Lymes Vaccine?

[Dallasbaby]

I've seen mentioned by Brooke&Ryan, and Judy, and other various people about their dog ending up with Lymes Disease. I just recently decided to have my vaccinated for this, since we're moving to the country and all.

What is lymes? Did I do the right thing by vaccinating my dogs for this?
(I will be able to read posts until Friday)

THANKS!

[LavenderRott]

PM Judy before you vaccinate. Seems to me that the vaccine was part of the problem with her Czar.

[Dallasbaby]

oh crap, I vaccinated already..... crap crap crap!!!!!

[LavenderRott]

Don't panic, talk to Judi. I am sure your dogs will be fine.

[lblax]

you did the right thing by vaccinating your dog against lymes disease like everyother vaccine for animals or people it doesnt always help and sometines in rare occasions there are reactions , but that is true with any vaccine or medication but chances are it will keeop your dog from contracting lymes

[babybluetx23]

Originally Posted by Dallasbaby

What is lymes? Did I do the right thing by vaccinating my dogs for this?

Here is what I found about Canine Lymes Disease:

http://www.pressenter.com/~dvmvis/canlyme.htm

The disease appears to affect dogs and humans and is of much less importance in cats, cattle and horses.
Lymes disease is caused by a spirochete, a bacteria like organism, called
Borrelia burgdorferi. These are extracellular organisms that are
transferred from host to host by a bloodsucking vector that usually
involves a tick.........ect (The rest can be found in the article)

[spidey]

The problem with vaccinating for it is that the dog can still get it, but test results won't be reliable. What I've learned from Judy's experience with this (her dog was vaccinated and got the disease anyway, and it took a very long time to diagnose and treat him and she nearly lost him), is that if you've already vaccinated, learn what the signs and symptoms are (learn them very well), and watch your dog for them (using a Preventic collar is also a really good idea), and if he shows signs of them, INSIST that he be treated for Lyme disease, even though he's been vaccinated (it's a good idea to tell a reluctant vet Judy's story).

[Judy Chrusch]

Jilleen, did you get my PM? I basically said what Amanda said and YES Czar was vaccinated for lyme and YES Czar STILL got lyme :( . But my oppinion on this is had I not vaccinated for lyme, we would have known right away and had him treated. By getting the vaccine, it masked the symptons till it was almost too late. He started with a limp off and on since the age of 7 months, everything escalated at a year and a half :( . While all this was going on, with the intermittent limp, he had every test possible and even when he was later tested for the disease, NOT all vets read lab work properly when it comes to having had the vaccine. He had a Type 3 lyme and my original vet did not pick it up and also on the report it says, if you suspect lyme, treat immediately, which he did not bc he was too busy trying to blame Czar's kidney disease on everything else :( .

We got down to the end where Czar was dieing, as everyone knows, we saw yet another vet after the second and third said there was no hope, we thought what do we have to lose so we saw a 4th vet and the first thing out of her mouth was, " well I guess we can all agree on one thing, he has lyme :( " We went from there, she gave us no guarantees and he is alive and doing well today bc I pushed the limit and had support from everyone here.

I urge EVERYONE to ALWAYS go with your gut no matter how silly it may seem bc no one knows your pet better then you. By all means use my story to help in deciding what is best for you. I in good conscious can not tell anyone NOT to vaccinate for lyme, it's an individual decision BUT you MUST know the signs, what's going on around you and not worry if you chose to do it or not. Educate yourself, that's all you can do. Am I scared Czar will get it again, of course and if he does it will probbably kill him this time BUT, I use the Preventic collar and avoid high risk areas where deer are plentiful and with the advice of my vet we have done EVERYTHING she has said from day one which is why he's with us today.

Czar is now 3 years old and has never been vaccinated for anything since his first series of shots when he was a pup. I do titers yearly and that tells me whether or not he needs to be re-vaccinated. I am comfortable with my decision but again don't tell people what to do.

I know MANY people are sick of hearing my story but there's always new people joining and reading and it's good to talk about this since the season is coming, although they are around in winter as well. I hope this helps alittle and Jilleen do not worry sweetie, you did what many do and that's o.k, just know the signs, act on them if you see them and make sure someone hears you and hey, tell them about Czar and you don't want to be in that situation. My dad knows my story of course and still chose to vaccinate for lyme and that's o.k and of course I will be right on his butt if I see any signs, lol.

To this day, Czar's limp in the front will come back when he plays too hard or jumps like a rabbit when he's just having fun outside but we rest and I basically let him do what he wants and what he can do and that is just about everything within reason and his favorite part of the day is when daddy comes home and they go for a jog, that's almost as good as a raw bone, lol :D . Thankyou and be a wise pet owner and don't put your pet at risk.

Judy

[JDUCE]

Judy do you use frontline or any mds like that?

[Judy Chrusch]

Hi Jo, I use Revolution, though it's not good enough by itself and the Preventic Collar :) .

Judy

[JDUCE]

i just wanted to know. thanks do you use a heartworm pill too?

[spidey]

Revolution is primarily a heartworm med, the fleas, ticks and other parasites it can kill are "added bonuses" (and I've found it next to useless against ticks, so I'll be using a Preventic collar).

[Judy Chrusch]

Amanda is right, I use it as a preventative for heartworm and as far as the rest, she's right, it's basically useless. The Preventic collar has worked beautifully for me. When I used Frontline I still found ticks on him but I have yet to find one with the collar, knock on wood :D .

Judy

[mmilard]

Judy...thank you for your story!! I would keep telling your story because there are people, such as myself that has a lot of questions. I suppose my question to you would be, about 6 years ago, my girl was very ill. Vomiting, not eating or drinking and when she would walk, she would shake her hind legs as if she had something stuck to her paws. The vet said that she was border-line lyme diseased. She is down in Miami Fl and we sprayed our yard often, but my neighbor didn't. His dogs paws were spread out, full of ticks. I'm thinking that is where she got her problem from. Anyways...trying not to get off topic here, but shortly after that and after she was spayed, she began to have seizues. Could the seizures have been caused from being border-line lyme? She's been tested by several different vets for her seizures and nothing comes about except that she may have epilepsy ~*spelling*~ and is on phenol barb twice a day. What do you think?

[LavenderRott]

When I lived in Germany, I spent most weekends walking in the woods with my collie. A friend of mine often went too with her Golden Retriever. You could see the ticks on that Golden's fur without any effort at all. It was awful. I put a tsp. of garlic powder in my collie's food every day and she rarely got ticks. Just a thought.