms. Chronic Lyme disease left untreated, or treated after prolonged exposure can result in persistent infection despite anti-biotic treatment.

How Is Lyme Disease Diagnosed?
There are several ways to test your pet for Lyme disease including in hospital diagnostics and tests at laboratories to which samples can be sent. Glove Cities Veterinary Hospital recommends screening your pet once a year for heartworm, and several tick borne diseases in a single test. A fast (10 minutes) antibody test (shown in the attached picture) that is very sensitive for the presence of Lyme disease can be performed with as little as three drops of blood. Follow up testing, if a positive response is seen on in house screening, can help confirm these results and provide titer levels (amount of antibody present) to use to confirm successful treatment with anti-biotics.

How Is Lyme Disease Treated
Anti-biotics are the best way to treat Lyme disease. Even though symptoms can begin to clear within days of treatment, prolonged treatment is necessary to clear all of the bacteria. Tetracycline’s such as Doxycycline as the most commonly prescribed anti-biotics often given for 3-4 weeks at a time. After treatment another titer level can be checked to compare to the original titer to make sure initial treatment was successful. Dogs with recurrent episodes of Lyme disease whether from a re-infestation from another tick exposure or a relapse from the initial infection will often still respond favorably to another course of anti-biotics. There are steroids, pain medications, and other anti-inflammatory medications that can help ease the pain of the arthritis as well.

If My Dog Has Lyme Disease What Is The Prognosis?
• The prognosis for Lyme Disease in general is excellent. The majority of dogs respond extremely well to anti-biotic therapy. Complete recovery in the majority of cases is usual. However there are instances of relapsing disease and chronic disease that have been seen.

Can My Dog Give Me Lyme Disease?
• No studies have supported the ability of a Lyme positive dog being able to infect their owner through any kind of bodily fluid or contact. Our companion animals certainly can act as a source of parasites to enter into our homes, but have not been documented to directly infect humans with Lyme disease.

How Can Lyme Disease Be Prevented?

At Glove Cities Veterinary Hospital we believe in a multi-modal approach to controlling Lyme disease in our pets. No one product, vaccine, or technique is 100% effective, therefore using more than one approach is necessary. We, in the northeast, live in endemic area meaning that 75% of our unvaccinated and unprotected pets at some point will test positive for Lyme disease, and many will continue on to develop clinical symptoms.
Topical products/collars

• We recommend protecting your pet through a combination of topical products/collars, vaccination, and environmental control. We offer a number of topical products that are applied once a month to the skin that offer protection against fleas and ticks (Revolution, Vectra, Frontline) as well as collars that last from 3-6 months at a time (Scalibor collar, Preventic Collar). All flea and tick products and collars ARE NOT created equally. Please talk with your veterinarian about which one is right for your particular pet and situation.
Vaccination

• We recommend yearly vaccination of your pet against Lyme disease. Again, not all vaccines are created equally. At Glove Cities Veterinary Hospital we use what we believe to be the best Lyme disease vaccine on the market that will protect your pet for a year, is a safe vaccine to give, and has been shown to completely block the transmission of the spirochete to your pet. If your pet has never had the vaccine before they will need a series to begin their protection.
Environmental Control

• When a tick wants to feed, they will make their way up to the tip of the leaf, brush, grass or material on which they are waiting. They are attracted to the carbon dioxide, warmth, and movement of a person or animal and respond by opening their front most pair of legs. As our pet brushes against the grass/plants etc, the tick will grab ahold with its legs. This means that we can help prevent Lyme disease by keeping our yards well manicured. Mow your yard often, remove excess shrubs and debris, and trim all shrubs in the yard. Consider walking your pet way from tall grasses or fields with many shrubs. If you often take your pet into heavily wooded areas and tall grasses, check them over after each excursion.

If I Find a Tick On My Pet What Should I Do:

DO:
• Use tweezers or a recommend tick removing device, grab the tick as closely to the skin of your pet as possible, and pull straight up to remove the tick. The tick inserts only its feeding mouth parts, not the entire head into your pet’s skin. Do not touch the tick.
• If the tick is unattached, use tape (any kind) and grab the tick, then fold the tape fold to cover the tick and dispose of the tape. If tape is not available, use a paper towel or Kleenex and then place in alcohol or soapy water, or flush down the toilet.
• Gently clean the wound site with a wash cloth and soapy water, and make sure to wash your own hands as well

DO NOT:
• Try and burn the tick with a match, or suffocate it with petroleum jelly, nail polish, or any other substance. These methods are ineffective and also potentially dangerous to your pet.
• Do not yank, twist, squeeze or rupture an engorged tick.
• Do not wait to take a tick off of your pet. If you find a tick and are uncomfortable removing it bring your pet to your veterinarian and a licensed technician can show you how to properly remove an engorged tick.

Can My Pet Cat Get Lyme Disease?
• Yes! Although much rarely seen, your pet cat is susceptible as well. Our felines are not screened on a yearly basis for Lyme disease, and no vaccination is available. This means they are potentially much more significantly affected than is currently known! If you have an outdoor cat, we highly recommend using a product that prevents ticks as well as fleas!

We hope this information has been helpful! Stay tuned with us next week as we continue to provide coverage of a variety of topics this April to raise awareness about disease in our companion pets!

Dr. Santspree