What are some potential health complications of untreated canine Lyme disease?
Untreated Lyme disease in dogs can lead to health complications in your pets critical organs, including permanent damage to your pets kidneys, heart or nervous system. According to veterinary experts, kidney damage is the most common complication of untreated Lyme disease and is often fatal for dogs suffering from this complication.
In some cases, dogs may also experience nervous system disorders such as seizures or facial paralysis. The severity of these complications can vary and may not be life-threatening but could affect your pets quality of life.
What are the symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs?
Lyme disease is often more challenging to identify in dogs than in humans, primarily due to the lack of a rash. While humans typically develop a characteristic “bullseye” rash around the location of the tick bite causing the infection, dogs dont develop this rash. Instead, behavioral cues are used to identify canine Lyme disease.
Those symptoms include:
While tick bites are the cause of Lyme disease, the development of symptoms takes place much later than the initial bite. Your dog may not show symptoms of Lyme disease until two to five months after being infected. The signs of Lyme disease in dogs can also bear similarities to the symptoms of other health conditions. For this reason, its crucial that dog owners seek out a veterinary diagnosis if they suspect their pet has canine Lyme disease.
How is Lyme disease in dogs diagnosed?
Your veterinarian will assess your dog’s symptoms, give them a physical, and typically also do bloodwork to determine their diagnosis. Bloodwork is necessary to confirm a Lyme diagnosis because many symptoms of Lyme disease can be mistaken for any number of other conditions.
“Lyme disease in dogs is diagnosed through a blood test,” Dr. Margit Muller, veterinarian and author, tells Pumpkin. She further explains, “This test detects the presence of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria strain that causes Lyme disease.”
A combination of two blood tests is typically done: the C6 Test and the Quant C6 Test. The C6 Test detects antibodies, and is a preliminary blood test that can be run in most veterinary hospitals. If that test is positive, then a secondary test, the Quant C6 test, can be run to confirm infection and if treatment is needed. It takes a while for antibodies to show up in the blood after a dog is infected, so it is not recommended to test dogs earlier than four weeks after a tick bite.
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