The most common carriers of dangerous diseases in dogs are ixodid ticks. Canine and taiga animals carry borreliosis, babesiosis (pyroplasmosis), bartonellosis and others. There are carriers of plague, tularemia, brucellosis, Q fever and listeriosis and other diseases.
If a dog is bitten by a tick, the symptoms and consequences are not immediately apparent. The incubation period for tick-borne diseases ranges from a week to two months.
If a tick is found on a dog, the most important thing is not to panic, remove it correctly, carefully observe how the pet behaves, and if there is any suspicious change in behavior or condition, seek veterinary help. You should know that on average from 3 to 14% of the entire ixodid population are contagious.
Any modern antiparasitic medicine is extremely toxic; it kills not only the parasite, but also affects the dog’s internal organs: kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal tract (GIT), and also reduces immunity. Especially if several techniques are required. In this connection, subsequent long-term rehabilitation is necessary, which cannot be neglected. For at least 10 days it is necessary to give injections of vitamins, saline solutions, drugs to improve heart function, normalize the functioning of the liver, gall bladder, and gastrointestinal tract. At the slightest deterioration of the condition, you need to do a repeat blood test for the causative agent of the disease.
First aid for a dog after a tick bite
Owners should inspect their pet's head, neck, chest, ears and groin after each walk to detect bloodsuckers. If single individuals are found, they must be urgently removed and burned. To avoid contracting diseases dangerous to humans, do this with protective gloves. Do not crush the tick or get it into the oral cavity or mucous membranes. For multiple bites, contact your veterinarian.
If medical help is far away, give your dog 100-150 ml of water every hour. If vomiting, give an enema or subcutaneous injection. You can subcutaneously inject 20 ml of glucose solution and vitamins B6 and B12 in an ampoule daily three times a day. In case of clearly defined symptoms and lack of help, an injection of a 7% solution of Veriben or Azidine is given at the rate of 1 ml per 20 kg of dog weight.
How to take a blood test from a dog yourself: treat the ear with alcohol, cut the vessel close to the edge, collect the blood on a glass plate, dry it a little and take it to the clinic.
Ixodid ticks.
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They are scabies and ixodidae. Scabies (sarcoptes, otodectes) - very small, almost invisible to the naked eye - constantly live on the animal. Sarcoptes live on the scalp, and the skin becomes rough, folded, covered with crusts and wounds. The animal constantly scratches itself. Otodectes - live in the external auditory canal, their presence is accompanied by the appearance of brown crumbly masses in the external auditory canal; the animals scratch their ears, injure them, resulting in the formation of wounds and hematomas.
Curing an animal and destroying ticks on your own without the help of a doctor is quite difficult and dangerous for the life and health of the animal, but regular treatment with insectoacaricidal drugs and wearing a flea collar can significantly reduce the likelihood of this disease occurring.
Large insects, from 2-3 mm in a “hungry” form, to 1.5 cm in a “fed, blood-sucked” form. By themselves, they cannot cause serious harm, but they are carriers of two deadly diseases in dogs: piroplasmosis and ehrlichiosis.
The mortality rate from piroplasmosis without specific treatment is 100%, but even if the dog recovers, it remains with serious damage to the liver and kidneys. Hence, the main task is to prevent the tick from biting your dog. Not all ticks are carriers of this disease, only 3-5% of the entire tick population, but it is impossible to know which tick is a carrier and which is not by appearance.
The opinion that ticks are active only when it is very warm is absolutely wrong! Ticks are active at any time of the year when the temperature is above zero degrees. At the same time, ticks become most aggressive at temperatures close to zero, that is, in early spring, when the snow has just melted, and in late autumn, when frosts have already begun, as well as in winter, during thaw periods, you are much more at risk of finding ticks in your dog after a walk. ticks than on a warm summer day.
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How to properly remove a tick from a dog?
Remove the tick with tweezers, trying to grab its body close to the skin. You need to pull the parasite slowly, holding the animal's skin with your free hand. Scrolling may cause the head of the parasite to come off, so be careful. Pet stores sell special tweezers for removing ticks.
