Lyme disease is a tick-borne disease that was first found in Lyme, Connecticut, in 1975 and in dogs in 1984. The Lyme disease bacterium is picked up by your dog from a deer tick. Deer ticks live on white-tailed deer and mice in the great outdoors. They are small so they are hard to see, especially in a dog’s coat. A dog’s greatest chance of becoming infected is from May to September, when the ticks are most active, but transmission can also occur other times. If you live in the northeast, or mid-Atlantic, north-central, and Pacific coast of the United States you have a 40% chance of getting Lyme disease. Not all ticks carry the disease, but you do not know if you find on Doggie.

Although many dogs get infected with the Lyme only a few develop Lyme disease. Typical infection will show up as swollen joints, lameness, and muscle pain. However, the disease can also cause fever, loss of appetite, and lethargy, which can make infection difficult to diagnose. If Lyme disease is undiagnosed or untreated, permanent damager to the joints can occur, and it could can spread to the heart and kidneys. Infected dogs should be treated with appropriate antibiotics as soon as possible.