Back
August 25, 2021

Your paralysis tick alert

Your paralysis tick alert
Dr. Chris Brown
by CHRIS BROWN

Heads up. The sudden hit of rain and warmer weather has done something to potentially deadly paralysis ticks you should really know about…

Here’s what you can do now…

That combination of rain and the arrival of warmer temperatures sends a signal to these tiny parasites that they’ve been waiting the whole winter for. All of a sudden they know it’s tick season. They know there’ll be enough humidity to not dry out while searching for a host to feed on. Unfortunately from this time until February, that host could be your dog or cat. And early season ticks are often the most potent...

After latching on and sucking blood, they’ll release a toxin that progressively paralyses them from the back legs forward. Causing weakness in the back legs followed by vomiting, gagging, difficulty breathing, coughing and eventually full collapse.



The best defence is a tick prevention treatment from your vet and also regular searches focused around the head, neck, shoulders, ears, feet and front legs (basically the front part of the body) where up to 80% of ticks attach.


Paralysis ticks are found from far North Queensland to the south eastern part of Victoria and typically cause signs around 3-4 days after attaching…

 

Popular right now
01
Why dogs do THAT leg-spread
02
Oh boy. So here's why they REALLY eat poo!
03
Are joints REALLY more sore in the winter?
04
The (surprising) reason why that lipstick appears

Something to paw over...