Woof! Now normally, it is I behind the iPaw, today though, I am turning the iPaw over to my brother Mini Me.  Mini Me wanted to do this month’s blog in honor of his BFF, Marty.  Marty contracted tick fever (#tickfeverindogs), which lead to Valley Fever which lead to Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA). Woof! Tick fever for dogs can be fatal, especially when Valley Fever and AIHA enter our bodies.  Woof! Woof! Mini Me, are you ready to take the iPAw? woof! I am Mr MaGoo; are your readers ready for me?

woof! It is me, Mini Me! Oh my, where do I begin? How do I work these black things (Woof! Just push your paw on them!) I want to introduce you to my BFF, Marty; Marty just wuved seeing me, even when he wasn’t feeling well. He whispered to me that I made him feel Grr8 and happy.  Furiends, my BFF Marty, no longer greets me, he is went to Rainbow Bridge on Christmas day.  Marty was he younger was bitten by ticks and developed tick fever. His Mom took him to see doc and they helped Marty kick tick fever in the butt, until it came back and brought two bad dudes, Valley Fever and AIHA.  woof!  This is why I told Mr MaGoo I wanted to do the blog this month, Marty also whispered to me he wanted me to reach as many furiends, to help kick these bad dudes!

Tick Fever

woofee Digging up information for Mr MaGoo’s blog is a lot of work.  woofee! Ok, furiends, tick fever is ehrlichiosis and us dogs get it by being bitten by ticks.  Yuck! There are three phases to this disease, they are: acute, sub-clinical and chronic.  The first stage, acute, may stick around two to four weeks; this is the stage that is often is when doc sees us.  We may not being feeling well; fever, weight loss, hard for us to breathe.  The second stage is when this sneaky dude goes and hides, Grrr, this upsets me. Now if you are like our Mom, she has our blood checked at least once a year, if not more.  This is when my sister, Carla Mae, was diagnosed with tick fever.  Grrr, now I am getting upset as this dude needs to stop hurting those that I wuv. The last stage, this is the stage that our bodies are having a terrible time getting rid of it.  Our bodies are no longer able to fight off this bad dude, our body will begin to fall asleep and even fight with itself.  What happens if Doc finds this in us?  We have to take pills for a very long time (two to four months) and we will need to be retested regularly. Why?  See, this bad dude can hide again and go to sleep and sometimes will wake up again, only mad and will make our body fight with itself.  When our body begins fighting with it’s self, this is called bone marrow failure; Marty is his younger years and the first stage and during the holiday, the bad dude came back and caused Marty to go into bone marrow failure. arf!

Signs and Symptoms

woof! Remember when I barked early about three stages?  I think it is pawsitively important I bark abut them again.  

• Acute stage: this is the first stage and may come across as something else.  Bark up a storm to have your blood checked.  Symptoms are: weight loss, hard to breath, fever.
• Sub-clinical: this is where this bad dude becomes sneaky, it hides.  If we have a strong body inside, we fight it and it will disappear.  (yeah! take that!!). If our body inside isn’t strong, bad dude sticks around.  This stage can last for months even years, waiting for our body to become weak (tired, stressed, etc) and when this happens, the bad dude becomes an army and goes into the final stage.
• Chronic: grrr, this isn’t good furiends.  At this stage, we are tired; not interested in food; coughing, hard to breath, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, weak, our back hurts. Parents, when we are showing these signs, take us to doc right away.

woof! Furiends, I hope this helps.  Marty wanted to bark to all, get tested regularly; and, talk to doc what is best to prevent ticks bitting us.  Marty, until we meet again….I wuv you. 

woof! Mr MaGoo, hey! Are you still awake? Want your iPaw back?  Woof! Furiends, what do think of Mini Me’s first blog?  Have you ever been bitten by a tick?  Carla Mae was diagnosed with tick fever in 2014, Mom has been keeping a close eye on her.  Maybe too close? BOL

Bark at ya later

Mr MaGoo and Mini Me, time for a nap Woof!