FYI, Fatal Tick Bite in Dogs

[Richard]

Eddie, I also want to thank you for posting this.

It might be timely for us.

Our dog, Chloe (the star of the family) is a little acrobat. She's probably 12 years old but our vet says she's as energetic as any puppy they've seen. She's really been in fabulous health... until recently.

Now she's twitching. She did a front stumble, sort of like how I interpret your dog to have slipped on the wooden floor. We were outside coming back to the house and her body just rolled in what I'll call a front summersault.

Lethargy, no appetite and I mean NO appetite. I put peanut butter on my finger, moistened dog food, dog food from a can, sliced cheddar cheese, Velveeta cheese, fake bacon, REAL bacon, hamburger.... nothing.

She went to the vet other day and he gave her some antibiotics and a pain killer. Doing a tic blood test and results due back tomorrow.

I will probably take her in tomorrow, unannounced, with plans to leave her for the day/overnight if need be so if nothing else, they can get some food and maybe hydration in her.

You don't go from doing backflips & sprints across the fields to two days later, acting like you're on your deathbed unless something is wrong.

Reading this is what made me tell him without hesitation, YES, do the tic blood tests.

Hope Raiden comes out of this. Thank you again for the topic.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you and I wish you the best of luck in treating your dog. Did you do a thorough search for ticks on your dog? It took us close to 4 hours of looking to finally find one tick on our dog. Removing the tick is critical. The sooner it's removed, the sooner it stops poisoning the dog.

Our dog never lost his appetite. We're not sure how he lost 2.6 pounds in one week. We had to hold the bowl of food up to his mouth so he could eat, he couldn't lift his own head!!!!

 

[EddieWalker]

Today is the first day Raiden was able to stand up on the tile and wood floors by himself. He still can't run or jump, but every day we notice him do something new that he wasn't able to do since getting sick.

 

[Alien]

Several months ago Our middle dog Reno suddenly went down. We searched for a tick and could find nothing.
He was totally incapacitated. We took him to the Vet and she went over him thoroughly. He was very close to death. It was difficult to hear a heartbeat, he was cold and the Vet could not even draw blood from anywhere.
We were very upset as Reno is just the best of dogs, very intelligent and understands all that you say to him.
Turns out he had fluid around his heart and his heart was under pressure. This meant a 100 klm trip to a dog surgeon and the Vet said that he would not make it. It was also very expensive.
Our wonderful Vet spoke to the surgeon and then said to us that Renos only chance was for her to do the operation, something she had never done before. She said she had all the equipment and had done similar surgeries but never the heart sack.
We had little choice as at that stage our Reno was virtually gone. We had left him at the surgery and when she rang we gave her the go ahead to try. It was Renos only and last chance.
An hour or so later the Vet rang and told us that it had gone well and Reno was showing signs of recovery and asked if we wanted to come to the surgery. Naturally we drove into town straight away. (30 klm) When we arrived Reno saw us and got excited and sat up. A short time later he was walking around much to our joy. We asked Reno if he wanted to go home and he wagged is tail excitedly.
The vet could see no reason for him to stay and after a final check Reno walked out to the car with us. His post-op recovery was amazing.

However, the Vet did warn us that this could re-occur at any time. Could be a week or a few months or, in some cases, maybe never.
So far Reno is back to his old self. He shows no signs of any problems and we are so grateful to that wonderful Vet.
Incidentally she only charged a percentage of what it would have cost normally. How good is that? She thought Reno was a wonderful dog.

The reason I tell this story, is that we at first thought it was a tick.
Apparently this is quite common in dogs but we had never heard of it before this. So, by all means look for ticks, but remember it could be a snake bite or another ailment as in Renos case. Let your Vet check it out before it is too late.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Today is the first day Raiden was able to stand up on the tile and wood floors by himself. He still can't run or jump, but every day we notice him do something new that he wasn't able to do since getting sick.

Glad to hear your Raiden is getting better. Thanks for posting this. There is another deer disease here in Texas that has the experts baffled. They call it Chronic Wasting Disease IIRC.

 

[Buppies]

Glad Raiden is doing well now. Ticks are especially bad here with all the pine trees

 

[farmer2009]

Good To hear he's doing better Eddie. Hope he continues to recover.

We used to mix Permethrin with diesel fuel and pour over a rub and face flaps for our cows. Hang the rub in a place they must walk through to get food, mineral or water. Not only did it control flies (our goal) but ticks also. Now I just mix with water and spray the cows when they are in the barn lot. Maybe twice a year. I use ear tags that control flies now.

Had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever as a child. Don't remember it.

I also spray the yard once or twice a year with either a Permethrin spray or I mix up Sevin and spray it. Both work well.

 

[JimRB]

On topic about weird symptoms related to bugs or not.

I had a cousin diagnosed 10 or more years ago with MS. Last year they discovered it really was Lyme Disease.

We have a dog that twice got vertigo. Hard to walk, head carried with a tilt. It took a few months to clear up each time. Now he is weak in the back end, but he is 14 years old which is old for a Lab mutt. Idiopathic or ?Old Dog? Vestibular Disease | The Bark

On the same note of odd diseases, we have a horse that went from healthy to weak in the back end quickly. EPM, which does not have a good diagnostic blood work tool is the likely cause. http://americashorsedaily.com/epm-symptoms-in-horses/#.VsHWiPkrKHs

 

[newbury]

Note-
Via PM Eddie wrote that Raiden seems to be on the full road to recovery. He still can't jump tall buildings with a single bound but he's getting there. I admonished him to provide an update to this thread.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for thinking about Raiden. It's hard to believe that three weeks ago today, we woke up to him being unable to stand, sit up or even lift his head for more then a minute before having to lower it again. We thought the worse and expected to have to put him down when we got to the vet. Not knowing about Tick Paralysis, or even hearing about anything like this also added to our fear of what had happened to him.

Since removing the tick, giving him tick medicine, steroids and antibiotics, his recovery has been steady. We notice him do something "normal" again almost daily. The other day he was able to go up the stairs and back down again without falling. A week ago, he went up two steps, but fell trying to come back down. We've kept them blocked off since this started, but thought he was strong enough for the stairs. He wasn't, but now he's doing fine going up and down them.

He still falls down when trying to jump over the logs we have around the flower gardens. He is able to run for short bursts, but not flat out. It's more of a fast jog. He is playing rough with our other Akita, but it doesn't last as long as it used to before his injury. We can see the intensity increasing in their play. They are very rough!!!

The way he is getting better, we know that next week he will be even better. It's been a steady increase in his energy, strength and weight. I don't know how much he's gained, but he looks thicker and feels bigger when you pet him. Our plan is to give him the full 3 months to recover before showing him again. If he never goes back in the ring, that's OK too.