How to Prevent Lyme Disease in Dogs

Canine Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness that affects thousands of dogs each year, particularly during the summer when ticks are most active. If you live out in the country, or in a geographical area where Lyme ticks are prevalent, your dog may be at risk.

Luckily, many of the measures we take to prevent Lyme disease in our human families can be applied to our dogs as well. Here are some tips for avoiding Lyme disease in your dogs.

The first thing you should consider is getting the Lyme disease vaccine. The same vaccine that is approved for human use is also approved for use in dogs. Ask your vet for more information, and whether your dog is a good candidate for the vaccine.

Keep your dog on a regimen of topical anti-parasite medicine. These are available in powders, sprays, and shampoos. They are more effective than collars at repelling pests, such as ticks that carry Lyme disease.

One of the most important things you can do is learn how to recognize ticks. Ticks are small, hard-shelled arachnids with eight legs. They latch onto the skin to suck blood, and can burrow under the skin to lay eggs. Deer ticks and black-legged ticks are no bigger than a sesame seed in the adult stage. The tinier nymphs are more likely to carry the Lyme disease bacteria. If you know what Lyme ticks look like, you can remove them from your dog's fur and prevent canine Lyme disease.

Also learn how to check your dog for ticks. Use a comb to part the hair and examine the skin. If you see any ticks latching on, use tweezers to pick them off, and kill them immediately.

Observe your dog for symptoms of Lyme disease, especially if you recently pulled ticks off of your pet. Typical canine Lyme disease symptoms are

fever around 104 degrees
lethargy or lameness
loss of appetite
sudden swelling of joints and lymph glands