PapPappy
Wilmington, NC
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Joined: 12/23/2007
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I received this post from someone on our Papillon Group, who in turn had received it from some other dog owner. I felt that it was important enough to cross post (they gave permission) to this group, as we have plenty of dog owners here, and when camping, we may have a higher percentage of Tick situations. This is pretty scary stuff, but it appears that it isn't life threatening, if caught in time! Keeping it in the back of your head, may help save your dog.
Feel free to pass it along.....the more who know, the better.
Bill & Claudia
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 knuckling 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 arrhythmia. 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 cortisone 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 neuro-toxin 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 N oon 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 cross-post. I will be sending this to all the Groups I am on as I can't remember this ever being mentioned.
Marianne Minks
Zen Tao Tibetan Spaniels
Bill & Claudia / DD Jenn / DS Chris / GS MJ
Dogs: Sophie, Abby, Brandy, Kahlie, Annie, Maggie, Tugger & Beau
RIP: Cookie, Foxy & Gidget @ Rainbow Bridge.
2000 Winnebago "Minnie" 31C, Ford V-10
Purchased April 2008 FMCA# F407293
The Pets
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dturm
Munster, IN
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Joined: 01/29/2001
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We had a case while I was in vet school, a very nice coonhound. He spent a week in our treatment area getting petted by all the students while he wasn't getting lab work and x-rays (before MRI ). One student found a tick and removed it without telling anyone and within hours he was standing!! After questioning all the students we found that the tick had been removed and it had been tick paralysis.
I've never seen a case while in practice.
This is a good reminder of the diseases that can happen, thanks for posting.
Doug, DVM
Doug & Sandy
Jill (9yr old Golden)& Charmin (15 yr old something)
Henry (non-camping cat)
2008 Southwind
2001 Honda CRV
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