I was diagnosed with Lyme disease last summer. Fortunately for me it was caught in the early stage (I had the red circle rash). I was on a very potent antibiotic for 21 days and then tested again. It appears I was successfully treated.

The nature of this is tricky. When the initial disease is contracted (through a deer tick bite) there are no symptoms in dogs. The bacteria takes time to mutate and it usually attacks joints causing arthritic symptoms which are noticable usually 1 to 2 years after the fact (sometimes sooner). Even at this point if the bacteria has not caused major problems and is killed efficiently, recovery is successful. It is not easy to kill all the bacteria and long term antibiotics are necessary to prevent mutation.

Anyone who has a pet in a area of potential ticks should have a lyme vacination done on their pet. This is not a vacination most vets give routinely.

I hope Finny is treated successfully. Make sure you keep the antibiotics given as scheduled.