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Treatment

If the diagnosis is Lyme disease, your dog will be treated as an outpatient, unless its health condition is severe. There are a number of antibiotics from which to choose. It is important that you keep your dog warm and dry, and you will need to control its activity until the clinical signs have improved. The recommended period for treatment is four weeks. Your veterinarian is unlikely to recommend dietary changes. Do not use pain medications unless they have been recommended by your veterinarian.

Unfortunately, symptoms do not always completely resolve in some animals. In fact, long-term joint pain may continue even after the bacteria has been fully eradicated from your dog's system. 

Living and Management

Improvement in sudden (acute) inflammation of the joints caused by Borrelia should be seen within three to five days of antibiotic treatment. If there is no improvement within three to five days, your veterinarian will want to consider a different diagnosis.

Prevention

If possible, avoid allowing your dog to roam in tick-infested environments where Lyme borreliosis is common. In addition to grooming your dog daily and removing ticks by hand, your veterinarian can recommend a variety of sprays, collars, and spot-on topical products to kill and repel ticks. Such products should only be used under a veterinarian's supervision and only according to the label's directions. In addition there are vaccines available for dogs; talk to your veterinarian about its availability and whether it is right for your dog.