This page quotes a published document. Everything below in quotation marks is copied word for word from https://capcvet.org/guidelines/lyme-disease/, published by CAPC and retrieved on 2026-09-16. The quotations are excerpts; the document itself is linked and is the authority. Nothing has been reworded.
This page quotes the Companion Animal Parasite Council guideline for Lyme Disease, section by section: the opening sentences of 8 sections, copied without change and linked to the guideline, which was retrieved on 2026-09-16. The guideline itself is the authority and carries the full text.
The guideline
Companion Animal Parasite Council, Lyme Disease, at https://capcvet.org/guidelines/borrelia-burgdorferi/. Retrieved 2026-09-16. Each heading below is the guideline’s own, and the quotation under it is how that section begins. The full section, and the species tabs where the guideline gives them, are on the linked page.
Synopsis
CAPC Recommends Lyme disease in canine patients is best prevented by performing daily tick checks/avoiding tick habitat, using year-round acaricides with label claim against Ixodes spp. and, if living in or traveling to an endemic area, vaccination. Screening dogs for exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi due to rapid geographic expansion of endemic areas.
Species
Canine Borrelia burgdorferi Feline Borrelia burgdorferi Despite the common findings of antibodies reactive to B. burgdorferi in cats in endemic areas, natural disease caused by infection in cats - if it occurs at all - is poorly understood. Accordingly, little is known about the prevalence of infection, disease manifestations, and treatment recommendations for feline infections with this agent.
Disease
Most dogs exposed to B. burgdorferi appear to develop subclinical infections. Dogs with acute Lyme borreliosis may present with fever, shifting leg lameness, swollen joints, enlarged lymph nodes, lethargy, depression, and anorexia.
Prevalence
Infection with B. burgdorferi is common in the northeastern, upper midwestern, and West Coast states. In endemic areas, regional seroprevalence in dogs ranges from 1.4% in the West to as high as 13.3% in the Northeast.
Diagnosis
A clinical diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis usually depends on the presence of compatible clinical signs and positive serology for B. burgdorferi . Although dogs with protein-losing nephropathy may develop azotemia, hypoalbuminemia, and proteinuria, hematology and serum chemistry do not reveal specific evidence of infection in most dogs with Lyme disease.
Treatment
The standard treatment for disease caused by B. burgdorferi infection in dogs is doxycycline at 10 mg/kg orally every 24 hours for 30 days. Longer courses of treatment may be necessary in some dogs, particularly those with nephropathy.
Control and Prevention
Attached ticks found on pets should be promptly removed to prevent transmission of B. burgdorferi or any other pathogens they may harbor. To avoid both zoonotic infection and accidental inoculation of pathogens into the pet during the removal process, ticks should be retracted using forceps or a commercial tick-removal device, and care should be taken to avoid contact with tick contents, ideally by wearing gloves.
Public Health Considerations
Lyme borreliosis caused by B. burgdorferi is the most common vector-borne disease of people in the United States. Symptoms of human Lyme disease include erythema migrans (an ‘bull’s-eye-shaped’ rash expanding from the site of the tick bite), fever, myalgia, arthralgia, and headache.
Continue reading public health considerations on capcvet.org
Sources
- capc-borrelia-burgdorferiCAPC · retrieved 2026-09-16
“CAPC Recommends Lyme disease in canine patients is best prevented by performing daily tick checks/avoiding tick habitat, using year-round acaricides with label claim against Ixodes” (Synopsis)
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