Thor is a 7-year-old neutered mixed breed dog who presented to us for slowing down and pain when walking His owner felt his hips were especially painful and had been giving him baby aspirin but it wasn’t helping much. During his physical exam, Thor did seem uncomfortable. He was getting up in age but this seemed to occur pretty fast and the pain seemed to come and go. We screened him for Lyme, erhlichia, and anaplasma because we have a lot of these disesases in our area. They are transmitted by ticks.
Thor was positive for Lyme disease. This disease is actually pretty easy to prevent with a good tick preventative like Bravecto, Seresto, Simparica, Frontline, Advantix or Credelio. The deer tick is the main culprit in this disease and it has to be attached for 72 hours to transmit the disease to our patients. All the preventatives sold at WVH will kill the tick in this time period. When an animal does get infected, they will have lameness that comes and goes as well as a fever. They will be lethargic, not eating as well, and limping. As long as we catch the disease during this time period, we can treat it. If we miss this stage it can sometimes cause kidney damage.
Thor was treated with pain medications and antibiotics. We did blood work to ensure his kidneys were in good health and he has recovered well. Keeping him on flea and tick prevention year round will ensure he does not get lyme disease again.