Vet Intern Discovers Tick on Dog’s Ear Moments Before Euthanization

breitbart ^ | 2016/05/24/ | Jerome Hudson

[dennisw]

Dr. Stone was eventually able to determine that Ollie’s sickness was caused by a very rare condition called tick paralysis...........

A 10-year-old dog named Ollie is alive today thanks to a Portland, Oregon-based DoveLewis Animal Hospital intern who found a tick hidden in his ear, moments before the veterinarian was to euthanise the sick dog.

Ollie’s owners, Al and Joelle, decided to put the dog to sleep after noticing his rapidly failing health after returning home from a trip to the Umpqua River, according to a statement from DoveLewis Animal Hospital.

“We were at a complete loss,” said Al, the dog’s owner. “What do you do in that situation? He is part of our family, and we’ve always tried to provide the best care we can for him.”

DoveLewis veterinarians had run a battery of tests on Ollie and were left with no answers as to what may have been causing his rapid decline.

Nearly a week after they’d returned from a camping trip, Al and Joelle said that Ollie was unable to eat and was almost completely paralyzed.

The dog was brought in to be put down.

DoveLewis intern Neena Golden was caressing Ollie, while Dr. Adam Stone was preparing for euthanization. It was then that she discovered the tick behind Ollie’s ear. The dog’s tick collar didn’t stop the bug from burying itself underneath Ollie’s fur, where it hid for days.

“The tick was very bloated, and there was lots of fecal material from the tick. It had obviously been there for a while,” Dr. Stone said.

“I had never seen a tick paralysis case,” Dr. Stone said. “It’s one of those things you learn about randomly in school – it’s on one slide during one presentation.”

[dennisw]

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Though completely curable, tick paralysis is caused when the tick’s saliva infects the host’s bloodstream. Prolonged effects can cause neurological problems and paralysis.

Hospital staff successfully removed that tick and cleared Ollie, giving him a full bill of health. Later that day, he was already back to his old self.

“We were astounded by the quick turnaround,” Al said.

“We were thinking it would take closer to three days for him to heal if it did turn out to be tick paralysis,” Golden said. “When we got the call from his owners that Ollie was doing fine, we all high-fived each other. That might be the one tick paralysis case I experience in my career. It was exciting that we could help.”

[Ditter]

I am going to ask my veterinarian brother if he has seen this or ever heard of this.

[poobear]

Fantastic story! Kudos to the vet tech and all involved! We love, love our pups!!!

[vetvetdoug]

We see this all of the time as ticks are ubiquitous in this area. Any dog with a paralysis or chronic sickness gets a tick profile test and a good going over looking for engorged embedded ticks. I deal with veterinarians in the NE and wonder if those vets ever see an infectious disease.

[Robert DeLong]

Now I will know what to look for it any of my dogs exhibit the same symptoms, thanks.

[dennisw]

 

 
Neena Golden the very smart intern who found the bloated tick that is described as being full of fecal matter.

"He came in on a gurney, and he wasn't in good shape at all," Golden said in a phone interview with TODAY. "I knew that tick paralysis was a thing ... we'd learned about it in our medical textbooks, and I'm still studying and Adam had just graduated, so it was all fresh in our minds. But we weren't certain. I found the tick and then Dr. Stone wisely commented that perhaps it was a case of tick paralysis.

I said, 'Could it be?' and Adam looked at me and said, 'Maybe,' and then I said, 'Nah,' and then he said, 'Nah,' and then we realized this really could be our answer."

[DaughterofEve]

Yes! I saw this story also, and read it out loud to my husband. God bless that intern!!! Can you imagine??? Just fantastic.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Vestibular Disease is also something to look out for, it can mimic the symptoms of a stroke, but usually clears up in a day or so. One of my dogs had this, went completely limp, but was up and about in 12 hours.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember reading of something like this happening to a little girl forty five years ago. The doctor did know what was wrong till a complete examination showed she had a tick at the base of her skull.
One removed she started recovering.

I hate ticks and chiggers!

[Ragnar54]

We had something like this happen to our miniature schnauzer about 10-12 years ago. We had just come home from a trip and were upstairs unpacking. Our dog made it upstairs with some difficulty, then was unable to walk. She was dragging her hind legs.

Before we rushed her to the vet, I found a large bloated tick in the carpet and disposed of it. By the time we got to the vet, Greta seemed ok.

I did some research and found out about tick paralysis- but it was only known to happen in Australia (where everything is poisonous). Once it has eaten its fill, the tick releases a toxin. This causes the dog to lie down, making for an easy dismount. A bloated tick is somewhat fragile, and dropping to the ground from a standing dog would be risky.

In the years since, the number of tick species known to be capable of causing tick paralysis has steadily increased. Not long ago, a friend found a dog (in north Georgia) covered in ticks and apparently unable to move. After the ticks were removed, the dog recovered.

[moovova]

Outstanding!

[midlander]

WOW! lucky dog!!!

[OKSooner]

" Neena Golden the very smart intern who found the bloated tick that is described as being full of fecal matter. "

Full of fecal matter you mean like Bill Kristol?

Nice looking young lady BTW.

[Pelham]

doggie ping

[luckodeirish]

This is why a good clinical exam including actually touching the animal, looking in ears, eyes, palpating the lymphs, all that is so very important. So many vets simply do a cursory pat to the dogs head, listen to the heart, then immediately default to running tests.

[Salamander]

And how many times have I nagged people to check for tick borne diseases *any freaking time* your dog “suddenly seems off”, whether physically or mentally?

A zillion or so?

The instant any of my dogs suddenly seem “odd”, I shove 400mg of Doxycycline down their gullets and then go to the vet.

Izzy [rest her soul] turned up *paralyzed* on her right front leg one morning.

Took me about 5 minutes to find the tiny tick on her shoulder.

Pulled it off and within an hour, she was right as rain.

Dog owners need to know this stuff.

Ticks are the Devil’s spawn and can cause crazy symptoms you would never imagine and they are *everywhere* and should be the first suspects.

[central_va]

The “ticks me off” didn’t start because they are good things.

[Salamander]

Ha.

Wonder if that’s where it really came from?

I friggin LOATHE the little demons.

We spray the back yard with a permethrin and so far, it’s kept them at bay.

I also started feeding the birds in the front yard, where the dogs never go, because birds and the squirrels/chipmunks/field mice who also frequent the feeders carry ticks.

Since I changed that around, we’ve seen *far* fewer ticks than before.

[Salamander]

Izzy, one of my Ibizans, suddenly turned up with a front leg paralysis one morning.

I found the tick quickly, removed it and she was fine as frog hair less than hour later.

It’s crazy but it happens.