caring for an elderly dog
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caring for an elderly dog

When your dog doesn't seem interested in eating his food, do you know what to do? When your dog vomits often, could there be something serious wrong with him? If he struggles to get up the stairs, does he need to see a vet? Having never owned an older dog, I knew nothing about the things that can begin to go wrong when dogs age. I adopted this guy when my neighbor moved into a nursing home and had to learn a lot about how to care for an older dog. My blog is filled with the many things that I have learned over the last year through the help of my vet.

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caring for an elderly dog

3 Signs your Dog Needs Immediate Medical Attention To Treat Lyme Disease

Lucy Grant

Hiking through wooded areas is a favorite summer tradition for many people and their dogs. However, the summer is also a time when deer ticks are actively foraging through the woods to look for food sources – and your dog can be an appealing source of nutrition for them. If you find ticks on your dog after a day in the woods, you should be on the lookout for any signs and symptoms of Lyme disease developing over the next few days or weeks (although, in some cases, it might take a couple of months before any recognizable symptoms start to appear). Here are 3 signs your dog needs immediate medical attention to treat a case of Lyme disease.

Trouble Walking

Lyme disease causes the leg joints in the dog to become inflamed. The inflammation will make one or more of the legs appear lame, and your dog will have difficulty walking normally. The dog may recover within a few days only to have a recurrence of lameness appear several days later in the same leg or one of its other legs. The joints can become warm, swollen, and painful to the point your dog will yelp if you touch one of the affected joints. You may also notice that your dog walks stiffly with its back arched into the air.

Kidney Malfunctions

The inflammation can move to the kidneys and cause a variety of problems for your dog. If your dog starts to vomit a lot and refuses to eat, it can be a sign that it is being affected by Lyme disease. Your dog will also become abnormally thirsty and have to urinate a lot – sometimes uncontrollably. You will notice that your dog is retaining fluids as its belly and legs will become enlarged because the cells in its body will retain fluids as the kidneys begin to shut down.

Enlarged Lymph Nodes

You should check the lymph nodes around the area where you removed the ticks after your hike. Lymph nodes directly affected by Lyme disease will also become swollen and painful for your dog. Swollen lymph nodes are a sign that your dog is fighting an infection, and points to your pet having Lyme disease when combined with the other signs and symptoms.

Lyme disease can cause permanent health damage to your dog - including death. If your dog exhibits any of these symptoms of Lyme disease, you should take him to a veterinarian as soon as you can to start medical treatments to treat its condition. To find out more about pet health issues, speak with a business like Centennial Animal Hospital.


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