Park Hill Vet: Battle Of The Bugs
Tick-Borne Diseases Continue To Spread Countrywide
By Margot K. Vahrenwald, DVM, CVJ
Have you ever watched the 1997 movie Starship Troopers? It may not be Oscar-worthy, but it is entertaining. As we get in all the updated statistics and forecasts on our bugs for this summer, I can’t help but feel like we need a few flame-throwing bug bombers for ourselves and our pets against ticks.
It’s evolution. The bugs were here before humans and will evolve to survive in a possibly post-human world far into the future.
For the past 20 years, the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) has issued annual forecasting maps for the most common parasites that are a source of disease for pets — mainly dogs — and people.
Ticks vectoring pathogens such as Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis and many others have long been spreading across the country. There are many reasons for this, and the biggest include changes in distribution and prevalence of different vector populations, an increased mobilization of pets for rehoming to different states, changes in wildlife populations and changes in habitat that bring parasites closer to us and our pets.
Why do we care? Because tick-borne diseases affect mammals, including humans. So, as we see increased positive test results for Lyme, Ehrlichia and Anaplasma in our canine and some feline patients, we must be concerned for the health of their human companions. A recent Wall Street Journal article, “Ticks, and Their Diseases, Spread Out,” focused on the difficulty of diagnosing tick-borne diseases in people because of vague, changing symptoms.
The 2023 forecast thankfully doesn’t show huge jumps in increased risk from last year — just slow and steady expansion of the territories of all the tick species across the U.S., including Colorado. When creating their forecasting, CAPC annual reviews test data from as many sources as possible, including national and local veterinary reference labs such as IDEXX, the Colorado Department of Environment and Public Health and veterinary teaching hospital diagnostic labs. They remind us, however, that their numbers underestimate as they represent only about 30 percent of the pet population.
In Colorado, we used to simply have back-country ticks like the Rocky Mountain Wood tick and other less known Dermacentor species that are the carriers for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Tularemia. Now in 2023, our tick species for the following are well established: the Lone Star Tick (diseases vectored: Ehrlichia and Anaplasma species, often in the same tick); the deer ticks (disease vectored: Lyme) and the Brown Dog tick (diseases vectored: Anaplasma, Lyme, Babesia, Ehrlichia canis and more).
Each of these tick species have some seasonality and preferences for locations – mostly grasslands, brushy areas and woodlands. But the Brown Dog tick prefers the great indoors to be closer to its primary target by moving indoors.
And, tick species also have variable timetables for being attached to a host for a blood meal before the female lays eggs in their environment. Most of them will attach for 3 to 5 days. But some, like the Rocky Mountain Wood tick or deer ticks, can stay attached for 10 days or longer while the creepy American Dog tick specializes in fast attack and is only attached for 10 to 120 minutes. The Lone Star tick attaches for 24-48 hours.
Cats can be infected by ticks as well as dogs, but seem to have more resistance as little is known and described about various tick-borne infections in felines.
What can you do to protect your dog? Speak with your veterinarian for the best options in oral to topical preventatives through at least the spring through fall months. And always, protect yourself appropriately when hiking.
Dr. Margot Vahrenwald is the owner of Park Hill Veterinary Medical Center at 2255 Oneida St. For more information, visit parkhillvet.com