[ SHOWGSD-L ] Tick Paralysis
- From: MORGAN LEWIS <shadowland22000@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: gsd showlist <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:45:33 -0700 (PDT)
This was posted by a friend; Please be aware of this situation and check your
dogs carefully
Morgan
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 arrhythmia. She began drooling on the ride to the vet
office.
Back to the vet, who did back X-rays -- everything was normal looking. He then
X-rayed
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 electromyelogram, MRI, etc. By this time it was 5:00 pm. He thought
he would give her 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 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.
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