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In many areas of the country exposure to tick-carrying Lyme disease is often an overrated fear, employed to either require unnecessary testing of asymptomatic dogs, to encouraging controversial Lyme vaccination of veterinary patients. even in areas of the country, where Lyme exposure is high, such as the northeast, it has been reported that up to 90% of pets that are naturally exposed to Lyme disease never get sick or develop any symptoms of illness.
Up to 50% of asymptomatic dogs can test positive in some areas, often resulting in inappropriate use of prolonged courses of antibiotic therapy. While a small percentage of dogs can develop symptoms of shifting lameness, fever, rare neurological or cardiac symptoms, the lameness and fever dogs respond quite rapidly to antibiotics, and pets who live in Lyme areas, who present with these symptoms, are truly the only ones who should be tested. The course of treatment is usually 3-4 weeks. certainly good tick prevention should be practiced in such areas through products like Frontline Plus, K9 Advantix, or more natural alternatives.
The only significant long term health threat I have seen in Lyme-positive dogs, particularly certain genetic lines of Labradors and golden Retrievers, is the development of a type of kidney problem long term where excessive loss of protein loss occurs in the urine, ultimately resulting in kidney failure and/or fluid retention. thus any pet who tests positive for Lyme disease should have periodic once yearly urine testing only (especially if they have no joint symptoms of Lyme disease) to monitor for protein loss in the urine. repeatedly testing pets with no symptoms of Lyme disease is a waste of money in my opinion to clients and may result in misuse of oral antibiotic therapy, as many Lyme-positive dogs can remain positive for months to years and never get sick.
