YOUR HORSE’S CARE TICKS | THE THREAT TO HORSES
AVET IN the Scottish Highlands is called to a young horse who seems tired and lethargic. His lymph nodes are enlarged and he is moving with discomfort. As he walks, the vet hears his joints creaking and she knows that this is bad news — the horse has Lyme disease contracted from a tick bite and the infection has entered his joints. There is nothing further that can be done — the horse must be euthanised.
This type of case, while thankfully rare, could become ever more common in the UK. Ticks were historically mostly confined the west of the UK, in places like Exmoor, Dartmoor and Scotland, but they are now extending their reach.
Dr Mara Rocchi, head of the Moredun Institute’s Virus Surveillance unit, is researching ticks, tick-borne diseases and the effects on humans, livestock and wildlife. She says that ticks are spreading due to climate change, an increase in deer numbers across the country and areas being taken out of intensive farming.
“Deer, rodents and birds are the tick’s main hosts.
