Protect your dog from Lyme Disease

click to enlarge

What is Lyme Disease?

Lyme Disease is a tick-borne bacterial disease that affects both humans and Animals.  The bacterium that causes Lyme disease is Borrelia burgorferi, which is picked up by ticks when they feed on infected animals. The tick then transmits the bacteria to other animals (or people) when they attach and feed again.

Signs of Lyme Disease: 
The signs and symptoms of Lyme disease can take several months to appear and are often mistaken for signs of other diseases. The most common sign is lameness due to joint pain, but Lyme disease also cause Kidney problems, as well.

click to enlarge

Deer Ticks  or black-legged tick (the type of tick that transmits Lyme Disease) are found in grassy areas (including lawns), brush, shrubs, and woodlands - particularly along trails. Ticks prefer moist humid areas. Due to climate change, migratory birds, and other factors, the range of where these ticks can be found, is growing and expanding all the time.

click to enlarge

At Royal City Animal Hospital in Guelph - as part of your dog's yearly spring check up for Heartworm disease, your veterinarian will also test for 3 tick borne diseases as well - Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis, and Anaplasmosis.