Tick-borne diseases cause significant suffering in dogs and are increasingly prevalent as tick ranges expand with climate change. Understanding prevention and clinical recognition is essential for welfare-conscious owners.
Tick-borne diseases cause significant acute and chronic suffering. Lyme arthritis causes joint pain that limits mobility and quality of life; dogs with chronic Lyme nephropathy may develop kidney failure with prolonged suffering before diagnosis. Babesiosis in its severe form causes rapid deterioration — anaemia, organ failure, and death — within days without treatment. Early clinical recognition is difficult as signs are often non-specific, meaning many affected dogs suffer for extended periods before correct diagnosis. Prevention is substantially more effective than treatment: licensed tick prevention products, daily tick checks, and prompt tick removal reduce disease transmission risk substantially. The welfare case for regular parasite prevention is among the clearest in companion animal medicine.