Tick Fever in Dogs: Symptoms and Recovery

Tick fever is a loose name for several infections that ticks pass to dogs, most often ehrlichiosis and babesiosis. The organisms attack the blood, and the illness often appears weeks after the tick responsible has dropped off and been forgotten.

That delay is why owners so rarely connect the two, and why the one piece of history a vet most wants, whether the dog has had ticks lately, is exactly the piece owners assume does not matter.

The signs

• Fever, tiredness, loss of appetite
• Pale gums, from anaemia
• Weight loss
• Nosebleeds, or tiny red spots on the gums, belly or inside the ears, which are small bleeds under the skin
• Bruising easily
• Swollen glands
• Limping or painful joints, sometimes moving from leg to leg
• Dark or red urine, particularly with babesiosis
• Yellow gums or eyes in severe cases
• Cloudy or bloodshot eyes

The combination to act on the same day is pale gums with tiredness, or any unexplained bleeding.

What the infection does

Ehrlichia infects white blood cells and, over time, stops the bone marrow making enough platelets and other blood cells. That is where the bleeding comes from.

Babesia destroys red blood cells directly, causing anaemia that can develop fast. That is where the weakness and the dark urine come from.

Why some dogs seem to recover, then fall ill again

Ehrlichiosis has phases. A few weeks after infection comes a sudden illness with fever and tiredness, from which many dogs appear to recover. Then the infection can sit silently, sometimes for months or years. In some dogs it then returns as a long-running illness, the dangerous one, with failing bone marrow.

A dog that was ill, got better without treatment, and is unwell again months later may be following exactly this course.

Diagnosis

A blood test showing low platelets is often the first clue, alongside anaemia. Confirmation comes from a blood smear, an antibody test or a PCR test, depending on the organism and what the clinic has.

Tell your vet about ticks, even from weeks ago. It changes what they test for first.

Treatment and recovery

Medicine that targets the organism, usually for several weeks. In severe cases, a drip, and a blood transfusion where the anaemia is life-threatening.

Most dogs treated early recover well. Improvement usually starts within days, but the blood takes longer, and rechecks are how you know the treatment worked rather than merely made the dog feel better.

Finish the course. Stopping when the dog seems well is how the silent phase begins, and that is where the long-running illness comes from. Some dogs remain carriers and can relapse under stress or illness.

Prevention is the whole answer

• Tick prevention all year, on schedule. Nigeria's warmth keeps ticks active in every season, so protection that stops in the dry season leaves a gap
• Check for ticks after every walk in grass or bush: inside the ears, between the toes, under the collar, in the armpits and groin
• Remove ticks properly: grip at the head with tweezers or a tick hook and pull straight out. No burning, no oil, no squeezing the body
• Treat every animal in the house
• Keep grass short and clear leaf litter where ticks wait, and treat the compound in a heavy infestation, because ticks live there as well as on the dog

The sooner a tick comes off, the less chance it has to pass the infection on, which is the practical argument for daily checks rather than weekly ones. Our free deworming and flea and tick planner sets the year's treatment dates for you.

Tick fever is a disease of interrupted routines, and treating it costs far more than the prevention that was skipped. Every Skeepy Pet HMO plan pays for vet consultations, flea and tick treatment and illness treatment, each within the plan's limits, at any vet clinic in Nigeria.