What I dont get is why and how people think its not going to happen to their pets in tick season (and this year is particularly bad). I was not tick aware over 12 months ago when I was living in paralysis tick country. I was using a tick collar. The first one I used was the Kiltix brand and had no issues, but I changed to another brand and my dog got a tick. My morning routine was to let her out and watch her run around the yard. That morning when I let her out she slowly went down the stairs (very wobbly) and after she did her business she came back up and sat, she would not go back down the stairs. I knew something was wrong and called work and let them know I would be late. I put her in the car and took her straight to the vets. I explained to them I thought she had a paralysis tick and they took her- then I went off to work. They called me later to tell me they had found a tick, what they had done and that I could visit her that afternoon.
Needless to say I was freaked. The idea of her getting another one scared me so much I had her in the house and was treating her weekly with permoxin and had a kiltix collar. She was thankfully safe with that and the daily checking. I have since moved from the dreaded paralysis tick area and do not have to worry about the problems and issues.
However my Mum still lived there and she has a pomeranian. I left some frontline plus spray and the permoxin there for her to use. However she wont use permoxin on him as he is a mostly inside dog and it smells. And she obviously was not keeping the frontline plus spray up to him. He got a paralysis tick. And was very sick. Breathing problems, etc. He survived. But now the vet bill is so much she cannot pay it up front. I understand the vet not wanting to offer credit and let her pay it off, because she does not attend a vet regularly. Why do people own dogs if they cannot, or are not prepared to pay. Or do not take precautions, or dont have pet insurance!
