![\"Cassidy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a76ad583df80284f5b2c09dee73f403a.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nEarlier this winter, Cassidy Wentzell noticed her seven-year-old dog, Theodora, had developed a severe limp. When the veterinarian suggested testing for tick-borne illnesses, Wentzell thought the possibility was remote.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe’s up to date on her monthly preventatives and her vaccinations, I figured there’s no chance that she has it,\u201d Wentzell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo my surprise, the anaplasmosis did come back positive. The vet informs me that it was very common and that they’re seeing the highest cases ever right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cassidy Wentzell and her dog Theodora, who contracted anaplasmosis from a tick bite earlier this year. (Cassidy Wentzell)<\/p>\n
According to experts in the province, Theodora is one of many animals to test positive for the bacteria that causes the disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year from January to December, we had roughly about 128 positive cases of anaplasma,\u201d said Holly Wilkie, a veterinary technician with the Elmsdale Vet Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this year from January until now, we’re already at 97.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilkie says it is more than likely that this year’s number of anaplasma cases will surpass last year’s. It has already has surpassed the number of Lyme disease cases they have diagnosed, currently at 56.<\/p>\n
Anaplasmosis is a bacterial infection spread by the bite of blacklegged ticks (deer ticks) and brown dog ticks. It can affect both humans and pets.<\/p>\n
Animals with anaplasmosis can have symptoms similar to Lyme disease \u2013 also caused by tick bites \u2013 including fever, lethargy and a lack of appetite.<\/p>\n
Animals can be treated with antibiotics, but without treatment, the infection can be fatal.<\/p>\n
The Antigonish Veterinary Clinic is seeing a similar spike in cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had 43 positive cases so far this year compared to 50 last year,\u201d Dr. Dawn Daling said in a statement to CBC.<\/p>\n
Daling says two main factors are responsible for the increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to think owners are more aware and so are taking pets in sooner, rather than waiting to see if they get better,\u201d Daling said.<\/p>\n
But, she said, another reason is the high number of ticks this year.<\/p>\n
“I think the climate change is also altering the environment enough that we are seeing higher numbers of ticks than we did previously,” Daling said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe snow cover we had over the previous winter also protected the ticks so I think we had higher numbers overwintering. The cold, damp spring is also a tick’s dream.”<\/p>\n
While it may be a tick’s dream, it’s a pet owner’s nightmare.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s awful. I’ve never seen anything like this,\u201d said Chantelle Winstanley of Tatamagouche, describing the volume of ticks she has encountered this year.<\/p>\n
Winstanley says her 10-year-old dog, Hilde, was showing joint pain far worse than her usual hip dysplasia, and had started vomiting earlier this year.<\/p>\n
![\"Chantelle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2e77700e0ebeabce82fbc21d2ecbfa35.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
(Chantelle Winstanley)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vet called me and she said she did test positive for Lyme and anaplasmosis,\u201d Winstanley said.<\/p>\n
Although Theodora, received antibiotics and much needed bed rest, she is still not fully recovered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe anaplasmosis did do a bit of damage to her nerves, especially in her legs and in her hip,\u201d Wentzell said.<\/p>\n
For Winstanley, the uptick in ticks is making her question her move to Nova Scotia from Ontario.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has really made me not want to be outside. And the whole point of me moving here was quality of life,\u201d Winstanley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t trust anywhere to go anymore. I was cutting the lawn just yesterday and pulled five ticks off of me within 15 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
MORE TOP STORIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this winter, Cassidy Wentzell noticed her seven-year-old dog, Theodora, had developed a severe limp. When the veterinarian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[268043,268044,268045,49,48,268042,268047,84,27741,268046,47591,268048],"class_list":["post-749317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-anaplasmosis","tag-blacklegged-ticks","tag-brown-dog-ticks","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cassidy-wentzell","tag-deer-ticks","tag-health","tag-lyme-disease","tag-tick-bite","tag-tick-bites","tag-wentzell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}