Ticks and diseases carried by ticks in El Dorado County. A tick can sit month after month on the end of a twig patiently waiting for you or your dog to pass by. If no suitable host comes along before freezing weather, the tick crawls away to shelter and comes back again when it warms up a little. Now that we have Lyme disease to worry about, ticks are more than just a repulsive annoyance. The Lyme Disease organism normally lives in mice.
Ticks bite infected mice and later transmit the disease to other animals, including people and dogs.
In our area, whenever we see a dog with unexplained lameness we must consider Lyme Disease as a possible cause, particularly if the dog has a fever and one or more joints are swollen and tender. Tick paralysis happens mostly in the springtime. It is caused by tick bites, especially near the neck or shoulders. Paralysis begins in your dog's hind legs. Strangely, the front legs work fine at this stage.