Hello Folks...
With the frontline thread active, thought instead of hijacking, I'd start a new thread.

I've just been diagnosed with Lyme Disease. Go figure. After years and years of "off the beaten path" in the deep wilderness, that I (a very healthy person) would get THAT disease of all things. Needless to say, I did not have my "frontline" on that day out hunting mushrooms.

So, given the things I've learned the past week about Lyme disease, and the fact that it has been very rare in my parts, I thought I'd send out a heads up to those of you who know about this and to those who don't.

In people and for dogs, be aware that this disease is so, so often misdiagnosed. There was a woman here misdiagnosed for a DECADE!!! So, for yourself, your dogs, be aware of any obvious bite (although only 60% present with bite rash), change in attitude, lameness, and lethargy. Preventative measures go a long way...(ie: frontline for dogs, tick spray/light clothing, etc for people). Thankfully, the disease is fully treatable if caught early.

Oh Michele,
I am so sorry to hear that.

Please keep us updated. What have they started you on as far as treatment?

Hey, thanks Carol for the "condolences" ??? I am on Doxycycline and Dr. (excellent MD) believes 100% treatable, as I caught it early.

If anyone has any information/thoughts to me about me, go ahead and pm me...thanks to you who already have...

I did want to post as a reminder about the dogs, and want to extend my o.p. to last week, at training. I noticed a red spot on the belly of a fellow trainee's dog. I mentioned something to the owner, and she basically thought it was benign, nothing to worry about...I just asked her to keep an eye on it, which, obviously she will.

Personally, I "blew off" the bite on my upper chest as a gnat bite or spider, nothing to worry about too, until my *mom* made me go in, as I had had the bite for about 2 weeks. I honestly thought it would clear right up, as, well, the middle was clearing, so I thought it was healing...DUH, uh, bullseye!

So, here's to you who are "armed" with information and also to those of you who continue to want to learn!

Michele, I'm really sorry to hear that, too. I live in tick central and have an almost constant paranoia about ticks and Lyme disease...it's not rare where we are, in humans or dogs.

You're absolutlely right about it being misdiagnosed. It can manifest itself in so many ways. That's one of the things that scares me about it. It can also lie dormant for many years. You're lucky you caught it early.

Since it's such a problem here, doctors will give people a preventative round of antibiotics if they have a confirmed deer tick bite on people. Not that I love antibiotics, but since the disease is so tenacious once it gets established...I'd rather hedge my bets and get treated early when it's vulnerable. Another option is that if you're lucky enough to have gotten the tick, you can have it tested. Apparently it's easier to diagnose a tick than it is a human.

This is another reason why Frontline is such a necessary evil for me. It's not just the dogs that have to worry about Lyme disease. The ticks they bring in in the afternoon can be dining on you or your family that evening.

I wish you a speedy and easy treatment.

Hi Michelle,

Sorry to hear you got Lyme disease, but so glad to hear your mom was on the ball and it was caught early. I've seen Lyme in someone who wasn't diagnosed in time, and it was NOT fun. Thanks for reminding us all it can happen to both people and dogs, and telling us what to watch for.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Anita

I switched from Frontline to K9 Advantix on the last dose because from what I've read, Frontline doesn't repel fleas or ticks, but kills them after they've already bitten the dog. K9 Advantix is supposed to repel before the bite, with the repellant also causing death to the parasite. If this is true, Frontline doesn't seem to protect as well if the tick or flea gets to bite before it dies. It's the bite that transmits the disease. K9 Advantix also has the added mosquito repellant properties which Frontline does not.

Michele, sorry to hear about this. I hope you make a full recovery. We used to live where ticks could have been a problem (forest of pines and oaks). They seem to love oak trees, I tried to stay away from the trees. I don't think our dog at that time was ever bit, or any of us, but who knows. Couldn't keep the dog away from the oak trees, but never saw a tick on her.

Thank you for sharing your experience. As a team that spends a lot of time outside, it is something to be considered. I too live in an area with ticks, but Lyme is not common. In fact when I wanted my dog tested for Lyme when he was young (he came from a breeder where Lyme was prevelant), a test had to be ordered in for us.

I check myself and the dog for ticks after every bush romp in the spring, and groom often. Ticks on a furry dog are not that easy to find though . Last year I found a couple of crawlers before they attatched, once I had to remove one form my dogs ear (recently attatched, I brought it to the vet).

I choose not to vaccinate my dog for Lyme, nor use anti tick products.

Lyme is a hot topic in on a breed realted list I am on. In areas where Lyme is 'hot" it seems that dogs can get it regardless of if they have been vaccinated or use a repellant. Many have found a Tick List (I can't remember name, but could find it) very helpful for dealing with lyme related issues.

Michele, now that you have had this experience, would you do anything differently? Do you vaccinate your dog for lyme? What are peoples experience here with things like Frontline for actually preventing it?

I am so glad for you that they caught it quickly (thanks Mom), and you are doing okay. Like you said, there are people (dogs too) that go undiagnosed for years and don't fair so well.

I am pretty comfy in nature and have no problems with spiders, snakes, bears and the likes but I am sure I am not alone when I say that ticks just really creep me out.

Thanks for bringing up an important topic,

Jennifer

Am I correct in assuming that the black ticks you pull off your dog with tweezers or whatever are NOT the ticks that carry the Lyme disease? Aren’t the disease-carrying ticks (deer ticks) light brown and so small that you can hardly see them? Just wondering because I pull off big black ones rather frequently, but don’t really worry about them…

They are both brown and black depending on the sex, here is a link to a picture of them next to a dime. I also live in PA and we have an enormous amount of ticks here even for a urban area.

http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/ticks/iscap/all4.html

My older shepherd does have lyme disease.

Kimberly

 Quote: sandy moore

I switched from Frontline to K9 Advantix on the last dose because from what I've read, Frontline doesn't repel fleas or ticks, but kills them after they've already bitten the dog. K9 Advantix is supposed to repel before the bite, with the repellant also causing death to the parasite. If this is true, Frontline doesn't seem to protect as well if the tick or flea gets to bite before it dies. It's the bite that transmits the disease. K9 Advantix also has the added mosquito repellant properties which Frontline does not.

As a general rule, the tick has to be embedded in the animal (or person) a minimum of 24 hours for transmission of the disease to take effect. The Frontline kills the ticks/fleas way before that time period.

Here a quote from this site: http://www.astdhpphe.org/infect/Lyme.html

 Quote:

Lyme disease is passed to humans and other animals when a tick infected with the bacterium bites the person or animal and stays attached long enough (usually more than 36 hours) to take a blood meal.

However, the information on Lyme disease is sketchy at best, and the one key aspect of Lyme disease is that it's seems to have few "rules." I would also imagine that certain people with weakened immune systems would have faster transmission rates.

I did try K9 Advantix for a few rounds because I heard all that you heard about the higher benefits, but it was my experience that I found a MUCH larger number of embedded and live ticks in my dog than I did on Frontline. Also, it's not recommended for people who have cats in the household (I don't, but I wanted to throw that out there).

In the battle against ticks and fleas and Lyme disease, my opinion is...use whatever product works for you. There could be many variables in each specific dog that would make one product better than another.