We live in a VERY rural location in NSW, Australia. Our house backs out onto the Hawkesbury River, and access to our house is only by boat. It’s a beautiful place, and as such, there is a lot of wildlife, especially insects. It’s normal in the summer for us to get bitten by mosquitoes pretty much all day. Not a single inch of our skin is safe from mosquitoes during the mozzie season.
But it’s not just mosquitoes. An even more pernicious menace is the dreaded tick. In particular, the paralysis tick.
What is a paralysis tick?
Also known as the Ixodes holocyclus, it’s a species of tick found predominantly in Australia, particularly along the eastern coast. And of course, that’s EXACTLY where we live. The paralysis tick is known for its venomous bite, which can cause paralysis in pets and sometimes even humans. It secretes a neurotoxin as it feeds, which can lead to symptoms such as weakness, difficulty breathing, loss of coordination, and potentially paralysis, and death if not treated promptly.
We’ve been aware of the dangers of ticks in Australia with Goldie, our English Cocker Spaniel, for a long time, and we’ve made it a point to take precautions. We almost overdo it actually. Every 3 months, we apply Goldie’s topical tick treatment – we usually use Frontline. The packet says to apply it every 6 months, but we can’t afford to skimp out, especially where we live. Not only that, but we also used to have Goldie wear a flea collar, with tick treatment powder. We’re always confident that Goldie is safe from those nasty ticks.
Lo and behold, one evening Goldie’s mum – my wife – comes to me complaining about a pain at the back of her neck, asking me to take a look. I see what I think is a dark brown scab, smack-bang at the nape, and I proceed to pick it off. It comes off cleanly. Then I take a closer look at it, and I can see little fingers, and what I think are mandibles. I hustle to the internet to double-check what I’m looking at, and sure enough, after a few minutes, I come to learn that I’m looking at a brown tick.
There is nothing on my wife’s skin. It’s a clean break. I’m not too concerned, and neither is my wife. I do tell her that if she feels strange that night to tell me.
The next morning, she complains to me that she’s feeling woozy and dizzy. She can barely move out of the bed, aside from going to the bathroom to dry vomit a few times. By now I’m concerned, and I call a doctor. Who knew, but the doctor wouldn’t even acknowledge that there might be something seriously wrong with my wife because of the tick bite. I was told to make sure she drinks plenty of water and electrolytes. My god! Talk about complete dismissal!
I end up dialing the emergency service and asking for an ambulance. Well, out here on the river, it isn’t so easy! We waited. And waited. And waited. An hour later, a police boat trundles along the river, towards our house, and the EMTs emerge.
They pack my wife up into the boat, and then take her to the marina, where an ambulance is waiting for us. I leave my wife with the EMTs and drive to the hospital to join her. I’m frantic. I’ve heard terrible things about tick bites and Lyme disease, and I start to catastrophize. At the hospital, my wife is in bed, being drip-fed through an IV. They can’t find anything wrong with her, at least not on the charts via their tests. Crazy! In the end, we stay there until evening, and then we check her out and head back home.
It took my wife days to recover from that episode. She was lethargic, gagging dry, could barely eat the entire time. Goldie was there, licking her hand, showing love. But those were some scary days, I’ll tell you. I thought she’d stay like that forever, given what I’d heard about Lyme disease. But thank god, she bounced back. Things were back to normal after a week or so. Still, she felt mild effects for weeks afterward.
You might ask me where this is all headed. This has had little to do with Goldie so far. I’m getting to that.
A week later, in the morning, Goldie emerges into the living room from my office. I see blood oozing from her ear, and she’s scratching at her ear like a mad thing. I prise her paws away from her ear. And there it is. A bulbous, white mass of cartilage. I waste no time.
I immediately call the vet and tell them that my dog has a laceration in her ear, and that she may need stitches. We pack Goldie up into the boat, head to our parking place at the marina, pack her up again into the car, and drive to the vet.
The vet – and she’s a wonderful woman, Sandra – takes Goldie into the back, and I’m left waiting outside. I’m worried. Goldie is going to have to go under anesthesia with a sedative. Goldie isn’t a young dog – she was 13 at the time. I’m reassured that she will be okay, but I still worry. It takes an hour, and Sandra comes out to tell me that Goldie is okay. I relax. I imagine that Goldie is all stitched up, and her ear is now better. Sandra shows me a small jar, with something white inside. At first, it doesn’t register in my mind.
“It’s a paralysis tick,” she says.
I feel sick. The worst runs through my mind. To me, a paralysis tick is a death sentence for a dog. What I saw wasn’t cartilage. It was a vile, nasty fat tick, that had been gorging on Goldie’s blood, and injecting poison into her system! Goldie had been trying to frantically scratch the tick off her ear!
