Joyce
|
Lyme DiseaseAnyone know if they have anything that prevents dogs from getting Lyme disease? I thought I heard something about a vaccine for this?
Or does the Frontline or topical flea / tick products prevent this? Pretty sure my Puppy Pyr has it. 
|
littlestep
|
Diagnosing Lyme in Dogs
There is a new test for Lyme disease in dogs, known as the Canine SNAP 3Dx or the C6 SNAP test, which tests for C6 antibodies to Lyme disease, and also tests for heartworm disease and ehrlichia canis, another tick borne disease. It is done in-office and is extremely accurate in detecting Lyme in dogs. That is because the C6 antibodies are only present due to actual infection, not as a reaction to the vaccine - very helpful for dogs who have been vaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
If you get a positive on the C6 SNAP test, a follow-up test should be done, called the Lyme Quantitative C6 Antibody Test. This has to be sent out. This will establish the baseline values you'll want to see affected by treatment, making it a useful tool for therapy and not just diagnosis.
These tests are only available through IDEXX laboratories.
Treating Lyme in Dogs
Lyme, when caught early, is surprisingly easy to treat in dogs. Some cases become chronic and entrenched and may become incurable, but if you treat most canine cases appropriately and use the C6 quantitative assay test to monitor that treatment, you should be able to return your dog to normal health.
Conventional treatment for Lyme in dogs is an aggressive course of doxycycline or amoxicillin. Most knowledgeable practicioners prefer doxycycline because it will also treat several other tick borne diseases that may exist as undiagnosed co-infections. This website is about holistic care of dogs so I won't linger too long on this approach other than to say this: When I use allopathy, I use it aggressively. There is no point in half-measures. If you decide to use antibiotics, use the highest recommended dose your dog can tolerate and give the longest suggested course your dog can tolerate. Most failure to treat Lyme is the result of too low a dose given for too short a time.
Can Lyme be treated with alternative medicine? Yes, it can be, but it should be treated by a holistic veterinarian with experience treating it. Do not think that this serious infection can be treated at home. It requires expert care.
After treatment, whether with antibiotics or holistic alternatives, you would expect to see a 50 percent or better decrease in antibody levels on the C6 quantitative assay to be able to feel treatment was effective (combined, of course, with a cessation of all symptoms during the treatment itself, if the dog was symptomatic.)
Lyme Vaccination for Dogs
OK, you say, you're convinced me. This is a serious disease. Should I vaccinate my dog for it?
Unfortunately, there is no real nexus between the seriousness of a disease and the effectiveness or safety of a vaccine for that disease. In my opinion, the Lyme vaccine does not actually provide enough benefit to outweigh its substantial risks, despite the seriousness of canine Lyme Disease.
The Lyme vaccine can cause an untreatable form of Lyme disease and, like all bacterial diseases, provides short term immunity. It is not recommended at any of the vet schools in the United States. The human Lyme vaccine was withdrawn from the market. For all the reasons, I think that it's best avoided. But I have one more, very compelling reason.
There are other tick borne diseases that are much more serious than Lyme, for which we have no vaccines. So even if a very safe and effective Lyme vaccine were developed for dogs, having your dog vaccinated for Lyme isn't going to lessen the need for tick prevention. So it's hard to make the risk vs. benefit analysis for Lyme vaccination come out on the benefit side, no matter how you work the math.
For information on Lyme and all other tick diseases in dogs, there is no better resource anywhere than the Tick-L discussion list. Get more info, including many great links, and join here.
Other great websites on tick diseases in dogs:
Tick Disease
Lyme Disease: Fact from Fiction
HOLISTIC HEALTH for ANIMALS
Recently Updated:
Booster Shots/Re-vaccination, including updated info on Lyme and Lepto
» ALL ARTICLES
HOLISTIC HEALTH for PEOPLE
NEW!
Is Organic Farming Better?
» ALL ARTICLES
Subscribe to BeyondVaccination
For more info: BeyondVaccination
SEARCH CABERFEIDH.COM
Caberfeidh
www
Main : Holistic Care : Holistic Health Index : Lyme
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 1999- 2007, All Rights Reserved - Caber Feidh Scottish Deerhounds | Webmaster
|
Joyce
|
Thank you Christine! I don't think I want the vaccine for the Lyme. Funny now that we're not seeing any ticks on them, he gets this. 
|
Sher
|
Maybe you could treat your babies with Advntix. I use that whenever we take Ingrid and Sadie to Texas..
|
Joyce
|
Is that the same ingredient that's in the topical treatments? All of them are on the flea & tick prevention. I treated him for ten days with Antibiotics, so far he seems fine. thanks Sher
|
|
|
|