Lyme Disease and Your Dog: The Importance of Prevention 

February 23rd, 2021 | Posted by CCadmin1* in Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Lyme Disease and Your Dog: The Importance of Prevention )
By: Jacqueline L. Connolly, DVM for Humane Veterinary Hospitals

Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, and is transmitted through the bite of infected ticks.  Not only is this disease one of the most common tick-borne illnesses in the United States, but it is also zoonotic – meaning it can infect both humans and animals. According to The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a large number of reported cases are in the northeast region, putting our furry family members in Pennsylvania at a greater risk.

Lyme disease is most commonly transmitted by the black legged tick (Ixodes species), after prolonged feeding (>24-28 hours). Over the span of 2-5 months, the bacteria will migrate to the skin, muscle, joints, lymph nodes and kidneys which can result in serious illness. Therefore, tick prevention is the key to keeping our pets protected and Lyme disease free.

Clinical Signs                                                                                                                        

Clinical Signs of Lyme disease vary with the patient and the stage of the disease. Initial infections may cause fever, lethargy, anorexia, lymph node enlargement, and muscle and joint pain.  Many pet owners will notice limping, a reluctance to move, and joints that are warm to the touch.  In more serious and chronic infections, the bacteria can infect the kidneys, causing ‘Lyme nephritis’ or kidney failure. Some studies suggest this may occur more often in Golden retrievers and Labradors.

Once infected with Lyme disease, dogs generally remain infected for life and can have continued flare-ups that require treatment.  Others may never show clinical signs, or may even clear the infection on their own.

So when do we test and treat for Lyme? This has been a controversial subject in veterinary medicine.

Testing

If your pet has shown any of the clinical signs of Lyme disease your veterinarian will order a blood test to determine if he/she is Lyme positive.  One of the commonly used tests is a SNAP 4DX, which also screens for heartworm disease and two other tick borne illnesses. This test is generally done at every annual exam to ensure your pet is healthy and on proper prevention.

If your dog is Lyme positive, a urine test and comprehensive blood test may be advised. This is an important step in making sure your pet does not have a more serious form of Lyme disease, Lyme nephritis.

To Treat or Not To Treat

Treatment is not always recommended for Lyme positive dogs.  If your dog is showing clinical signs, your veterinarian will prescribe a 3-4 week course of an antibiotic such as Doxycycline. In more severe cases, your veterinarian may also prescribe medications for pain.  Symptoms of Lyme disease should resolve within the first week of treatment.

In non-clinical cases, your veterinarian will recommend additional tests to determine kidney function. If your dog has protein in his/her urine, or evidence of kidney dysfunction, antibiotics will be prescribed. If laboratory tests are all normal, your veterinarian will continue monitoring with yearly physical examinations and bloodwork.

The general consensus at this time, is that treatment with antibiotics in pets that are asymptomatic is not necessary. Treatment may put your dog at risk of possible side effects from the antibiotic, such as vomiting and diarrhea, with little benefit. As medical professionals, we take antibiotic resistance very seriously, and do not want to overuse these medications when they are not needed.

Prevention

Keeping your dog protected from ticks year round is the best way to prevent Lyme disease. There are many products on the market including topical and chewable monthly preventatives and collars. Some products are more effective than others, which is why it is important to speak with your veterinarian about which products work best.

For patients at a greater risk of contracting the disease, your veterinarian will give a yearly Lyme vaccine. High risk patients include dogs that live in endemic areas (northeast region), those with outdoor lifestyles, and those who frequently visit wooded areas such as with hiking, camping, or hunting.

Checking your dog for ticks can help limit the amount of time a tick is on your pet, and therefore decreases the probability of transmission.  Black legged ticks can be very small and hard to find especially if in the groin, between the toes, inside the ears, or under the tail.  A thorough check of both yourself and your pet should be conducted when coming in from outside.

At Humane Veterinary Hospitals we understand your pet is a member of your family. Please make an appointment if you have any additional questions regarding your pet and Lyme disease. It is our goal to keep your pet healthy and free from disease for many years to come.

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Redefining, Not Predefining

February 15th, 2021 | Posted by CCadmin1* in Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Redefining, Not Predefining)
by: Karel Minor, CEO/President of Humane Pennsylvania

There is a risk in charitable service work to decide what people need and who needs it without actually asking them.  That makes sense since as service delivery organizations, we are generally experts at what we do and we have the experience to think we know who needs that vital service.  The only problem is we are often wrong.

