paralysis tick
 

Hi all,
I know there have been previous posts about ticks (wish I had read them earlier), but just wanted to warn people about them as I had never heard about them until wed night, when I returned from work to find my dog, Dougal, unable to walk and hardly breath.:ohmy:
When I had left him in the morning apart from being off his food (which he often is) he was ok. My husband was with him during the day and text me to say he didnt seem well but wasnt overly worried and he went to work late afternoon.
It was obvious he needed immediate treatment when I got home, so I rushed him to the emergency vets.
That was wed pm, he is still in hospital, but thank fully should be ok and fingers crossed can come home tomorrow.:fingerscrossed:
When we arrived at the vet, it must have been obvious to them what the problem was by his symptoms (unable to move back legs, labored breathing) and they very quickly removed a tick from his back.
Poor boy still cant walk, but he can stand, still unable to wee on his own regularly.:huh:
Thank goodness I wasnt on a late shift wed, or I dont think we would have been so lucky.
As I said had not heard about these ticks until now, when I pick him up tomorrow (hopefully) I'm going to ask about preventive treatment.
Jess :)

Re: paralysis tick
 

When i worked in kids intensive care in Brisbane i looked after a few kids who had been bitten by ticks,i was shocked how sick they were,not nice.

Re: paralysis tick
 

Hope he is ok. :fingerscrossed:

My cat had a paralysis tick last year, we took him to emergency vet at 1am in the morning. It was super lucky that we found him and that we noticed the wobbly back legs at that time of night when we were half asleep, he fell off the bed with a thud was what woke us. If I had not read about it on the forum I don't think I would have had any idea what was wrong.

I still did not realise how bad his state was, to my shame, when vet said he would need to be shaved I gasped and asked how long it would take for his fur to grow back (he is a long haired persian). The vet said "it doesn't matter you might be losing him".

He was in animal hospital from the Sat night / Sun morning until Friday evening. This is a picture of him the night we go thim home, he was shattered, couldn't even jump onto a chair.

But he made a full recovery and is full of beans today. :thumbsup:

Re: paralysis tick
 

North shore Sydney has had an epidemic of ticks with the wet weather.

Re: paralysis tick
 

Poor little chap...... Congrats on his recovery

Re: paralysis tick
 

I loathe tics- OH and I have both been bitten by them. One had the temerity to crawl down my cleavage, and I only discovered it when I had a bath, and being very myopic thought it was a speck of mulch, so tried to pull it off, and it moved!!!

Re: paralysis tick
 

Oh yuck - that's put me off my breakfast. I've had a few leeches on my legs trekking before but the cleavage is a little more audacious.

Re: paralysis tick
 

Yup, there is a spate of them at the moment thanks to the wet weather.

A neighbour lost an animal to a tick just this week in fact.

According to my OH they can be removed without the need for a vet, I'll let her sort that one I think ...

Another thing to be wary of, in dogs anyway, is tetanus. Any kind of scratches that break the surface are suspect especially near the mouth.

We've been keeping an eye on ours since she had an encounter with a barbed wire fence.

Re: paralysis tick
 

Actually, with the lack of cleavage that I have, I'm suprised it managed to find its way there at all!
Sorry to have put you off brekky- better than my thread on pooh though.;)

Re: paralysis tick
 

Thank you all for your replies,
It's been very up and down the last few days, seemed to be getting better than deteriorated last night :( (they think he may have developed pneumonia) stable at the moment but going to give him more anti venom and see if that helps.
There where a few cases of cats and dogs at the vets when I went to visit him :thumbdown:
I'll keep you posted
jess

Re: paralysis tick
 

fingers crossed for a happy outcome.:fingerscrossed:

Re: paralysis tick
 

Never had any cats or dogs in Australia but aren't there preventative medicines available in the form of either a tick/flea collar or a squirter thing where you put just one drop of gunk on the back of the animals neck, in no time it spreads all over their body and I think protects them for several weeks.

Re: paralysis tick
 

There are several brands available on the market, through the vets, online and even Big W.

Advantix and frontline are two that come to mind. I use Frontline spot on, on my two. The tick protection lasts for two -three weeks and for fleas, four weeks. There are two main dog ticks we get in our region - paralysis and brown dog tick. I think the latter is not as harmful as the former but can still cause problems.

You have to be very careful removing ticks yourself so as the head does not get left behind. I have heard all sorts of myths with how they should be removed so was quite unsure what to do when Tess got one. The vet told me to spray it with insect repellent before trying to remove - never squeeze the tick but use tweezers at the very end where the tick is attached.

I was not sure what kind it was - not my field of expertise. I check mine for ticks regularly, especially as we do a lot of walking through scrub. So I removed it as the vet instructed and kept a close eye on her. Luckily, the only effect that it had was that it left her with a lump where it had been attached.

If you find one and are unsure what to do always contact the vet but don't forget to check them regualrly especially this time of year.

Hope Dougal's feeling much better Jess:fingerscrossed:

M

Re: paralysis tick
 

These ticks are horrid. My Cavalier had one as a puppy but thankfully recovered. Tick collars are a good preventative method. You can buy a small tick removal tool from vets - I've seen one similar to this at my local - http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

Wish your doggie a speedy recovery.

Re: paralysis tick
 

Tick collars are for dogs but should never be used on cats.

The drop on the back of neck is good for fleas but won't stop a paralysis tick. Cats need to be sprayed from head to toe in the tick preventative stuff. But it still doesn't always work...

The best thing to do is check the animal thoroughly every day.