Tick-borne diseases including Lyme disease and babesiosis cause significant suffering in dogs and wildlife, with changing tick distributions linked to climate change.
Tick-borne diseases cause prolonged, painful illness in affected animals. Dogs with Lyme disease develop joint inflammation, lethargy, and in severe cases life-threatening kidney disease. Wildlife reservoir hosts — deer, mice, hedgehogs — carry tick burdens that cause localised discomfort but rarely the systemic disease seen in naive hosts. Climate change is expanding tick ranges, bringing Ixodes ricinus and its pathogens into areas where animals have no prior exposure. Preventive care for companion animals is highly effective, but wild animals have no such protection. Maintaining habitat diversity that supports a balance of tick hosts — rather than mono-cultures of high-density deer — helps moderate tick population density in landscapes.