Can my Dog Contract Lyme Disease?

One of the chief goals of home life is to provide a healthy living environment for you and your family, and that includes your dog, too. Owning a dog is nearly the same as raising a child, and most people will go to great lengths to ensure their furry best friends lead happy and healthy lives. Unlike children, though, dogs aren’t great at communicating their feelings and symptoms if they have an injury or illness. As far as they are concerned, dogs will try to tough out whatever is bugging them – after all, they don’t know how or when to ask for medical assistance. Thus, the burden of recognizing when a dog is ill or injured falls to the owner, so familiarizing yourself with canine diseases and ailments is important to keep your dog healthy. Something to be aware of is that diseases humans get are sometimes harmful to animals too, and this disease category includes Lyme disease. Unfortunately, your dog can also contract Lyme disease, so preventative measures are essential.

How to recognize Lyme disease in Westchester

Tick populations are booming as our winters become progressively warmer, spelling bad news for Lyme disease numbers in the Northeast. If ticks weren’t horrible enough already, these parasitic arachnids will harvest your blood and will occasionally transmit a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi, which is responsible for causing Lyme disease in both humans and other animals like dogs. Although Lyme disease used to get very little attention, its transmission has grown dramatically over the years, and staying aware of its symptoms is more important than ever. So, what are some symptoms if your dog has been infected?

Unfortunately, something to be aware of is the delayed arrival of Lyme disease symptoms. After contracting the disease, a dog can take weeks and even months before displaying symptoms. Once symptoms are visible, however, taking immediate action is essential.

Symptoms of Lyme disease in your dog may include: Fever, swollen joints, limping, appetite loss, kidney issues, and even lethargy. Without treatment, a chronic Lyme infection can cause irreparable damage to the joints, organs, and even the nervous system.

Although testing for Lyme disease is available for your fluffy friend, results can take more than two months to arrive, which means preventing the disease in the first place is the best available protection.

Protection against Lyme disease in Westchester for you and your dog

Although there are treatments you can give your dog to discourage ticks latching on, perhaps the best method of tick control is by implementing tick control on your property. After all, the best defense against Lyme disease is to avoid tick encounters in the first place. At Mosquito Squad, we pride ourselves on powerful tick control treatments that are proven to dramatically reduce the tick population in your yard. Our leading treatment option is our barrier protection treatment, available in our original and naturalformulas, which is applied around your property’s perimeter to discourage ticks from approaching. When applied to tick hot spots, the mist will also act as a pesticide to ticks that encounter the mist.

For year-round protection, we also offer tick tubes. Tick tubes are biodegradable cylinders installed around your property that are filled with pesticide-treated cotton. Mice love to use cotton in their nests, and they use the cotton to insulate their homes. Ticks love mice nests for wintering-over and easy food, and they are immediately eliminated when they touch the pesticide. Mice are known to carry Lyme disease, so when the ticks that feed off of mice are eliminated, you face much less risk of encountering a rick with Lyme disease on your property.

You and your dog deserve the best, so trust Mosquito Squad of Westchester and Rockland for powerful tick protection. Give us a call at (914) 353-4921.