Should I worry about adopting an older dog with treated Lyme disease?

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! As long as your dog has been treated and is now healthy, there should not be any long term effects of the infection. However, in the future, testing for these infections may be difficult, as false positive results are possible. Your dog may be a carrier of Anaplasmosis and Ehrlichia life long, but this disease is not transmitted to humans. You should be careful if you are planning to, or have, another dog. I hope this helps and that all is well!

If where you live has a problem with Lyme disease, then yes there is a concern. That being said, if she is up to date on her tick treatments, then it should work to kill the tick before something like Lyme disease can be transmitted. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If Tyson has Lyme disease he should be put on a good flea and tick medication like Nexgard year round. Plus ticks carry many other diseases besides Lyme disease. Once he is healthy I would also consider vaccinating him for Lyme. Dogs can get re-infected with Lyme disease despite being exposed previously. I would also check urine samples twice yearly for the development of protein in his urine. Protein in the urine can be an indicator of Lyme nephropathy which is a devastating kidney disease from Lyme. Not all dogs get this secondary complication. I hope this helps and I wish Tyson the best!

Lyme disease is often detected right away with the sensitive tests we have now so treatment generally cures the dogs and there are no long term problems. You are correct about having a set routine, proper confinement and exercise, and obedience training to get Dobby to be housebroken again and get confidence with people, children and other dogs. Personally I would not worry about the Lyme disease, finish the medication as directed. I've rarely seen neurological problems with dogs that have had Lyme disease. I'm glad you are taking Dobby and giving him another chance at a good life. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

Hello, While we know that Lyme disease can cause kidney disease, we cannot assume that the Lyme disease is causing kidney injury in this case. Many pets will test positive for Lyme disease on a screening test if they have been exposed to the disease. However, exposure does not equate to clinical infection in every case. In order to determine if Lyme disease is causing kidney injury, we need to measure antibody levels in the blood, ultrasound kidneys, and obtain a kidney biopsy. Without this information, it will be difficult to give a prognosis. I would advise you to follow up with your veterinarian to discuss recheck kidney values, abdominal ultrasound and urinalysis.

The tick prevention will help to prevent a tick from latching on and transmitting lyme disease. Most preventatives are about 98% effective so some ticks will still latch on. Treatment for lyme disease is antibiotics for 4-6 weeks usually. If you are in a high Lyme area, I recommend to talk with your veterinarian about the Lyme vaccine which is better than him getting the disease. https://www.petcoach.co/article/lyme-disease-borreliosis-in-dogs/ Please feel free to post any additional questions.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Roxi. Lyme disease is extremely common in the northeast and upper midwest regions of the United States. Every year the distribution of disease seems to spread to include new areas. So depending on your region of the country, it is a true threat. It is spread by ticks. So if you live in an area with a high incidence of disease, you will want to vaccinate your dog as well as keeping her on year long flea and tick prevention. I hope this information helps!