Last minute discovery saves paralyzed dog from death

A dog in Oregon almost lost his life, until his veterinarians discovered a tick and a rare diagnosis.

Ollie is a Sheltie living in Southeast Portland with is owners Al and Joelle Meteney, and he loves spending time with them outdoors. Ollie, Al and Joelle recently took a trip Umpqua River and Eastern Oregon, but nobody expected it would have deadly consequences.

About a week after they returned from their outdoor adventure, Al and Joelle noticed that Ollie didn't quite seem like his healthy, active, 10-year-old self. Ollie was very lethargic, weak, had difficulty walking, and would only eat if he was hand fed.

Since Ollie had no history of medical issues other than minor hip pain, his concerned owners quickly took him to their regular veterinarian to find out what was wrong. After blood work, a urinalysis and a variety of x-rays revealed no cause for his new health problems, the veterinarian gave Ollie a medication that could help, but the next day his symptoms were even worse.

As the mysterious health problems continued, Ollie ended up completely paralyzed and couldn't eat or go to the bathroom independently, and there seemed to be no remedy in sight. Since the quality of Ollie's life was rapidly worsening, Al and Joelle were faced with an extremely difficult decision.

The owners decided to take Ollie to DoveLewis, an emergency animal hospital, to put Ollie to sleep, but nobody could have guessed that it would ultimately save his life.

As Dr. Adam Stone and Neena Golden, a vet student, prepared Ollie for his procedure, an amazing discovery turned everything around. Golden took some time to help comfort Ollie by scratching behind his ears before they began the procedure. In what were supposed to be the last moments of his life, Golden felt a strange lump in his thick fur and it turned out to be a tick. The tick managed to wiggle its way into Ollie's fur despite the outdoor collar he wore on the trip that changed his life.

According to Dr. Stone, the tick was extremely bloated and the large amount of its fecal material indicated that it had been feeding on Ollie for a while. Dr. Stone diagnosed Ollie with tick paralysis, a rare condition he learned about in vet school. Dr. Stone had never seen a case before, and only one other vet professional at DoveLewis had seen a case like this.

Tick paralysis is caused when a dog's system is exposed to a prolonged secretion of a ticks saliva, affecting the dog's neurological system and causing paralysis. However, the condition can be completely cured if the tick is removed, and only a specific species of tick can cause it.

Dr. Stone shared his potentially life-saving diagnosis with Al and Joelle, and told them that if Ollie didn't improve in three days, there was no hope. To make sure there weren't any other critters latching onto Ollie, the hospital staff completely shaved his body.

Al and Joelle were astounded when just 10 hours later, Ollie was up walking around and ready to go outside. The owners were so excited about Ollies miraculous turn around, and they brought him back to DoveLewis to make sure everything was going swimmingly.

Ollie is now back to his old self, and ready to take on the outdoors again. However, this time his owners are making sure Ollie is fully protected from ticks by adding an ingestible tick prevention with his tick collar.