Our Personal Approach to Lyme & Preventatives

I get a lot of questions about what we do for Lyme disease prevention here, so I wanted to share our personal approach and experience. This is not veterinary advice, just what has worked for our crew over many years. Always talk with your own vet and do what feels right for your animals. 💛

We do not vaccinate for Lyme, and we also use minimal chemical preventatives. Have we ever dealt with Lyme? Yes. In 20+ years of owning horses, we had one horse test positive for Lyme. We treated with doxycycline, and he was never symptomatic after treatment.

For dogs, horses, livestock, and even people, doxycycline and amoxicillin are commonly used antibiotics when Lyme is suspected and there are clinical signs—again, under the guidance of a veterinarian or physician. And let’s be honest… none of us are popping NexGard in our own mouths every month.

At most vet clinics, the in-house Lyme screening is a “snap test.”

That test looks for exposure—basically, whether a tick has transmitted Lyme bacteria at some point.

• Some dogs will test positive for exposure, some will test negative.
• Even dogs who test positive are often not symptomatic.

What can happen is that Lyme can sit quietly in the body and then “wake up” when the host is stressed or dealing with another issue—an ear infection, a virus, a general immune dip. That’s when you might suddenly see a fever, lethargy, stiffness, or just a dog that feels crummy overall.

Even with all the chemical preventatives and vaccines, our animals (and we) can still be bitten by ticks. None of these products are 100%, and the idea is that the tick dies or falls off before it can transmit disease—but a bite is still a bite.
For our animals, if there are true symptoms of Lyme and a positive test, a round of antibiotics (again, guided by a vet) has been, in my opinion, a better option than layering on lots of chemical preventatives month after month. For us, the side effects of the cure feel more acceptable than the potential side effects of constant chemicals.

I am not a veterinarian—I’m just someone with a small herd of animals who has been doing this a long time. Over the years, this is the balance that has worked for us:

• Careful monitoring
• Tick checks
• Minimal chemicals
• And treating with antibiotics when needed, under veterinary guidance

​​ Every family, every dog, and every environment is different. Please partner with your vet, do your homework, and choose the path that feels right for you and your animals. 🐾💛


https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/lyme-vaccine-dogs/