What does tick paralysis look like?
The clinical signs that are seen in farm animals are the same as those seen in our pets. After the tick releases its toxins, a certain type of paralysis slowly moves from the limbs and tail up to the head, making the muscles relaxed and the joints easy to move. In veterinary science this is described as an ascending, flaccid paralysis. This paralysis is described firstly as coordination loss, which leads to paralysis of the legs and chest muscles. The animal’s voice will also change from paralysis of the muscles in the ‘voice-box’. Without treatment the animal eventually suffers from respiratory paralysis and death. They can also breathe stomach contents into their lungs, and these contents cause a severe and often fatal pneumonia. It’s also been shown that the toxin released by Ixodes holocyclus causes sudden heart failure. Therefore, the prognosis for badly affected animals is not good. There is also a risk of this tick spreading tick-borne bacterial diseases like Rickettsia, which c
