It is sad to share this unfortunate story.  This is a true story about a PWD puppy 6 months old who passed away from Lyme Disease after getting a Tick bite.

The family who owned this puppy were very attentive to the puppy.  They were in love...They trained the puppy, took him to his vet appointments on time and was diligent about his health.  They lived in a very rural area and the puppy was exposed to ticks on a regular basis.

They had provided their puppy with topical tick medication that was not affective and they were not made aware of this or that it was not working from their vet.  When providing tick medications you need to make sure it is a proper preventative medication - view below for Tick prevention options.  It was K9 Advantix topical medication that their vet recommended they use.  They thought he was protected and they would pull the ticks off of him regularly and would contact the vet every time.

There is only 1 type of tick that carries Lyme disease and that is Deer Ticks.  It is this type of tick that finally got this little guy. The family had no idea he was infected with Lyme Disease until he started having breathing complications and it was too late. They took him to the vet immediately to find out that he now had an immune disorder called IMHA (Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia) which is a direct complication created by Lyme Disease. Lyme Disease eats away at the red blood cells of the dog which can form this type of Anaemia. It is because of this complication that this puppy passed away as his body was too weak to fight the disease even with medication.

When it comes to Ticks there are many pieces of information the vet may not inform us. The biggest one is if you pull a tick off of your dog make sure to keep the tick for a minimum of 24 hours. You need to make sure that the tick is still alive after 24 hours to know for sure that you pulled the ticks head with the body out of the dog. This is the most important piece to know...If the head is still in the dog it is the head that will continue to release the Lyme Disease into your dog. So, you want to know you got the entire tick with the head.

Also, if the tick is still alive or even dead after the 24 hours you can then take the tick to the vet and get the tick tested for lyme disease and this way you will know for sure if your dog was exposed and you do not need to put your dog through the gruesome testing needed to discover Lyme Disease.

You want to make sure to protect your dog whether you live in a rural area or the city...Your dog can still get exposed and bit by a tick in the city even though the exposure is not as bad as in rural areas. So, please be careful and stay alert for your dogs.

One last item to know about ticks is that they are Zoonotic (also known as zoonoses) which are germs that spread between animals and people. People can get Lyme Disease from Ticks also and it is deadly if not treated in time.

Some recommended and reliable medications to use for Tick prevention are:

Simparica Trio - Protects dogs against heart-worm disease, five types of ticks, fleas, roundworms and hookworms, all in one monthly chewable.

Simparica - Protects against flease, ticks, this is a monthly chewable.

Brevecto - Kills fleas and prevents flea infestation.  Bravecto Chew and Bravecto Topical for Dogs kills ticks (black-legged tick, American dog tick, and brown dog tick) for 12 weeks and also kills lone star ticks for 8 weeks.