Monday, April 22, 2013

Ticks sure are disgusting aren't they?  Did you know that they also transmit disease?  Most people have heard about Lyme disease which is well known tick borne disease.  Luckily in Boulder we don't have the Lyme disease parasite called Borrelia in our ticks.  But we do have several varieties of ticks that can transmit other disease.  Ticks are typically know as the disease vector meaning that they spread the disease and are not made sick by the organism.  They just carry it.  Our Veterinarians have been seeing an early population of ticks starting to come out and clients are reporting more ticks then we would expect at this time of year.  Ticks need to be attached and feeding for about 48 hours to effectively transmit disease.  Checking your pets after hikes and runs through fields is an important part of prevention.  Finding ticks and removing them before they attach themselves or very shortly after will aide in prevention.

Prevention consists of the application of a medication that will kill ticks once they bite our pets.  Most commonly our Vets recommend using Frontline Plus applied monthly during tick season which typically runs from April to June.  Once it starts getting hot and dry we don't typically see to many ticks except in lush riparian areas around rivers.  Ticks are often found around Button Rock reservoir in Lyons throughout the summer.

Removing a tick can be quite easy.  BVH's Veterinarians recommend using an index finger and a thumb to grasp around the tick as close to the skin as possible and gently squeeze and lift.  You will often hear a little pop sound as the tick is removed from the skin.  Those little suckers hang on tight so sometimes a little force is necessary.  It is not uncommon to see a little welt develop at the site of the tick bite which should resolve in several days.  Veterinarians do not recommend using a burning match or any other method to remove a tick.  People are often concerned about whether the entire tick has been removed.  You can check the tick after removal to ensure the entire tick is present.  If there are still some small parts of the tick remaining under the skin it is not of extreme concern.  A word of caution; sometimes things like skin tags or moles look a lot like a tick.  Ticks have legs and moles do not.  Please make sure that you are removing a tick before you start pulling!

The primary tick borne diseases that our Vets see at Boulder Vet are: 1.) Ehrlichi (pronounced Er-lick-ee-uh)
2.) Rocky Mounted Spotted Fever

Ehrlichia is a parasite of red blood cells and platelets.  Platelets are a cell that helps clotting after injuries.  They are the first responder cell that helps stop bleeding quickly until the biochemical process known as the clotting cascade can completely stop the bleeding process.  Patients that have become infected with Ehrlichia typically come into Boulder Vet not feeling well.  They are typically sick and don't want to eat and have lower energy then normal.  Our Vets perform a nose to tail physical exam on all patients and the Vets report that a typical Ehrlichia patient will have a temperature, swollen lymph nodes under their jaws or behind their knees, pale mucous membranes, and sometimes a bloody nose.  A blood test is typically recommended to aid the diagnostic process.  Veterinarians often identify some abnormalities on the screening blood test including a low red blood cell count know as Anemia, a low platelet count known as Thrombocytopenia and often blood protein levels are increased.  Rarely the pathologist who reviews the sample in the laboratory will actually see the parasite living within the red blood cells on the sample.  Ehrlichia is typically treated with an antibiotic called Doxycycline and most patients do quite well and are feeling much better within several days of starting treatment.  Ehrlichiosis can often resemble an immune mediated destruction of red blood cells and platelets so it is not uncommon to start treating your pet for both diseases until we can determine the true cause of the problem.  For more information on Ehrlichia please visit BoulderVet.com and click on the link for the PET MEDICAL LIBRARY.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a tick borne disease caused by an organism called Rickettsia (pronounced Rick-et-sea-uh).  RMSF (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever) is a very severe disease typically that results in a condition called Vasculitis.  Vasculitis is a severe inflammatory process that occurs in blood vessels like veins and arteries.This vasculitis can result in clotting abnormalities and anemia as seen with Ehrlichia   RMSF dogs can often have such a sever inflammatory process occurring within their blood vessels that they can develop DIC which is severe life threatening complication of many disease processes where the clotting cascade mentioned above goes hay-wire and our blood starts clotting within our vessels.  Diagnosis of RMSF is difficult and often a diagnosis of exclusion.  Fortunately it is fairly rare and we don't see to many cases.  It is a severe disease and often carries a poor prognosis.  Treatment is supportive and involves dealing with the complications caused by the organism and starting an antibiotic like Doxycycline to kill the offending organism.


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