Hello
TICK SEASON
“How could you miss it?” – It’s the question a pet owner asks when a tick is finally found, and the one we ask ourselves long after they have leave our practice.
But most ticks aren’t missed because we didn’t search hard enough. Opportunities for early diagnosis are missed because we do not immediately consider tick paralysis in non-paralysed patients presenting for other problems.
By the time tick paralysis is obvious, the optimal treatment window has passed
Before that, it’s another story. A Day 4 tick patient can walk through almost any front door: Vomiting, lameness, coughing, gagging, or being just ‘not quite right’. Every one of those has a perfectly reasonable explanation, and tick paralysis is competing against all of them.
The fix isn’t a longer differential list. It’s a trigger: in peak season, any unprotected patient that’s unwell without a clear cause earns an immediate and deliberate tick rule-out – before other interventions every single time.
A few things that help you find them:
- Early signs are subtle and often single: mild ataxia, a unilateral lameness, a change in bark or meow, inappetence, an unexplained vomit.
- Search where they hide. In a review of over 2,000 feline cases, 90% of ticks were found from the shoulders forward.
- Clip and keep searching – a tick that’s easy to miss today, is easier to find tomorrow as it grows.
→ Read more: Tick Paralysis – Clinical Signs and Diagnosis
The missed tick is only one of the five preventable disasters we’ll be unpacking in a free webinar hosted on Wednesday 14 October with Dr Rob Webster, Dr Ellie Leister, Dr Will Crosby and I will work through all five, what they look like in practice, why they happen, and the simple systems that help you catch them earlier.
We would love for you to join us.