paulinaaa
09-08-2006, 12:22 PM
It's been a rather nightmare-ish kind of week, however it started out with my mother's Jack Russell being diagnosed with Lymes disease.
If you live in a wooded area and have dogs and or cats that are indoors/outdoors, keep an eye out for Lymes disease symptoms which include unexplained joint pain and or swelling, anorexia, bloody urine, fever and the animal acts lethergic.
The organisms that cause Lymes disease breed in areas such as the kidneys and joints as their is constant activity flowing through these parts of the body. If Lymes is left untreated, it can be fatal as the kidneys end up failing eventually.
There is no cure for Lymes disease, however it is zoonotic ( people can catch it) and an ounce of prevention goes a long way.
Since deer ticks carry Lymes disease, using tick products like Frontline will help protect your pet, although nothing is guaranteed. My parents use Frontline on both of their dogs and J.R ended up getting it anyway. The feline version of Frontline should be used on indoor/ outdoor cats as well. The reason being that if your pet is acting like transportation to these ticks, you can end up being bit.
Deer ticks are not like the regular brown ticks that most people have seen. Deer ticks look as though they are wearing a red cape. Because they are so small when they are hatched, they can only be identifed with a microscope. Right now the stage of deer ticks that are being found are called "nymphs". With the naked eye, they look like a small piece of dirt. Even when the nymphs are full of blood, they are to small to identify with the naked eye.
Alot of people think that ticks only live in long grass, however they also nest in trees and do blow around when the wind is strong enough. Treatment for Lymes consists of a blood work, antibiotics and possibly steriods depending on the severeity of the infection. The antibiotics reduce the number of organisms that cause the disease. The steriods are used to reduce pain and keep the animal moving as muscle/joint stiffness is a problem.
Some animals are put on a prescription kidney diet which is lower in protein than other kinds of dog food so the kidneys do not have to work as hard to process the food that is eaten.
Lymes disease requires lifetime medical management for the animal that has become infected. Depending on your vet will depend on how often bloodwork os done. Liver values need to be checked because of the steriods, kidney values need to be checked to make sure there isn't any further damage caused, and a titer ( prounounced tie-ter) is done to see if the infection has remained stable or is increasing. Some vets do these tests every 3 months, others do them every 6 unless there are symptoms or the animals health suddenly starts to decline.
People that live on the west coast should be just as cautious as those that live on the east as you too have kinds of ticks that also carry Lymes.
If you live in a wooded area and have dogs and or cats that are indoors/outdoors, keep an eye out for Lymes disease symptoms which include unexplained joint pain and or swelling, anorexia, bloody urine, fever and the animal acts lethergic.
The organisms that cause Lymes disease breed in areas such as the kidneys and joints as their is constant activity flowing through these parts of the body. If Lymes is left untreated, it can be fatal as the kidneys end up failing eventually.
There is no cure for Lymes disease, however it is zoonotic ( people can catch it) and an ounce of prevention goes a long way.
Since deer ticks carry Lymes disease, using tick products like Frontline will help protect your pet, although nothing is guaranteed. My parents use Frontline on both of their dogs and J.R ended up getting it anyway. The feline version of Frontline should be used on indoor/ outdoor cats as well. The reason being that if your pet is acting like transportation to these ticks, you can end up being bit.
Deer ticks are not like the regular brown ticks that most people have seen. Deer ticks look as though they are wearing a red cape. Because they are so small when they are hatched, they can only be identifed with a microscope. Right now the stage of deer ticks that are being found are called "nymphs". With the naked eye, they look like a small piece of dirt. Even when the nymphs are full of blood, they are to small to identify with the naked eye.
Alot of people think that ticks only live in long grass, however they also nest in trees and do blow around when the wind is strong enough. Treatment for Lymes consists of a blood work, antibiotics and possibly steriods depending on the severeity of the infection. The antibiotics reduce the number of organisms that cause the disease. The steriods are used to reduce pain and keep the animal moving as muscle/joint stiffness is a problem.
Some animals are put on a prescription kidney diet which is lower in protein than other kinds of dog food so the kidneys do not have to work as hard to process the food that is eaten.
Lymes disease requires lifetime medical management for the animal that has become infected. Depending on your vet will depend on how often bloodwork os done. Liver values need to be checked because of the steriods, kidney values need to be checked to make sure there isn't any further damage caused, and a titer ( prounounced tie-ter) is done to see if the infection has remained stable or is increasing. Some vets do these tests every 3 months, others do them every 6 unless there are symptoms or the animals health suddenly starts to decline.
People that live on the west coast should be just as cautious as those that live on the east as you too have kinds of ticks that also carry Lymes.