Tested Positive for Lyme Disease today--asymptomatic!
 

Hi,
I wondered if anyone else has encountered this. I took my dog for her well visit today and found out she tested positive for Lyme Disease. This is an indoor dog...she is typically frontlined but hasn't been during the winter. We live in a rural area with a lot of deer but she doesn't go out much at all.

The vet would like me to put her on antibiotics for 30 days...I will get another opinion this week to make sure she really tested postive but does anyone have any direct experience with this? I would love to hear about how you made out. I forgot to mention that the dog is asymptomatic currently.
:confused:

Hello there.

Sorry to hear about your little one. I do not have any advice for you, as I have no experience with lyme disease, but I do hope that user Britster sees this, as her dog Jackson had lyme disease but he quickly recovered after he was given medication.

Hope your baby starts feeling better. :)

yes, Brister's Jackson was treated and within hours of taking meds he was like a new dog. :) I'll send her a link to this thread and she can fill you in. I am in a ruralish area as well and have lots of deer around. I still use Frontline in the winter time, ticks can still be around and they can attach themselves to us and we can bring them in. :( Good luck and I hope all will go well with treatment. :)

We do not have experience with Lyme Disease, but our next door neighbor's dog had this. I know our neighbors gave her medicine and she did very well for a long period of time.

Good luck with this and wishing your pup the best...

You are lucky to have found this before there are symptoms! Yes, antibiotics are the treatment and I would not put that off. Lyme disease can be terrible if not caught early and treated.
I used to live in NJ and it is very common there. It only takes one walk outside and one bite from a deer tick. I don't think you always see the tick.

Your dog could very well be positive for Lyme's or then it can be a false-positive result. With Lyme's false - positives are not uncommon, caused by several things, or at least I was told this by doctors when it happened to me. If you're going to retest though, don't hesitate bc if it is Lyme's you certainly want to start treatment ASAP.

I also just read on the web that they can be positive only due to exposure and never develop Lyme's. I did not know that.

Three years ago when Buddy went for his yearly, he tested positive for
Lymes. He had no sympthoms. The vet stated there were many cases that year for some reason and he went on antibiotics. He has not tested
postivie since.
The meds will take care of it. Try not to worry.

Hello! Yes, Jackson had Lymes disease as well. He came about limping on his left hind leg one day very randomly as he hadn't been active for the previous two days so I didn't know how it happened. We went for a vet visit where they took x-rays of his leg, only to find nothing. So they tested him for Lymes and he came up positive. He was also put on antibiotics for 30 days and 6 hours after medicine... was like a new dog! No limping, he felt sooo much better in general. Lymes can affect their joints and muscles sometimes.

Jackson is outdoors a lot but he was always on tick medicine. In the early summer though he was on Frontline Plus and got almost 10 ticks within a few weeks. So I assume that's where he got infected. The vet said lymes can take months to show up. Once we switched to K9 Advantix, he no longer got ticks. The vet also stated that the ticks sometimes are sooo small, they are impossible to see, even if you are checking.

The vet basically said that even though he came up positive for Lymes doesn't necessarily mean he HAS lymes disease, it simply means at one point in time, he was bit by a tick that was infected with it. If that makes any sense.

But I wouldn't worry about it-- it's very treatable! ;) Any more questions-I'd be happy to try and answer. :)

My dog picked up a tick when we were visiting in GA. We removed the tick. Some days later I found the round bulleye rash on his stomach so I took him to the vet and he put him on antibiotics and gave him a Lyme's shot. My sister-in-law has Lyme's so I know how bad it can be if not treated. Please get your pup on antibiotics ASAP.

Give the pup the antibiotics...you are lucky you caught it before any symptoms...we have had a few pups come into rescue test positive for lyme..we have always gone with the treatment and they have been fine...

Hi, my Trixie tested positive for Lyme last year. She had to take doxycycline. I believe this is the best to treat Lyme but unfortunately many dogs are unable to take it because it makes them sick. Trixie tends to get an upset belly so we were shocked she was able to handle it. I believe she took it for a month. She has never shown any signs of having Lyme. After she tested positive she then had more bloodwork done. I'm sorry I can't remember off hand what test was done but I'm thinking just a basic full blood panel to check everything else going on. So far Trixie is fine and I'm sure your baby will be too. I live in Maryland and ticks are just terrible here. Unfortunately, it only takes one bite from a tick that carries this disease to catch it. I'm glad your vet caught it early. Good Luck with everything.

I'm in MD too! Ticks are terrible.