If you notice your calm, friendly pup is suddenly meaner and easily agitated, she could be suffering from Lyme disease.
Lyme disease is a serious condition that is transferred to dogs by deer ticks, and it could cause your dog to exhibit behavioral changes, including irritability, aggression and other health issues.
How do dogs react when they have a tick?
For example, “many dogs experience
mild to high fevers, loss of appetite, pain, lethargy, and depression
as a result of tick bites.” While these symptoms may come and go rather quickly, others last for much longer and require medical attention in order to relieve and/or cure the disease.
Can ticks cause problems in dogs?
The most important tick-borne diseases that affect dogs are Lyme disease, Ehrlichiosis, Anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Babesiosis, Bartonellosis, and Hepatozoonosis
. All can have serious health consequences for dogs and many can have serious health consequences for people as well.
What harmful effects can do the ticks to your pet dog?
Although rare, ticks can
consume enough of your dog's blood to cause a deficiency called anemia
. Certain female ticks can also cause a rare paralysis in dogs as a result of a toxin they produce while feeding. More important, ticks are capable of causing many diseases in your pet.
How does a dog act with Lyme disease?
Dogs can display several forms of Lyme disease, but the most common symptoms are
lameness, swollen lymph nodes, joint swelling, fatigue, and loss of appetite
. In addition, serious kidney complications have been associated with Lyme disease in dogs.
Can Lyme cause irrational behavior?
Lyme patients tend to have trouble with mood regulation, cognition, energy, sensory processing, and/or sleep. This
can manifest into paranoia, hallucinations, mania, and/or obsessive-compulsive behaviors
.
How long after tick bite do dogs show symptoms?
Your pet may start showing acute symptoms 1 to 3 weeks after being infected with canine granulocytic ehrlichiosis. However, clinical symptoms may take
months to a year
to show. Some pets may never develop symptoms after exposure to the disease.
What happens if you don't remove a tick from a dog?
If not dealt with swiftly and safely, ticks can present a very real threat to the health and wellbeing of a doggy's life. Besides looking awful,
ticks can cause a reaction in the skin that leads to a small abscess
, especially if not removed properly.
What to do after you remove a tick from a dog?
Step 4: Cleanup and after-care
Wash your hands, clean your pet's wound with antiseptic and make sure to clean your tweezers with isopropyl alcohol
. Keep an eye on the area where the tick was to see if an infection surfaces. If the skin remains irritated or infected, make an appointment with your veterinarian.
Do tick bites make dogs tired?
Hallmark signs of tick-borne diseases in dogs include vomiting fever, swelling around joints, lameness and lethargy
.
Are ticks painful for dogs?
Finding a tick embedded in your dog's skin can be disturbing.
Not only do these parasitic arachnids cause itching and soreness
, but they also carry diseases—some of which are life-threatening. Removing a tick can be tricky, but it must be done, and you need to know how to assess your dog's health after a tick bite.
How long can ticks stay on dogs?
Once a host is found, a mature tick feeds until it swells to 10 times its original size.
Some males stay on the host up to three years
, engorging, mating and repeating the cycle; females engorge, fall off, lay eggs and die. Some species can stay on your dog for three months, others for three years.
What does an embedded tick look like on a dog?
Once a tick is embedded into a dog's skin, it might look like
a raised mole or dark skin tag
. Since it can be hard to distinguish from a small bump, you'll have to look very closely for telltale signs it's a tick such as the hard, oval body and eight legs.
What are the 3 stages of Lyme disease in dogs?
3 stages of Lyme disease are
early localized Lyme, early disseminated Lyme, and late disseminated Lyme
.
What are the first signs of Lyme disease in dogs?
Many animals can have Lyme disease and show no signs. In dogs, the most common signs include
fever, loss of appetite, painful or swollen joints, lameness that comes and goes, swollen lymph nodes, and lethargy
. If Lyme disease is left untreated it can lead to damage in the kidneys, nervous system, and heart.
Can dogs fully recover from Lyme disease?
And now for your sigh of relief:
Yes, Lyme disease in dogs can be cured if the treatment is applied in time
. That's why it's super important to take your dog for a checkup if you suspect they were bitten by a tick, even if they don't show any active symptoms.
Can Lyme cause irritability?
Lyme can affect your moods. You may be more irritable, anxious, or depressed.
Twenty-one percent of early Lyme patients reported irritability as a symptom
. Ten percent of Lyme patients in the same study reported anxiety ( 15 ).
Can Lyme disease cause aggressive behavior?
A recent article on suicide and Lyme and associated diseases revealed that
68% of LD patients acquired some form of aggressiveness
, including 11% who became homicidal after infection, and 26% of the suicidal patients were also homicidal.
Can Lyme disease affect behavior?
Children with Lyme often have trouble in the classroom, because
the disease can contribute to learning disabilities and behavioral problems
. Children are especially vulnerable to tick-borne diseases because they are physically low to the ground, where the ticks are.
What color are ticks on dogs?
Both male and female dog ticks have flat,
reddish brown
, oval bodies, but when engorged may become gray-blue or olive color.
What happens if a tick falls off in the house?
Ticks thrive in moist and humid conditions where the humidity is 90 percent or higher, and most cannot survive in a climate-controlled house for more than a few days. Indoors,
they simply desiccate (dry out) and die
.
What happens if tick head stays in?
Leaving a tick's head embedded in your (or your furry friend's) skin doesn't increase your risk of tick-borne disease. However, a tick's head left embedded in your skin
can increase your risk of infection
. The tick's head and mouth parts are covered in germs that you don't want to leave inside your skin.
Should you take your dog to the vet after removing a tick?
Most vets will say that
you do not need to take your dog to the vet after a tick bite
, but you should monitor your dog for signs or symptoms of Lyme disease for the next several weeks or months. Rest assured knowing that only 10% of dogs that contract Lyme disease will develop symptoms of the illness.
