Protect your Pekingese against Lyme disease

Lyme disease is a disease found in dogs, especially Pekinese Dogs. Spirochete bacteria called bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi is acquired by an infected tick’s bite. It was in 1975 that the disease got its first recognition. Pacific Northwest, North East, Northern California, Upper Midwest including Minnesota and Wisconsin are the wooded regions it is found in.

 

Lyme Vaccines Prevention

In America this is an illness that is tick borne and is quite common. In many of Connecticut’s South Eastern rural communities there was an outbreak of arthritis in acute form including the Old Lyme town. Nervous system, skin, heart and joints get affected. In the initial stages at the sites where the tick bites, redness is seen. Gradually this redness starts spreading.

The disease leads to joint inflammation, and thus the limbs get weak progressively. Lameness in acute form lasting for three or four days is seen in some of the Pekinese dogs. A few weeks later this lameness recurs again either in the same leg or shifts to other legs. Since the lameness keeps shifting from one leg to the other, the disease is also termed as shifting leg lameness.

 

Lyme disease Antibiotic Treatment

These tests help in distinguishing between natural exposure to the disease by dogs and immunity to vaccines. For detecting exposure to the disease ELISA and the Western Blot tests of the blood are conducted. Antibiotic treatment is administered to treat swollen joints in dogs. It is best to administer the dog with antibiotics in the early stages of the disease by mouth.

Within a week or two the rash can get resolved and no consequences in the long term are seen. Medication for relieving pain in swollen joints is given. Fluid from the joints is removed by doctors, in certain cases. This helps in improving the functioning of the limbs and joints for your little Pekinese dog.

 

Lyme disease Tips

One leg could get lame, start functioning normally again and then again another leg could become crippled. Pain is experienced in some of the joints which get swollen in Pekinese. Problems in the kidneys start developing symptoms of kidney dysfunction and inflammations. Glomerulonephritis is caused if the condition is not treated.

Within the tissues, especially under the skin, abdomen and in the legs, fluids start building up in dogs.  Thirst and urinationincreases, appetite is lost and diarrhoea is caused in Pekinese dogs when the kidney fails. This illness is not immediately seen. Whether or not the canine is exposed to Lyme disease or not is indicated by blood tests of the serological type. It is only after few weeks that the dogs may test positive for the Lyme disease.