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| Tribeca Pet Services Newsletter
MAY 1, 2010
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SummerTime!
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SEBASTIAN'S STORY
Meet
Sebastian, an 18 month old Labradoodle. Sebastian has been a frequent (boarding) guest at our farm since he was 5 months old.
This past March, Sebastian came to stay with us while his family was on vacation. Before his stay, Marlane, Sebastian's 'mom' told us that he was not acting quite like himself. She said he appeared a little depressed at times and skipped a meal here and there, but nothing consistent.
We (Matt & I) observed Sebastian very closely when he came to visit and immediately recognized his change in behavior: there appeared to be lethargy, decrease in appetite and one incidence of vomiting. We called Marlane, expressed our concerns about Lyme disease and immediately brought him in to the Tribeca animal hospital to be evaluated. Sebastian was diagnosed with Lyme disease and began treatment.
I know from speaking with a lot of pet owners that they do not apply a flea & tick preventative during the winter months. I was curious to see if this was the case with Sebastian. After Sebastian returned home, I asked Marlane how Sebastian was doing and if she had been using preventatives throughout the year and this was her response:
"Sebastian is Much better. He's still taking his medicine. But the medication had clearly started to work within days, because by the time he came home on April 3, he was a totally different dog than he had been for the week or two before we left!! It was like night and day. He was so much happier, more energetic, more affectionate. We DID do the 1x/month Frontlne treatment, starting last fall. He was not wearing a flea/tick collar. As you know, we spend weekends out in Northern Westchester County, and there are a lot of deer around. About 4x/year, someone treats the property with some stuff that's supposed to reduce the presence of ticks (while being safe for kids and dogs)--but we're not sure its very effective (as evidence by the fact that our dog has Lyme disease!!)"
Sebastian was on a preventative, but as you will read in Dr. Yoshida's article below, using Frontline alone may not be enough.
Testimonial from Sebastians mom:
"We feel incredibly lucky to have found Diane and Matt at Tribeca Pet Service. Since Sebastian was 5 months old, Diane and Matt have cared for him while we're away. I truly can't imagine enjoying a vacation without them! Whenever we're travelling. we know that Sebastian is enjoying his own break from NYC, running with his friends at the place my children call "the dog farm". How can we be sure he's happy? Matt and Diane email us photographs, and we can see for ourselves that he is in dog heaven. The peace of mind is priceless.
The high level of care Sebastian receives while boarding at Tribeca Pet Service was particularly evident during his most recent visit. He became ill while we were away, and Diane's experience as a veterinary technician was both relevant and hugely comforting. She and Matt noticed immediately that our usually energetic 18-month-old Labradoodle was not himself, and they called us with regular updates. We were quite concerned, but knew Sebastian was in the best possible hands. Diane and Matt suspected that our dog's lethargy and loss of appetite might be a manifestation of Lyme Disease -- so they drove him to see Dr. Koprowski, a wonderful vet at Tribeca Soho Animal Hospital. Her diagnosis confirmed their suspicions. For the next several days, Diane and Matt diligently administered Sebastian's medication - and by the time we returned, he was well on the road to recovery. We couldn't have asked for more attentive, responsible and loving care!"
- Marlane Melican
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ASK THE VET: LYME DISEASE
Cherry blossoms are in bloom, and now we are all excited about enjoying the outdoors for the upcoming Summer! But, before you take your dogs out to the country to enjoy the weather, let me talk about one of the common diseases that we see at our practice in the warmer seasons.
Lyme Disease - it is one of the most common
tick-borne diseases
that we see in the Northeast. Dogs and people can become infected by a bite from a deer tick. The most common symptoms we see in our pets are: lameness from
joint pain
, lethargy, fever, and loss of appetite. Rarely, the kidneys can become affected, a syndrome called
glomerulonephritis
(GN). If GN progresses, pets can go into irreversible kidney failure. We also have several other tick-borne diseases to worry about.
Anaplasmosis
,
Ehrlichiosis
, and
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
(RMSF) are a few. Anaplasmosis and Ehrlichiosis are transmitted by Brown Dog Ticks. RMSF is transmitted by the Lone Star Tick.
People cannot get the
tick-borne disease
directly from the infected pet (you always have to be bitten by infected ticks to get the disease). But, dogs can bring back the ticks and drop them in your environment which would be a threat to your family.
Although tick borne diseases are treated easily with a course of an antibiotic, prevention is obviously the best protection. Unfortunately, there is no way of preventing ticks from biting our pets 100% of the time, but we certainly have recommendations to protect them. First, applying topical medications are very helpful. At our practice, we carry Frontline, Revolution, and 3D Vectra. These are the medications that you apply directly on the skin. Frontline and Vectra 3D are labeled to repel all the ticks that I mentioned previously. Revolution only repels Brown Dog Ticks but this product also protects our pets against Heartworm disease,
intestinal parasites
, and some mites so it is very convenient for the pets that are "City dogs"!
Recently, we have been seeing a decrease in efficacy of Frontline in certain regions. We think this may be because it has been used for a long time and some of the ticks may have developed resistance to it. So, using a tick collar is a good option for some. Although tick collars are effective, I strongly discourage you from using them if you have young children who may touch them or place them in their mouths as they are highly toxic. Vectra 3D is a promising new product so if you have young children and cannot use a tick collar, we recommend trying this product since ticks in your area probably have not developed resistance to it.
Thirdly, vaccinating your dogs against Lyme Disease may be helpful. We recommend it if your pets get tick exposure almost every week, but not if they visit the countryside infrequently.
Also, removing ticks within 24 hours of attachment decreases the chance of contracting tick-borne disease significantly. So, when they come back from running around outside, please do a "body check"!
I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming beautiful weather, and if you do go outside the City, make sure you remember to protect your furry children!
(Written by our former colleague, Dr. Kyoko Yoshida)
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