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by starrchar on 03 August 2010 - 14:08
SORRY, THIS SHOULD'VE GONE ON THE GENERAL TOPIC BOARD- MY APOLOGIES.
Hi all,
I got this information via email from a reliable source and thought it was important enough to share with this list. This particular case of tick paralysis occured in South Florida where Ilive, but I assume this can occur anywhere.
Char
Orthodogs Tick paralysis
This past Sat. am, my 5 year old Tibbie Tami was paralyzed in her rear legs when she woke up. They just were collapsed under her. I rushed her to the vet & he was able to get deep pain response from both back feet, though 1 leg just dangled & showed no reflexes. She was knucling over on both rear feet & could not place them flatly on the floor. She was alert & in no signs of pain. Vet examined her & could find no injuries or sensitive areas & thought it was a back injury & she was put on dexamethazone 2 x daily & crate rest. There was no improvement Sat & Sun. am she had peed in her crate & was soaked, so I gave her a quick bath & put fans on her to dry her. Sun. nite she had a little response in her rear legs, but could not walk. Mon. am she stood & took 2 steps before her rear legs collapsed. She made steady improvement on Mon & by Mon. nite walked about 10 feet in the yard, peed, walked a couple more feet & had a BM. Thought she was on the mend. Tues. am her rear was as bad as it had been Sat. am. She started showing weakness on her front legs & between Noon & 2:00 pm her front legs became paralyzed & she started
> having heart arythmias. She began drooling on the ride to the vet office. Back to the vet, who did back Xrays = everything was normal looking. He then Xrayed her neck - looked fine. He pulled blood & while we were waiting for the results he told me he didn't know what was wrong & that at the vet school 100 miles away could do an electromyleogram, MRI, etc. By this time it was 5:00 pm. He thought he would give her a a cortasone injection. The bloodwork showed a high white count, pointing to infection. Vet was petting her & feeling her all over again & couldn't understand why she was not in pain anywhere. He found an engorged tick under her ear - its color was identical to her coat there. Then the AHA moment - tick paralysis! In his over 30 years practicing, he had only seen 2
cases. His other vet who was working with him has been a vet for about 10 years & had never seen a case. He removed the tick, put her on amoxicillin 2 x daily & said she should be sitting up by evening & recover. In my over 30 years in dogs I had never heard of it. My house dogs get a few ticks every year. I get a few ticks on me every time I mow. The tick can have a neurotoxin that is released while feeding that causes this. It can lead to respiratory failure & even death! From my reading about it on the net, different sources say in the US that death rates are 5% or 10-12%. By around 8:00 pm Tami was improving in the front legs & could lay upright on her front. She steadily improved overnight & could walk wobbly this am (Wed). The vet predicts a full recovery. I don't think she would have made it through the night without that tick being removed as the respiratory symptoms had begun & she was rapidly deteriorating from Noon on. I can’t believe that I missed that tick, with how much I was handling her. But I didn't comb her out before or after her bath as I didn't want to stress her any more than I had to or to possibly injure her back. Now I will be obsessively on tick patrol.
Permission to crosspost. I will be sending this to all the Groups I am on as I can't remember this ever being mentioned.
Hi all,
I got this information via email from a reliable source and thought it was important enough to share with this list. This particular case of tick paralysis occured in South Florida where Ilive, but I assume this can occur anywhere.
Char
Orthodogs Tick paralysis
This past Sat. am, my 5 year old Tibbie Tami was paralyzed in her rear legs when she woke up. They just were collapsed under her. I rushed her to the vet & he was able to get deep pain response from both back feet, though 1 leg just dangled & showed no reflexes. She was knucling over on both rear feet & could not place them flatly on the floor. She was alert & in no signs of pain. Vet examined her & could find no injuries or sensitive areas & thought it was a back injury & she was put on dexamethazone 2 x daily & crate rest. There was no improvement Sat & Sun. am she had peed in her crate & was soaked, so I gave her a quick bath & put fans on her to dry her. Sun. nite she had a little response in her rear legs, but could not walk. Mon. am she stood & took 2 steps before her rear legs collapsed. She made steady improvement on Mon & by Mon. nite walked about 10 feet in the yard, peed, walked a couple more feet & had a BM. Thought she was on the mend. Tues. am her rear was as bad as it had been Sat. am. She started showing weakness on her front legs & between Noon & 2:00 pm her front legs became paralyzed & she started
> having heart arythmias. She began drooling on the ride to the vet office. Back to the vet, who did back Xrays = everything was normal looking. He then Xrayed her neck - looked fine. He pulled blood & while we were waiting for the results he told me he didn't know what was wrong & that at the vet school 100 miles away could do an electromyleogram, MRI, etc. By this time it was 5:00 pm. He thought he would give her a a cortasone injection. The bloodwork showed a high white count, pointing to infection. Vet was petting her & feeling her all over again & couldn't understand why she was not in pain anywhere. He found an engorged tick under her ear - its color was identical to her coat there. Then the AHA moment - tick paralysis! In his over 30 years practicing, he had only seen 2
cases. His other vet who was working with him has been a vet for about 10 years & had never seen a case. He removed the tick, put her on amoxicillin 2 x daily & said she should be sitting up by evening & recover. In my over 30 years in dogs I had never heard of it. My house dogs get a few ticks every year. I get a few ticks on me every time I mow. The tick can have a neurotoxin that is released while feeding that causes this. It can lead to respiratory failure & even death! From my reading about it on the net, different sources say in the US that death rates are 5% or 10-12%. By around 8:00 pm Tami was improving in the front legs & could lay upright on her front. She steadily improved overnight & could walk wobbly this am (Wed). The vet predicts a full recovery. I don't think she would have made it through the night without that tick being removed as the respiratory symptoms had begun & she was rapidly deteriorating from Noon on. I can’t believe that I missed that tick, with how much I was handling her. But I didn't comb her out before or after her bath as I didn't want to stress her any more than I had to or to possibly injure her back. Now I will be obsessively on tick patrol.
Permission to crosspost. I will be sending this to all the Groups I am on as I can't remember this ever being mentioned.
by wanderer on 03 August 2010 - 19:08
So happy your girl is recovering. Must have been quite a scare. Thanks for posting.
by starrchar on 03 August 2010 - 20:08
Thank you. This was not my dog, but I will pass this on. I can't imagine what a scare this must've been for the owner!
by SitasMom on 03 August 2010 - 20:08
ticks infestations seem extra heavy in our area this year....... thanks for the heads up.
by jmopaso on 05 August 2010 - 00:08
Ticks are nasy beasts who can carry a number of nasty organisms. If you are in a tick area, please use prevention. Frontline Plus is still working well for ticks, as is Vectra 3D. Preventic collars also do well, ticks don't far well against amitraz. When I know we are going to be in tick country I also will spray their legs, feet with a DEET product such as Deep Woods Off. We have had very good success as well as very good reports from our clients using Vectra 3D this year.
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