The Dreaded "L" Word

I've just given Tiki the final pill in the bottle of her prescription, Doxycycline 100mg. That completes the four-week course of her antibiotic since she tested positive last month for Lyme Disease (Lyme Borreliosis).

When the vet called me to say the test was positive, I was shocked because I keep up with their vaccinations religiously and use Frontline to repel ticks. In fact, I am practically fanatical about avoiding the disease that seems to be so prevalent in our region. With herds of deer roaming in the woods near my home, helping themselves to a smorgasbord of Azaleas and other delicious plants in my yard, I always assumed there was a high risk of coming into contact with deer ticks and Lyme. It is one of the most common tick-transmitted diseases in the world, both humans and dogs are susceptible. Cats have not been found in studies to be susceptible to the Lyme bacteria.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that in the Northeastern U.S. usually comes from the deer tick Ixodes scapularis. I associated the large number of White-Tailed Deer in Fairfax, Loudoun and several other counties in Northern Virginia with the high risk of Lyme. However, I have since discovered that research points directly to the Deer Mouse (Peromyscus) as the most common culprit host of the virus, which is then transmitted via tick to your pet. Hence the common reference to the "deer tick."

In Tiki's case, my vet recommended a more in-depth test be conducted to confirm the diagnosis. It is known as the IDEXX Lyme Quant C6 Ab test, which tests for C6 antibodies to Lyme disease, and also tests for heartworm disease and ehrlichia canis, another tick borne disease. It is done in-office and is extremely accurate in detecting Lyme in dogs, because the C6 antibodies are only present due to actual infection, not as a reaction to the vaccine, which is particularly useful for dogs who have been vaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.

When that test came back positive as well, I felt guilty, even after all the precautions taken for my two dogs. I recalled finding a tick attached to Tiki's face in April, and realized at that time I was probably foolish to have discontinued using Frontline during the winter months of January, February and March. I have been doing that every winter, assuming that during the coldest months the ticks would not be active, and there was no sense in putting strong pesticides on the dogs unnecessarily. WRONG!

In fact, when I was at the vet's office to pick up Tiki's antibiotic, there was a man in the waiting room with two dogs, one of which had just tested positive for Lyme, and he shared the exact same misguided philosophy with me. So, lesson No. 1 is: Use a vet-recommended tick repellent, and use it every month as prescribed.

I was also shocked by the fact that Tiki exhibited no signs of having the disease. The most common symptom is recurrent lameness due to inflammation of the joints. The lameness may also be "shifting lameness," which involves one limb going lame and recovering, then a different limb going lame (very similar to the shifting joint stiffness that human patients encounter).

Other symptoms include: lack of appetite, depression, stiff walk with arched back, sensitive to touch, difficulty breathing, fever, swollen lymph nodes, kidney disease and even kidney failure or heart abnormalities (although rare). In dogs, symptoms usually do not start until two to five months after being bitten by an infected tick.

These all sounded very scary to me when thinking about what Tiki could face in the future, and I found it is possible for your dog not to show any symptoms, which can make Lyme disease difficult to recognize. Luckily, when caught early, it is surprisingly easy to treat in dogs. However, some cases become chronic and may become incurable, but if treated appropriately and use the C6 quantitative test to monitor that treatment, you should be able to return your dog to normal health. I am hoping for the best for Tiki's situation.