the treatment she needs now is not currantly available on the nhs so has to go private...

Those links though that were posted more or less said that Australia doesn't have Lyme Disease, the tick that carries the infection does not occur in Australia. Many of those cases would be Australians that contracted the disease in the northern Hemisphere and came back with it. The Australian tennis player Sam Stosur is one example, she contracted Lyme Disease in Europe. There would be a certain number of people who would come back from holidays with the disease.

The Australian cameraman might have contracted another tick borne disease. If there was death from Lyme disease that was contracted in this country it would be headline news and everyone would know about it.

Still, who knows, it may exist over here, or at least something similar.

I checked, it said WA doesnt have paralysis ticks.

Google > Lyme Green Australia hope this answers a few questions

Well my cat woes continue. One of my cats is still missing and the other has tick paralysis and is now in animal hospital.

The one in hospital is indoors most of the time but he went out for an hour or so on Tuesday and he went out for a bit yesterday as well. Last night he fell off the bed with a real thud (not entirely unusual as Persians don't have normal cat agility, well he doesn't), we put the light on and thought he was wobbly on his back legs, he also seemed to be breathing quite heavily, so we took him to the Northside emergency vet at 1am.

They have just called us, he has been on oxygen since 3am, they found a big tick on his back leg and he has had a general anaesthetic as they decided to shave him to check for more, he is a long haired cat. They are putting him back on oxygen today. We will call again in a few hours to see how he is doing.

I feel terrible, I am not looking after my pets properly, we have only been here four months.


Last night the emergency vets had 32 animals in their care with suspected ticks. They are rife this year it seems so everyone please take extra care. We had sprayed ou cats with Frontline tick preventer stuff, when we bought it we were asked where we lived and were told that there generally is not a tick problem in Collaroy...

Really sorry to hear about your cats Bermudashorts.
It's just awful not knowing what has happened to the one that's missing.
One of my cats has just had tick paralysis - was in animal hosptial for four days. I had only put frontline on them the week before but our vet says it isn't a reliable tick preventer in cats - in fact nothing is as most of the effective stuff is toxic to cats, which I'm sure you know. The same cat spent three days in hospital with tick paralysis the same time last year. I check my two every day thoroughly and they aren't out much as they are getting on a bit now, but it is a worry. I won't let them out unless it's daylight as we have a lot of snakes here too. I pulled a tick off my husbands chest a couple of weeks ago. Really hard to pull out - it left a sore red mark for a couple of weeks. He has had a few - I've only had one up till now.
Bermudashorts - are snakes very common where you live? Just a thought even though it's an awful one. A local vet did an article in our local paper this week about the danger to pets as snakes come out of hibernation and are aggressive at the moment.

We have decided, if he comes home from this , he is not going out ever again. He is 90% house cat anyway and he is going to be 100% house cat from now on.

Oh BS but don't beat yourself up. We try to do the best thing to make our pets happy and I fully believe that is to let them out - in areas with hardly any vulnerable native wildlife, at least.

We did just that when we moved here and they used to come in at bed time, but we had so many problems with enormous local bully cats, post-mauling operations, sleepless nights (with one cat missing and found up a huge tree), not to mention the vet bills and tears at the thought that I brought them from relative safety and put them through this for my own selfish reasosn, that we eventually, reluctantly, decided to keep them in.

Fingers crossed for both your kits.

I started my cat on Proban 7 years ago. He takes half a tablet every 2 days (standard dose for a 5kg animal). For most of his life he has lived in a high tick area of the Sunshine coast hinterland. ticks bite, they die. it is extremely effective in my experience. I still check him regularly and the only ticks i find are dead.

Disclaimer: Proban is not registered as a tick treatment for cats but it seems to work very well. It is registered as a flea treatment for cats though and is very effective at that as well. Talk to your vet about it as an option.

You also have to make sure you give the medication every 2 days, like clockwork. Of course many cats are terrible pill takers. I started mine young so he virtually holds his mouth open for the pill these days.

Deffo a good idea to make him an indoor cat.

Any sign at all on the other one?

I was really, really sad to hear this - hope you have some happier news soon x

Thank you Myrtle. My persian was on oxygen for two days and then yesterday he was transferred from the emergency vet to a local vet and he is off oxygen now. My husband was doing the phone calls and they sounded reasonably positive but we popped in to see him last night.

OMG it was heartbreaking, if that was doing better then he must have seriously declined since we brough hin in on Saturday. He was too weak to stand up, he tried but did not have the strength to push himself up and in particular his back legs looked non functioning. I might have had a sheltered life, but I have never seen an animal look as sick as he did. He is also practically shaved bald and he was a long haired persian so he looks a bit pathetic because of that too. I think he will be in the vets for a couple more days at least.

Its amazing how quickly they get better once they start, BS, I don't know if I've ever felt so much joy at being told 'oh yes, he squatted and did a wee this morning' - the biggest problem is trying to keep them quiet when you get them home, if they get over excited they can have a heart attack

That was a fun thing to be told when we were about to bring our boisterous lab puppy home to our other boisterous lab puppy. However, the Bobbity one is fully back to normal, and I'm sure your cat is well on the way to recovery now.

Any sign of your other cat?

This is a genuine worry - when we went to pick up our dog after her 4 day stay last time she had a tick she was let go on the floor to come and say hello to us. She scampered up enthusiastically and then collapsed in a coughing fit. The vet saw this and suggested that it was extremely risky to let her go home as she could keel over and any second if she got excited. So she stayed another night....

Hope you get your buddy back safely soon BS - and dont worry about the hair - it'll grow back...