LOS ANGELES -- Dog owners may need to be on alert for a disease many have never heard of -- anaplasmosis, spread by the same tick that transmits Lyme disease.
Anaplasmosis can make dogs feverish or lethargic, turn their nose up at food and lose weight, but many show no sign of illness at all. In rare circumstances, though, dogs can bleed from the nose, have neck pain and suffer seizures.
The percentage of dogs across California that tested positive for exposure to the bacterium that causes anaplasmosis skyrocketed in the last five years, nearly tripling between 2021 and 2024, according to data from the nonprofit Companion Animal Parasite Council.
Humans can get the disease too. Dogs get more tick bites and are tested more often for vector-borne diseases than people, so they can be sentinels for their owners.