Tick-borne diseases including Lyme disease and ehrlichiosis cause significant welfare harm in dogs, with diagnosis complicated by non-specific signs and treatment requiring prolonged antibiotic courses.
Tick-borne diseases create welfare challenges both in their clinical signs and in the diagnostic journey. Lyme disease causes polyarthritis that shifts between joints — dogs show lameness that appears to resolve then recurs in different limbs, confusing owners and sometimes leading to delayed diagnosis. The chronic pain of untreated Lyme arthritis causes dogs to reduce exercise, change their gait, and show behavioural changes from pain. Lyme nephropathy — where immune complexes deposit in kidneys causing progressive renal failure — has a poor prognosis even with treatment and affects genetically susceptible breeds like Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers. Ehrlichiosis causes acute severe illness including platelet destruction, haemorrhage, and neurological signs. Prevention is dramatically more welfare-effective than treatment: monthly isoxazoline products kill ticks within hours of attachment, before disease transmission occurs. Tick checks after every outdoor walk and prompt removal of attached ticks provides additional protection.