Then you should generously treat the wound with iodine. Now all that remains is to monitor the dog daily for the next 2-3 months, and also measure the temperature. If clinical symptoms appear: lethargy, decreased activity, poor appetite, diarrhea, changes in the concentration, color and smell of urine and others mentioned above, immediately contact your veterinarian.
What diseases can ticks transmit to dogs?
Hepatozoonosis
. Caused by protozoa of the genus Hepatozoon, which infect leukocytes, spreading throughout the animal's body. This is usually due to ingestion of a parasite. Often the disease does not make itself felt for several years while the immune system is normal. When immunity decreases, fever, joint and muscle pain, weakness, and eye discharge begin. Not dangerous for people.
Ehrlichiosis
. They provoke rickettsiae - Ehrlichia. Settles in white blood cells: platelets, monocytes and granulocytes. There are rickettsiae that are dangerous to people. The disease came to Russia from Europe and the USA. A sign of all ehrlichiosis is an exhausting, growing fever.
Monocytic ehrlichiosis
: weight decreases, the animal urinates blood, the number of platelets and leukocytes decreases, weakness, hemorrhages on the cornea, mucous membranes, skin, nosebleeds, anemia, heavy breathing are observed.
Granulocytic ehrlichiosis
: high fever, weakness, cramps, inflammation of the eyelids, joint pain, enlarged liver and spleen, protein in the urine, low albumin and platelets. After 2-3 weeks, the animal’s activity decreases and lethargy appears. Sometimes it develops in a latent form and leads to severe damage to the eyes, bone marrow, joints, liver and other organs.
Bartonellosis
– red blood cells, macrophages and endothelial cells infect bacteria of the genus Bartonella.
Some Bartonella are also dangerous for people. Symptoms
: from prolonged carriage to sudden death without pronounced signs. Clinic: high fever, inflammation of the joints, drowsiness, weight loss, weakness of the hind legs, anemia, disturbances in the functioning of the heart and blood vessels, inflammation of the eyelids, nosebleeds, hemorrhages in the eyes, inflammation of the subcutaneous vessels, meningitis, pulmonary edema.
Borreliosis
(Lyme disease) is a dangerous disease for dogs and people caused by bacteria of the genus Borrelia. It is transmitted in utero and often leads to the death or non-viability of the cubs. Causes arthritis and neurological disorders. First, the joints near the bite site become inflamed. Sometimes lameness goes away on its own. Hosts become infected with borreliosis by crushing a tick. The consequences of the disease are neurological disorders, chronic inflammation of joints, blood vessels, internal organs, etc.
Babesiosis
(
pyroplasmosis
) is the most common disease for dogs.
Not dangerous for people. Caused by different types of Babesia. Symptoms
: lethargy after a bite, jaundice, fever, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal disorders, disorders in the liver, heart, lungs, kidneys and other organs. Dark: Brownish or red urine indicates kidney failure. The animal refuses food and drinks a lot of water.
Diagnostics
When diagnosing human Lyme disease, erythema migrans is the main diagnostic sign: if it is detected, no additional studies are usually performed to confirm the diagnosis.
If symptoms of the disease occur in dogs, detection of erythema migrans can be difficult due to the coat, so the main method for diagnosing BL in dogs, cats and other animals can only be considered laboratory diagnostics (light or electron microscopy, PCR, indirect immunofluorescence). The most characteristic symptom of LB is arthritis that appears only in the second stage of the disease, usually several months after the tick bite, and then, sometimes for several years, attacks of the disease alternate with long periods of remission. The diagnosis of LB is made based on a combination of several indicators: clinical signs, a positive serological reaction, the presence of a tick bite (or information about possible contact with ticks), and the exclusion of other diagnoses.
Susceptibility to spirochetes in dogs is very high. Spirochetes or their DNA are regularly found in the tissues of dogs infected both in the wild and in the laboratory. The ability of dogs to preserve TB pathogens and serve as a source of infection for ticks feeding on them has been experimentally proven.