While charities are different from for-profit businesses in crucial ways, imagine how well a great business would survive if it didn’t seek out a better idea of what their customers wanted and instead just kept giving them the same, great old thing.  You don’t need to imagine too hard.  Just think of Blockbuster Video.  Their business model no longer worked in the world of digital access to entertainment and they didn’t change to adapt to new consumer desires.  And now they are gone.

Some businesses do adapt and change to pursue the preferences of their customers.  Netflix started as a company that mailed(!) you DVD’s(!!) of movies through a tiered subscription service(!!!).  Can you even  imagine now waiting to get an envelope with a physical copy of a movie in it based on whether you paid enough to have one, two or three movies at a time?  That would be a ridiculous model now, but it helped kill off Blockbuster.

Netflix was almost killed off when video on demand made it possible by faster internet speeds.  But instead of being the next Blockbuster, they figured out what people wanted next.  They became a giant of today, not a relic of yesterday.  Imagine if they had just stuck to their guns and their old business model without surveying the needs of the marketplace.

It’s a lesson I take in my charitable world for two reasons: 1. Netflix figured out what people wanted and how to give it to them, and 2. Netflix didn’t abandon one model to chase the next new model.  They transitioned to a new one while still embracing the old one effectively.  It turns out the still mail out DVDs.  Who knew?  A for-profit company may go out of business when their product becomes obsolete, like the whale oil companies went out of business with the rise of petroleum alternatives.  Or if they are lucky, they can transition into new markets, like Netflix did.

Charities face issues of obsolescence, too.  The “March of Dimes Movement” is an old standard example of how a charity can respond to changes.  The March of Dimes was founded to fight polio.  When a vaccine allowed the US to completely overcome the disease, they had to decide what their purpose was since they couldn’t exist to fight a disease that no longer existed.  They turned their focus to fighting birth defects, and still exist with that focus today.

Unfortunately, charities are often bad at surveying what the real needs of the day are, as well as who needs them.  We say we don’t sell products, we provide critical services, so we don’t always learn from the lessons of the for-profit world.   We are sometimes so wrapped up in our work we don’t look outward to see what is changing in our industry.  That doesn’t make a charity bad, it just means we are kind of bad at doing that.  What I think is bad is when we make the mistake of not actually asking people what they need and how they need it delivered to be most effective.

When we decide in advance what the need is and who needs it, we are likely to provide the wrong services or services that are right, but delivered in the wrong way.  We might be right to think this or that group needs this or that service.  Or we might be wrong, and we may be ineffective or end up applying Band-Aids when a cure or, better yet, a prevention is within our grasp.

How do you determine what people – or animals – need, you ask?

Humane Pennsylvania just conducted a full survey sent to every one of the 30,000 households in the City of Reading to determine the needs of pets and their caretakers, thanks to the generosity of the Giorgi Family Foundation.  The survey, which was developed with the assistance of experts from Penn State University, provides an extremely high confidence interval and low margin of error.  We are still crunching the numbers with the help of experts from Albright College (we love higher ed!) and will be sharing them soon.

The goal was to see what the community thought they needed, what they felt they didn’t have access to, or what pet related issues they felt caused stress for them or their family.  We asked everyone, not just “poor” people or this group or that group.  We asked all people.

The answers were surprising.  A lot of it made sense.  People at lower incomes shared that they had a harder time affording the cost of food and veterinary care.  But we also saw that a large number of people at higher income levels, levels which are not generally targeted by “charity” veterinary services, expressed concern of these costs, too.  And that these costs had resulted in an inability to pay for or to have to choose between pets and family necessities.  It turned out far more people may need help than we thought or were even attempting to help. To quote Big Bird, “Asking questions is a good way to find things out.”

Fortunately, this has served to reinforce the work Humane Pennsylvania has been doing to ensure that meaningful access to veterinary care and other supports are available to all, through a continuum of services.  Until now, we just didn’t have the data to prove it.  To quote a t-shirt, “In God we trust. All others bring data.”

Humane Pennsylvania is dedicated to helping animals and people, in old time-tested ways like adoption and in new ones like community access to veterinary care, supported by fact and data.  We try to do it by redefining the problems we seek to overcome, not by predefining the problems and solutions.  We do it because we know it’s the best way to help the most animals and people, in the most cost effective and impactful way.  We know we can love animals and hug puppies and kittens, and also be rigorous and face ever-changing realities and needs in our community.  We think doing one well requires doing the other well, too.

We also do it because we want our organization, and the entire animal welfare sector, to go the way of Netflix, not Blockbuster Video.

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