Ticks are often the culprit when a dog comes down with a serious disease, having transmitted the organism responsible for the ailment through their bite. The types of diseases dogs can get from ticks in some instances are the same as humans can acquire from tick bites. What makes things even more difficult is that the symptoms of some of these illnesses do not manifest themselves right away after the actual bite occurs, making a diagnosis problematic.
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Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
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Rocky Mountain spotted fever does not occur solely in the region of the United States for which scientists named it. Cases of this disease arise across the entire nation, with the Southeast, California and the states that encompass the Rockies seeing the most. The American dog tick, the lone star tick and the wood tick have the ability to transmit this disease by means of their bite. A bacterium called Rickettsia rickettsii causes the malady and gains access to the animal through the saliva of the tick. Symptoms include lesions on the skin, fever, lameness when the dog walks and nerve problems. Although not normally fatal, severe cases can cause death.
Babesiosis
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Babesiosis resembles malaria in humans in that a dog that suffers from it may recover and then come down with it again as it lays dormant and then flares up. The brown dog tick transmits the disease through its bite, but the tick takes as long as three days to infect its host canine. Dogs have little appetite and a fever in the beginning stages, but as the disease progresses, many symptoms develop. These include respiratory involvement, diarrhea and constipation, sores in the mouth and lethargic behavior.
Anaplasmosis
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Canine anaplasmosis is another bacterial disease that ticks transmit through their saliva when feeding on a dog. The deer tick and the brown dog tick spread forms of this ailment into dogs. The signs resemble arthritis in the dog's joints, very high fevers, no appetite, seizures and pains in the animal's neck. The disease occurs mainly in the northeastern portion of the country as well as California and the mid-Atlantic region.
Ehrlichiosis
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Veterinarians report the most instances of canine ehrlichiosis in the Gulf Coast region and the Southwest. Ehrlichia canis is the bacterium that the brown dog tick sends into the bloodstream with its bite. The organism causes a disease that at first may precipitate weight loss. Other possible symptoms of ehrlichiosis are runny nose, watery eyes, fever, depression, retinal bleeding and swollen limbs. A dog can be asymptomatic for several years before the ailment returns. Severe cases are sometimes fatal.
Lyme Disease
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The same deer tick that infects people with Lyme disease can also infect dogs. Bacteria again bring about the problem, and the symptoms are so subtle at first that it can take months for an accurate diagnosis. Kidney failure is a main concern in severe cases. Lameness that comes and goes, pain when walking, swollen joints and fatigue are classic signs of Lyme disease. The problem exists across the nation but occurs most often in the same places as anaplasmosis.
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