If you see one or more of these signs, SEARCH your animal's body for a tick. Search the whole body, but especially the head and neck areas, including around the ears. If you find a tick then your pet almost certainly has tick paralysis. You may find a little hole in the skin, like a crater or a small scab. This could be the place where a tick has been, in which case the problem is still likely to be tick paralysis. Or you may not find anything. However, if it is the right time of the year for ticks, and you are in a tick area, then it still could quite easily be tick paralysis. Ticks can be very difficult to find on an animal. If in doubt contact a veterinarian.
More commonly, in the coastal areas of NSW and Qld, it is confused with the Bush Tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) which is common on cattle, horses, dogs, and other animals.
Picture shows engorged adult female ticks.
Courtesy of NSW Agriculture, Cattle Tick Program.
The size or degree of engorgement is of no use in
differentiation. The terms "bottle tick" and "shell back" are
also meaningless and not descriptive of any one species.
Ixodes is lighter in colour than the other two ticks, has longer and stronger legs, and larger mouthparts. The male is a flat, oval, yellowish-brown tick.
If you have difficulty identifying a tick, take the tick to a veterinary clinic and they should be able to identify it for you.
If it is, you should contact a vet as soon as possible, and describe the state of your pet. The vet or vet hospital staff can advise you on how urgently you need to obtain veterinary treatment. If it is outside normal business hours, leave your pet to rest quietly while you contact a vet by phone to make the necessary arrangements. Do NOT give anything (food, water, or medication) by mouth, as an animal affected by tick paralysis cannot swallow properly.
Do not try to remove the tick at this stage. You can kill it with a few drops of insecticide (see below) but trying to remove the tick may worsen its effect on your animal. It is better to take the dog to a veterinarian and the tick will be dealt with during the treatment of the animal.
If your animal appears normal and shows no signs of tick paralysis, kill and later remove the tick, but be aware that the toxin can still work and produce a delayed reaction even after the tick has been removed. Keep an eye on your pet for the next 24 hours and if signs of toxicity develop then contact a veterinarian.
Second - Kill the tick. The best way is to first apply to the tick by dropper or spray a few drops of a suitable insecticide effective against ticks eg Frontline or Permoxin. It is then best to leave the tick undisturbed for a few hours during which it should die, darken, and drop off. This apparently helps to minimise further injection of poison and may help the animal to mount an immune response.
Do not use irritant substances such as turpentine, kerosene, or petrol. They will cause a very nasty sore at the site of the tick bite and cause your pet unnecessary pain.
To actually remove a live or dead tick grasp the tick firmly between your finger and thumb, give a firm tug, and the tick should come out.
If the tick is too small to grasp with your finger and thumb, use a pair of fine tweezers or Allis forceps. If by any chance the head of the tick stays in the skin scratch it out with your fingernail. The head will not inject any more poison once the body is removed, but it may cause a foreign body reaction similar to a splinter. The spot where you remove a well attached tick is likely to leave a "crater" or small hole in the skin. This will heal eventually. The local effects of a tick attachment are uncomfortable, but fairly insignificant compared with the potential fatal systemic effects caused by the tick toxin throughout the body.
WHERE -
1. Areas of natural bushland which harbour native animals,
particularly bandicoots, are the most likely areas. However
an animal may be at risk anywhere close to such an area, as
ticks can be carried by other animals and dropped in areas
where you might not expect to find ticks. Ticks may also
possible be carried by birds, or even possibly
be blown short distances on the wind.
2. Anywhere along the coastal area of eastern Australia, from far north Qld. to around Lakes Entrance in Victoria, and also along the east coast of Tasmania. In northern NSW and Queensland this area extends quite a distance inland. Ixodes holocyclus also exists in Papua-New Guinea and portions of India and Indonesia.
WHEN -
The danger period is spring and early summer.
However, animals living in or visiting areas of natural
bushland can pick up ticks in ANY MONTH of the year.
Owners should expect ticks to start appearing in small
numbers in JULY each year, and to continue through until the
end of JANUARY.The four months SEPTEMBER to DECEMBER produce
most cases of tick paralysis.
The incidence will be higher in periods of increased warmth or humidity, or in years of higher rainfall than average.
Dogs and cats which live in areas where they regularly pick
up ticks will also tend to develop their own immunity. This
depends on them getting small doses of tick toxin initially,
not enough to cause severe illness, but enough to start the
production of antibodies by the animal's immune system. As
they pick up more ticks and are injected by gradually
increasing doses of toxin this immunity can become quite
strong.
Unfortunately this immunity is not long lasting and can be
lost from one season to the next if there are no ticks on
the animal in the time between. A previously immune dog
can therefore suddenly become affected by tick paralysis.
Owners should be aware of this risk.
