Tick that tested positive for Lyme disease discovered on Avalon Peninsula dog

Paradise Animal Hospital is alerting pet owners to watch for ticks, after one of the insects found on an Avalon Peninsula dog tested positive for Lyme disease.

The animal hospital posted on Facebook on Monday night that veterinary staff found a tick carrying the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, a severe infection that can affect both pets and people, on one of its furry patients.

Tick populations are booming across parts of Atlantic Canada this season, with neighbouring Nova Scotia boasting the highest number of ticks in the country. In June, New Brunswick was warned that the province's tick population has reached unprecedented levels.

Ticks are parasites that feed on the blood of wild animals that carry diseases, such as Lyme disease. They can transmit that bacteria through bites to humans and animals.

Mount Allison University biologist Vett Lloyd told CBC New Brunswick that ticks are showing up in new parts of the Maritimes and carrying new diseases, such as anaplasmosis and babesiosis, both of which can cause death in humans.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, some ticks enter the province by attaching to the wings of migratory birds. 

But with climate change, ticks are surviving through warmer winters, making them a year-round problem in the Maritimes, Lloyd said. Now birds can pick them up there and take them farther north, she said.

"Now they're not dying off," said Lloyd. "And the problem is that one female tick, once she's had a good meal of blood, can lay about 2,000 to 3,000 eggs. So one tick leads to a lot of ticks pretty quickly."

Ticks carrying Lyme disease haven't been common in Newfoundland.

In 2020, the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources said 20 per cent of black-legged ticks tested in the province carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease — but veterinarians are warning that more cases are popping up. 

Lloyd told CBC that someone who has been out in the woods or long grass should check themselves for something that looks like a mole with legs.

Pet owners should also check their animals. Paradise Animal Hospital said that in pets, Lyme disease can cause painful joints, limping, lethargy, and kidney damage in severe cases, according to the hospital. 

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