Lyme Disease in Pit Bulls

Lyme disease in Pit bulls is an important one to be taken care of with more cautions now a day. The organism called as Borrelia burgdorferi, which is a spirochete, transmitted by the deer tick, causes this disease.

This tick is actually an Ixodes tick and the tick needs to be on the body of the dog for at least a day before the transmission of the bacteria into the dog’s body. This disease occurs in human beings also in which case it is called as Borreliosis. Tick bites leads to the severe infections in dog. Lyme disease has been documented in USA, especially in Texas, Mississipi areas, California and south regions.

Records are available on occurrence of variable symptoms of dog’s lyme disease. Dog often reveals symptoms like lameness, anorexia, dullness, pyrexia, symptoms pertaining to the glomerulo nephritis like anuria, dysuria etc.

But it is to be remembered that the occurrence of renal disease often occurs only in lethal cases and in very weak animals. However, most of the times, the occurrence of neurologic symptoms is not frequently encountered in the dogs affected with Lyme disease. Dog may not reflect always a typical lameness but the dogs affected may exhibit the difficulties in getting up.

The lameness may be of a mild degree in most of the times in the affected dogs. Unlike in case of man, the dogs affected with this disease may not have any type of rash, most of the times. Always link tick bite symptoms to the Lyme disease symptoms. Dogs may not always develop this kind of disease, always and the dogs that are in immuno compromised status alone may contract this disease.

Similarly, you cannot expect that all dogs that have contracted this disease will exhibit the symptoms. Dog-lyme disease may some times have variable symptoms and it depends on existence of other diseases also side by side.

Only some dogs will exhibit the symptoms as quoted earlier. Vaccination can be carried out with dogs that earlier has this disease but later treated in a successful manner.

Whether it is a human being or the dog, the frequency of occurrence is more than once with regard to Lyme disease. Dog’s body gets additional immunity due to the vaccination against this disease.

The treatment of this disease often depends on the virulence of the organism and the effect of the concerned antibiotic on this spirochete. However, long-term therapy may be advocated and some how it may depends on the extent of broad-spectrum activity of the concerned antibiotic during tackling of Lyme disease symptoms. Dogs need to be taken care of well during the occurrence of this disease.
This disease is often recorded in case of younger dogs than in case of older dogs. People may not get this dog-lyme disease, directly from the dog that is reared by them. But the infected dog may have the ticks with the disease-causing agent. This tick may fall on the bed of human beings accidentally and that tick may bite man.

In such occasions, the disease may spread to man, leading to development of rash, which is a characteristic symptom of this disease. Hope that the information provided in this paper may help to straighten some of the myths revolving around the Lyme disease. Dog needs to be monitored for tick infestation routinely.