On Jan 11, 2012, the owner messaged me to get her Cocker
Spaniel vaccinated and checked. The Cocker wanted to
bolt out of the door as she remembered me very well. It
was great seeing a patient who had recovered from tick
fever and put on weight.
She had put on weight and was very active. Her gums were
pinker than normal. "It is best not to give too much
liver," I advised. The dog had no fever. I took a blood
test to review her health. Her owner did not bring any
urine sample as she said: "Every time I tried to collect
urine from her, she would stop peeing!"
The blood test revealed a low white cell count and very
low platelet count. "Could it be the return of tick
fever or a wrong blood sample being tested?" the owner
asked me when I told her to stop using the tick wash and
tick top up. The dog had a tick wash 2 days before as
she still had small ticks.
"It is unlikely to be tick fever," I said. "The dog is
eating well and is active. She has no fever so
far. Her gums are not pale at all. The lowered platelet
count could be due to toxic blood. Your dog would have
licked off the tick wash and ingested the poison over a
period of time." The owner had given the dog two tick
washes with Bayticol and also given spot-on insecticides
in the past 2 months as small ticks kept appearing. I
advised a repeat blood sample but the owner said she
would wait for 4 weeks.
She sent in the urine sample for analysis. Results would
be known tomorrow. With blood test, one assume that the
dog is OK and keep giving tick washes (to prevent tick
fever). The area where the dog exercises has ticks and
that is why this dog has small ticks now and then. The
owner is specially careful that she does not get tick
fever again as it can be a killer. Too much of anti-tick
insecticide can also destroy the white cells and
platelets as the dog licks off the smelly poison. This
licking was confirmed by the owner. It was good that the
owner had the blood test done as evidence-based medicine
using blood testing is the best way to confirm poor
health. Anyone would have thought that this active
and weight gaining Cocker Spaniel would have no health
problem but actually she was ingesting poisonous tick
wash.
TOA
PAYOH VETS
