Ollie the 10-year-old Shetland sheepdog suffered a close call after a camping trip with his family left him paraly.zed and ready to be put to sleep.
Ollie was normally a very active and healthy dog. He enjoyed running amuck outside and joining his family on camping trips. However, after he came backfrom one of the camping trips, he wasn’t the same. His family knew something was up with Ollie because he would just lay around and he stopped eating as much.
And not long after this, Ollie back completely paralyzed. He was unable to eat or even go to the bathroom. His family immediately took him to the vet.
However, they were unable to figure out what was wrong with poor Ollie. His family loved him so much, it was hurting them to watch him suffer – so they made the agonizing decision to put him to sleep.
As Ollie was being prepared for his procedure at the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, luck intervened when an intern began petting him and then scratched behind his ear. That’s when the intern discovered a tiny bump which turned out to be a tick.
Tick paralysis is a very rare condition that Dr. Adam Stone had remembered learning about. Thinking quickly, he went through all the symptoms and it turned out that all of Ollie’s symptoms matched those of the condition. The tick was removed, and Ollie’s owners were told to wait a few days.
As a precaution, the rest of Ollie’s body was shaved in order to make sure there were no other ticks before sending him home. Within 10 hours Ollie was back to his normal self. His owners were thrilled and they took him back to the clinic in order to show off his recovery.
Ollie’s owners were more than grateful to the medical staff. And in the future, they will diligently make sure to prevent other tick bites from happening.
Ollie was so lucky to have avoided euthanasia.
Let this be a lesson to other pet parents out there to always keep a careful eye on your pets.
