Tick-borne diseases including Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis cause significant acute and chronic illness in dogs, with welfare implications that are often underestimated.
Tick-borne diseases cause acute suffering characterized by fever, malaise, joint pain, and systemic illness in affected dogs. The polyarthritis of Lyme disease causes limb pain that may be severe enough to cause reluctance to walk; affected dogs often appear suddenly lame, hesitant, and distressed. Ehrlichiosis in its chronic form causes prolonged immunosuppression, weight loss, and in severe cases, bleeding disorders that cause pain and weakness. The insidious onset of many tick-borne diseases means dogs may suffer for days before owners recognize illness serious enough to prompt veterinary care. Chronic Lyme nephritis — a rare but devastating complication — causes progressive kidney failure with all its associated welfare impacts. Prevention through reliable tick control products eliminates the welfare burden of tick-borne disease essentially completely, making this one of the highest-value preventive interventions in companion animal care.