There were no significant differences between different breeds of dogs both in the clinic and in the level of seropositivity and susceptibility to LB. There is evidence that Labradors and Golden Retrievers are slightly more susceptible to LB than other breeds, with Labradors being more likely to have Lyme nephritis.
Symptoms and consequences of a tick bite in a dog
What symptoms will appear if a dog is bitten by a tick? Often the animal becomes worried because of this: it itches, shakes its head if the tick has got into the ear. What does the bite site look like? Most often, at the site of the bite, two to three hours after the parasite is removed, pronounced local redness is observed, which gradually goes away on its own. The basis of skin reaction is allergy. The severity of the symptoms depends on the type of tick, the duration of its attachment, weather conditions over the past two weeks and the state of the animal’s immunity.
The photo shows a tick bite mark on a dog.
Clinical signs are swelling, increasing radially from the center, increased skin temperature in this area, redness, itching and pain. The animal licks and scratches the bite sites. In some cases, granulomatous dermatitis begins on the second day after removing the tick.
If a lump appears at the site of the bite, this may be the result of an allergy to the parasite's saliva or infection of the wound. Hair may fall out at the site of the bump, and the dog reacts painfully to touching it.
Purulent inflammation at the site of the bite appears due to the introduction of pyogenic microbes into the open wound. Thorough antibacterial treatment and, if necessary, administration of antihistamines are required. Another reason for the bump is the head of the tick remaining in the wound. This is very dangerous - the remains of the tick begin to decompose and cause blood poisoning. See a doctor immediately - minor local surgery will be required.
Maria Smirnova
Veterinarian in a private clinic, work experience – 8 years.
It is most likely that the symptoms of the disease will appear 6-10 days after the tick attack, but it matters how the disease progresses. If the disease develops at lightning speed, you may simply not have time to take action. Fortunately, such developments do not occur often.
Pay attention to the rapid rise in body temperature to 41-42°C. This is the dog’s body’s response to the introduction of the parasite, and after a couple of days the temperature will normalize, and later it will decrease. After removing the tick, measure the temperature in the animal's anus daily. Normal temperature in dogs is 38.5°C.
Usually, the difficulty of making a diagnosis is that the symptoms of a tick bite can be different. But almost all animals refuse to eat, show drowsiness and apathy. Some of the following symptoms may appear: trembling, thirst, shortness of breath, pale mucous membranes, abdominal pain, foul odor from the mouth, blood in the urine, vaginal bleeding (in bitches), impaired motor reflexes: unsteadiness of gait, paralysis of the hind limbs (“tick paralysis”) "), dysphonia (the dog cannot bark), dysphagia (lack of swallowing), sometimes vomiting and diarrhea and some others, which we will discuss below. Signs of the disease usually increase in severity.
Signs and symptoms of piroplasmosis
The single-celled protozoan piroplasma (Piroplasma canis) destroys red blood cells. A blood test shows a sharp decrease in the number of red blood cells. Toxic breakdown products of hemoglobin accumulate in the body, which disrupts the functioning of internal organs. How many days does a dog get sick after being bitten? The answer to this question depends on the initial condition of the animal, but usually the incubation period is 4 – 15 days. Its duration depends on the number of parasites in the blood, the time of blood sucking and the immunity of the victim. If detected early, piroplasmosis responds well to treatment, but long-term rehabilitation is required.
The dog's condition may deteriorate sharply. With an extremely rapid course, the animal dies without obvious signs of disease.
In the acute form, the following symptoms appear: changes in behavior, weakness, lethargy, loss of interest in what is happening, fever up to 42°C, refusal to walk, darkening of urine, pale or yellow mucous membranes, shortness of breath, paralysis of the limbs occurs. Death on 3–7 days from the moment of infection. With timely treatment, the dog's chances of survival are quite high.
With chronic piroplasmosis, all symptoms are blurred, only fatigue and weakness are expressed. In the latent form, symptoms do not appear.
