Tell me about Paralysis Ticks

About a month ago, our cat came in with a paralysis tick. Dh, the hero that he is, grabbed the tweezers, and extracted it intact.

Sunday just gone (03/01), the other cat (they're brothers from the same litter, born Nov '06) came in with one as well. Dh extracted this one as well. He's popped them into some alcohol to show me (coz, conveniently, I was at work both times). This one is like 10 times bigger, seriously! It's got a great big sack on the back of it (it really looks like a big sack with some small sticky bits sticking out of it - how descriptive), looks like it's filled with blood.

Dh tells me if you remove it wrong and squeeze it, it injects poison and the animal is pretty much not going to live much longer.

Anyway, dh has removed it, and seems to believe no poison was injected.
The cat however has been very very slow. He can move his tail, whether it's a reflex or not, I'm not sure.
He can move his front legs.
His eyes (the pupils) seem permenantly wide, like he's in the dark, even when he's not.
Only in the wee hours of this morning did he make his first "miaow" noise since it happened, and it was faint at that.
He doesn't purr.
He doesn't/hasn't eaten.
We think he's eliminated once (thank gosh we have tiles), and it didn't smell like cat wee - more like baby spew. (thought I'd tell you all the facts :))
He tried to jump off the bed this morning (dh put him up there last night) and landed on his front two legs but his back end just kept going. Very ungraceful.


This may sound bad, but we don't want to have to take him to the vet, if we're only going to be told to wait it out. Waste of money coz we're doing that already.

I'm about to call the vet now, see what they say. Just hoping he's not in pain.

What do you know of paralysis ticks?

I think its time to take him to the vet.

Paralysis ticks inject poison when they want too. It has nothing to do with the way they come out, well, unless you use metho or something that will irritate them and then they will inject more toxin in.

Paralysis ticks affect the central nervous system, so they will make it more difficult to swallow or the cats gag reflex will be gone entirely which mean that the can inhales water rather than drinking it. It affects muscles and they become weak, generally starting in the back legs, but not always. The lungs get affected as well, so breathing becomes different and their meows change.

I have nursed many tick patients in the last few months and seen many die as well. If it gets too far, its awful. Once they start showing signs of paralysis you need to get to a vet ASAP because it can move rapidly.

Sorry, not the best news :hug:

The vet has been rung. Appt in an hour.

Just back from the vet. Apparently, it's low grade paralysis. There's no laboured breathing or chest problems, but not much of a gag reflex.

Serum is $550:o and is not "guaranteed" so to speak. Apparently it's made for dog from dogs blood. She said it was like a mini blood transfusion. It also may not work or make things worse.

For now, while we decide, he's up at the vet, resting. To see if he makes any good progress.

While we were at the vet, he tried to jump for it off the exam table, which is something he wouldn't have tried yesterday or sunday. So I think he's made progress since then. Can use his back legs a bit better today too.

So this afternoon dh will get a call. If he's made no progess (or little progress), we're going to be asked to give him the serum. I just don't have that kind of money, and am finding it difficult to know what to decide...:wall:

That is a hard decision mate. If its low grade, there is a minor possibility of it getting better. Its not common though, once the signs start showing. Often the trip to the vet kicks in some adrenaline making them try things they wouldn't at home.

Personally, I would do the serum if it were my animal. $550 isn't bad, our starting cost is generaly $1000 at the specialist centre!! And when I was up there it was averaging around $500 last year.... so sounds about right. :hug:

Scone - Christy is definitely the expert to listen to hear, I have no idea about paralysis ticks but from someone who has a lot of animals that are accident prone these are the questions we like to ask our vet.

What will happen if we don't go through with the treatment,
whatare their chances of survival with vrs without it?,
what will be the outcome with vrs without it (will they require treatment of medication for the rest of their lives etc)
What are the chances of survival if they do recieve the treatment
Any alternatives?

We ultimately have a fixed cost of vet bill allocated to each animal and I have literally said to the vet - this one has $400 left - do what you can for that?

Having said that COMPLETELYdifferent circumstances but my cat was vommitting blood one night, became very ill. Had an xray and it was recommended that she have surgery but we simply couldn't afford it. After asking the vet these questions we decided to let her stay at the vets on a drip and try and make it through herself. 16days later she came home $350 vet bill but a healthy cat - whatever her issue was she passed it herself and has no lasting damage but that was the risk we had to take. it could very easily have gone the other way but we could also have spent 1500 on surgery for her to have gut issues the rest of her life or to still pass away???

Hope your cat makes it out alright!!!!