Owners are also commonly misled by the fact that a dog frequently carries ticks of the genus Haemaphysalis (Bush Ticks) which resemble Ixodes to some degree but do not inject a toxin. These dogs may have no immunity at all to the Ixodes toxin and can easily be affected by tick paralysis.
Dogs or cats which have been given Anti-Tick Serum as treatment for tick paralysis should not be expected to have any increased immunity after treatment.
Veterinary treatment will significantly improve the chances of survival of any affected animal. However some will die even with the best treatment. The ones which die usually have had a larger amount of toxin injected than normal (as occurs if more than one tick is present) or have been left too long and become severely ill before the owner presents the pet for treatment. Very young and very old animals also tend to be more severely affected, or animals suffering from any other disease or stress at the same time.
In my early years of treating dogs and cats with tick paralysis I had 41 deaths out of 415 cases presented (10.1%) over a three year period.In later years I got this down to 36 deaths out of 691 treated (5.2%) over a six year period.
In every case the more severely affected the animals were when presented for treatment, the higher the mortality rate. Treatment of animals showing only mild wobbliness of the legs was 100% successful, with no failures. The most seriously affected group (animals which were paralysed and unable to lift their head at time of presentation for treatment) had a 36% mortality rate despite treatment. However we still saved 64% of these severely affected animals, all of which would certainly have died without treatment.
Your dog has been treated for tick poisoning caused by the
Paralysis Tick Ixodes holocyclus. Depending on the
severity of toxicity, this may have required a stay in Hospital.
At the time of going home, the dog may be walking and
breathing normally and appear outwardly normal, or alternatively
may still be showing some of the signs of tick paralysis (eg
paralysis or leg weakness).
In either case, the following instructions are VERY IMPORTANT.
1. Food & water
2. Progression of signs
3. Search for more ticks
4. Avoid strenuous exercise or unnecessary excitement
5. Prevent re-infestation with ticks
6. Seek early treatment
Return
1. FOOD & WATER.
Tick poisoning prevents the dog from swallowing
properly.Food or water given too early may cause choking, coughing,
or inhalation pneumonia which can be fatal. Unless the dog has
already been eating or drinking in Hospital, we recommend the
following:
(a) The first 24 hours offer water only, in small amounts. If vomiting or coughing occurs, stop offering water.
(b) The second day you can offer soft easy to swallow foods in smallamounts. a little often is better than one big meal. If coughing or vomiting occurs, stop. In any case the pet's total food intake should not exceed half of its normal daily food intake, at this stage.
(c) The third day, if there have been no problems, return to normal daily feding and make water freely available.
2. PROGRESSION OF SIGNS.
When a dog is first treated with Tick Hyperimmune Serum, there is
a timelag before it becomes effective, so that the pet's condition
may still deteriorate for a day or more following initial treatment.
After this it will normally stabilise or start to recover. Following
a stay in Hospital of 24 hrs or more, when a pet is sent home
it should not get any worse than it is at the time of discharge
from Hospital.
If it it does get any worse, for example if it has greater difficulty
walking, or starts coughing or vomiting, you should contact your
veterinarian as soon as possible.
3. SEARCH FOR MORE TICKS.
Although veterinary and nursing staff search every pet thoroughly
for ticks while it is in Hospital, it is impossible to guarantee
that one may not be missed. It is also possible for a dog to pick up
more ticks as soon as it goes home. You should search the coat
thoroughly for ticks every day and remove any you find. If you find
any large ones (over 2 mm long), call your vet.
4. AVOID STRENUOUS EXERCISE OR UNNECESSARY EXCITEMENT
For up to 2 months after suffering from Tick paralysis, your pets body
will be slowly recovering from the effects of the poison, even though
outwardly it may seem to have made a quick recovery. Its heart, lungs,
muscles, and nerves will not be as strong as they were before the
disease. Recovery is gradual, and given time, should be complete
without any permanent after-effects.
However it is important to avoid strenuous exercise or excitement,
especially in the first few days. Taking a dog for a long run, for
example, could cause a heart attack. We suggest confinement and rest
for the first few days, and avoidance of serious exercise (as with
working dogs) for four to six weeks.
5. PREVENT RE-INFESTATION WITH TICKS
Following treatment for Tick poisoning, you might expect your pet to
develop an immunity, but the passive shorterm immunity (a few days)
conferred by the serum prevents the development of any long term
effective immunity. During the two-month recovery period, the
pet is actually more susceptible to another bout of Tick Poisoning
if an adult female Paralysis tick attaches and injects her poison.
Therefore it is important to keep ticks off your pet
especially during this period.
How to protect your dog from tick paralysis
6. SEEK EARLY TREATMENT
Remeber that if an animal is affected by tick poisoning, the earlier
treatment is given the higher will be the pet's chance of survival.
Contact your vet immediately if the signs of paralysis reoccur.