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interesting statement about lyme disease in dogs

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Posted 5/6/2009 9:18 AM (GMT -7)

I get google alerts about lyme disease and this was part of an article about lyme in dogs. 

about 15 to 25 percent of dogs treated for Lyme disease will become chronically infected and have incomplete resolution of signs or recurrent disease. Despite antibiotic therapy, infected dogs are likely to be infected for life.

It seems the Vets are way ahead of the MD's on the recognition and treatment of LD.  Why is that?

KO

Posted 5/6/2009 10:29 AM (GMT -7)
good question KO, 1 of my 2 dogs was tested for heartworms last yr and they also tested for lymes, took 5 mins to run the bloodwork, well my male showed pos for lymes. he was abx for over a month and 3 months later his next bloodwork showed his antybodies was fighting the lymes, they also have a vacine for lymes in dogs, why not for ppl? as for what it does to a dog i'm not sure. see he is 10 1/2 yrs old now and at 132lbs he is a big boy. and for a rottie to show pain of weekness just doesnt happen. only thing i have notest is if he runs much it take him a long time to recover. it could e from lymes or just old age i dont know.

i did try to call my vet yesterday and ask how true is the test for dogs v ppl. i want to know, maybe we should all be going to vets..lol

i can also atest to this, in the last 10 yrs there has been a lymes vacine for dogs, you just couldnt get it in every state, 5 yrs ago Tx didnt have it here or many of the southern states for that matter.(said they didnt have lymes here) well now you can get it and they do have it.

RD
Posted 5/6/2009 12:26 PM (GMT -7)
My dog was never tested but this is the second time he is being treated. He had the same signs as he did in 2006, chewing on his paws and lying around as if he doesn't feel well. He does not chew on his paws any other time. He also had inflamed ears and a fever. The vet's do seem to be more willing to treat it, but even he said that he doesn't believe in chronic Lyme. I'm sure my dog's new infection was from a new bite. We do tick checks after walking, but they somehow manage to hide in his fur before we get in the house. Most of the ticks have been the larger type, but I found one deer tick crawling on him when I got home from work one day, and they are so little he probably had more.
Another thing is, the first time he was infected, he was on Frontline. The other thing that the vet said that I'm not sure I agree with is that it takes at least 24 hrs. of the tick being attached to become infected with Lyme. If that is true, then he should have been safe. Also, when I was bit, we didn't have him yet, and I had only been outside a short time, pulling a few weeds out front, came in and got a shower, and found the tick the next morning, so that was just overnight. I guess there's no proof that it wasn't there longer and it took me that long to find it, but I have a hard time believing that.
Posted 5/6/2009 1:05 PM (GMT -7)
RD: They DO have that vaccine for people, in fact a few years ago it was mandatory that game wardens in New England get the vaccine because they were in the woods so often. Then, a good percentage of those people became crippled FROM the vaccine. I dont remember what web site I read the story on, but you can google it. I see that you are also in Texas, I have yet to find an LLMD here as they tell me there is no Lyme in Texas. Right. Take care-  D
Posted 5/6/2009 3:28 PM (GMT -7)
I have heard that the vaccine for dogs are very dangerous, similar to what Dowa said about what happend to people - even worse; they call the stuff "dirty vaccines" and a lot of vets do not recommend it where I live, but suggest use of frontline or scalibor. I think the vaccine development is not that easy with lyme. But I read somewhere that there is an new approach going on. Hope it will be safer than the first one!
Posted 5/6/2009 3:39 PM (GMT -7)
I think my dog got the vaccine a few years back. Seems to be in great shape! Oh well. what can we do. we're doomed!
Posted 5/6/2009 4:45 PM (GMT -7)

KO-LD said...

It seems the Vets are way ahead of the MD's on the recognition and treatment of LD.  Why is that?

This is because of many factors, I believe.  Animals are seen as property, not individuals, therefore few if any malpractice suits.  There aren't any insurance claims adjusters telling vets what they can and can't do in the treatment of animals (although this may change as pet health insurance becomes more popular).  Animals are thought to not be affected by placebo effect, meaning when they act sick, they really are sick, and when treatments are given, the true outcome of the treatment is readily able to be assessed, without having to consider placebo effect.  Also, the safety standards may be more relaxed when it comes to treatments for animals vs. people - for example, the Lyme vaccine for humans was withdrawn from the market, but the one for animals is still available.  And most vets have to be a little more skilled in "reading" body language because animals can't talk, so they may be more attuned to observing the subtle signs of disease, making clinical diagnosis something they are better at than human doctors.

Just my $.02...

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