How to choose drugs against ectoparasites
Regularly treating your pet with insecticidal preparations can help relieve the animal of unpleasant symptoms, maintain an impeccable appearance of the coat and protect it from the dangerous consequences of infection. Before purchasing products, you should consult with a specialist. The veterinarian will determine which insects caused the deterioration of the animal’s condition and select a drug.
Among veterinary drugs, the following dosage forms are distinguished:
- shampoo. “Lugovoi” is suitable for treating pet hair and killing parasites, and “4 with a tail” has a short-term repellent effect, that is, it scares away ectoparasites from cats and dogs;
- collar (“Leopard”). It is used for therapeutic and preventive purposes against lice, lice, fleas, and ixodid ticks. Provides protection for up to 4 months;
- spray (“Bars”, “Bars forte”). Products in this form are convenient for use and help protect the animal from insect attacks for up to 1 month;
- drops on the withers (“Bars”, “Bars forte”). Ideal for unruly dogs or aggressive cats. The product is applied to the withers area and provides protection for up to 1–2 months.
Before choosing an insecticidal or insectoacaricidal drug, you must consult a specialist, and before use, read the instructions.
How is piroplasmosis treated in dogs?
The sooner treatment for piroplasmosis begins, the higher the animal’s chance of survival. Recovery will last 4–5 weeks at best.
For proper treatment, it is important to exclude similar ailments: liver damage, poisoning, leptospirosis, glomerulonephritis, plague.
It is urgent to do blood and urine tests. A blood test will help quickly identify babesiosis by the many destroyed red blood cells and piroplasms in them. Hemoglobin in the urine of a sick dog confirms the diagnosis.
Stage-by-stage treatment:
- Antiparasitic drugs: Veriben, Berenil, Azidine (diminazine) - less toxic. Stronger: Imidocarb, Imizol, Piro-stop.
- Alkalization of urine for normal kidney function. Sodium bicarbonate is injected intravenously to prevent blockage of the renal tubules by hemoglobin crystals. The animal is also given a solution - 2 g of soda per 10 kg of body weight until the hemoglobin is completely removed from the urine. Instead of soda, you can give the drug blemaren - 1 tablet per 10 kg of weight per day.
- Vitamins, diuretics, glucose, tonic, hemostatic.
- Purification of blood by transfusion or filtering.
- A recovered dog should be limited in movement for 10-15 days. Special care and diet will be required.
After the disease, unstable immunity lasts 4-6 months. Afterwards, there is a risk of becoming infected with piroplasmosis again.
Symptoms of encephalitis in dogs
Of course, encephalitis is primarily dangerous for humans, but if the immune system is weakened, the dog can also get sick. The bite of an encephalitis tick causes severe symptoms. The incubation period is about 2-3 weeks. Typically, there is an increase in temperature, convulsions, impaired motor functions, and paralysis. A characteristic symptom is hypersensitivity of the head and neck, severe pain. A change in mood may occur - apathy or aggression, and later - paralysis of the facial and eye muscles. There is obvious brain damage, and since there is no specific treatment for encephalitis for dogs, the prognosis is unfavorable: almost one hundred percent death. Symptoms may go away after the first deterioration, but this is not a cure, but a sign of a suppressed immune response. The encephalitis tick has no special signs.
Prevention methods
To protect your beloved pet from ixodid tick bites and the possibility of infection with dangerous pathologies, it is recommended to use various methods of prevention:
- Use protective acaricidal agents - drops on the withers, collars, tablets, sprays.
- Vaccinate your pet against piroplasmosis annually.
- Inspect the dog's body several times a day during tick activity.
- If a parasite is detected, remove the arachnid from the animal as soon as possible and take it to the laboratory for examination.
- If your pet develops fever, lethargy, vomiting, convulsions, or lack of coordination, you should immediately consult a veterinarian.
With proper prevention and careful attention to your beloved pet, even in the event of a parasite bite, you can save and prolong the life of your four-legged friend.