Sandra tells me that Goldie is under sedation, and that she has been injected with intravenous tick treatment. She is confident that Goldie will be okay, but that it isn’t 100%. She will need to stay at the vet overnight.
How could this have happened? We’d been so careful with her tick treatment schedule. In fact, it was because of our attentive tick treatment schedule, that Goldie hadn’t been completely overcome by the tick. The tick had died on Goldie’s body, BECAUSE of the treatment we’d given her. Had she not received treatment, the tick would have had far more time to inject its poison.
I ask if I can go back and see Goldie. Sandra says of course.
Poor Goldie is there, in a cage, with a hose directed into her skin – life-saving tick treatment. She is unconscious, in a way that I’ve never seen her before. Her entire tongue lolls out from her mouth, trailing onto the floor of her chrome cage. The place is cold, uninviting. My poor Goldie is a sad, pathetic sight.
I leave and go home, hoping that she will survive the night. I already make peace in my heart that we’ve had 13 wonderful years with Goldie. But God, I would love to have a few more! Please let her survive!
I wait by the phone the next day, and when it rings, I jump at the call.
“Goldie is awake and well!” says Sandra, the vet.
Delighted, I bound out of the house and race to the vet. Sandra is there, with Goldie standing beside her on her leash. Goldie sees me, wags her tail in that frantic way that Cocker Spaniels do, and she leaps towards me, full of her usual energy, as though nothing had ever happened!
I take Goldie home and pamper her. For the next few days, she isn’t allowed strenuous exercise, and we have to be careful to give her light food. But other than that, Goldie is well. She’s back home!
The lesson we learnt is this: It doesn’t matter how much you prepare. You need to be vigilant all the time when it comes to ticks. Don’t wait. If you see a tick on your pet, head to the vet or animal hospital immediately.
We now routinely check Goldie’s coat more than every. We NEVER skip on her tick treatment. And we make sure to give her lots of kisses, hugs, and treats.
Dealing with Ticks
Ticks are a terrifying prospect for every pet owner. Prevention is important, but acting quickly when you do see a tick can make the difference between your dog dying and your dog staying alive, giving you more years of loving companionship.
Symptoms
- Loss of Coordination: Dogs may experience wobbliness, stumbling, or difficulty standing or walking properly. The hind-legs in particular, may start to become wobbly, and this may progress to the fore-legs.
- Weakness and Lethargy: Dogs may appear unusually tired or weak, showing reluctance to move or engage in normal activities.
- Difficulty Breathing: This can manifest as rapid or labored breathing, panting, or even respiratory distress.
- Change in Voice: Paralysis ticks can affect the muscles of the throat, leading to changes in bark or voice.
- Vomiting and Regurgitation: Nausea and gastrointestinal upset can occur, leading to vomiting or regurgitation of food and water.
- Dilated Pupils: The dog’s pupils may appear unusually large or dilated.
- Inability to Eat or Drink: Due to weakness or paralysis of the throat muscles, dogs may have difficulty eating or drinking.
- Collapse: In severe cases, paralysis ticks can cause complete collapse and inability to move.
Prevention
- Regular Tick Checks: Perform thorough tick checks on your pets daily, especially after they have been outdoors in areas where ticks are common. Pay close attention to areas where ticks commonly attach, such as around the head, neck, ears, and between the toes.
- Tick Control Products: Use tick control products recommended by your veterinarian. These can include spot-on treatments, oral medications, tick collars, or topical sprays. Make sure to follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer and your veterinarian for the correct dosage and application frequency.
- Environmental Management: Keep your outdoor areas well-maintained by regularly mowing the lawn and trimming bushes and shrubs. Ticks thrive in tall grass and dense vegetation, so reducing their habitat can help minimize the risk of exposure.
- Tick-Proof Your Yard: Consider using tick control products in your yard, such as sprays or granules that target ticks and other pests. Additionally, creating a barrier between wooded areas and your yard, such as a gravel or woodchip border, can help prevent ticks from entering your outdoor space.
- Avoid Tick-Infested Areas: When possible, avoid walking your pets in areas known to be heavily infested with ticks, such as dense forests or areas with long grass and brush.
- Regular Grooming: Keep your pet’s fur trimmed, especially during tick season, to make it easier to spot and remove ticks. Additionally, bathing your pet with a tick-repelling shampoo can provide added protection.
- Tick Preventive Vaccines: Talk to your veterinarian about available tick preventive vaccines for your pets. While these vaccines may not provide complete protection, they can help reduce the severity of symptoms if your pet is bitten by a tick.
- Educate Yourself: Learn to identify paralysis ticks and familiarize yourself with the signs and symptoms of tick-borne illnesses. Early detection and treatment are key to minimizing the impact of tick bites on your pets’ health.
