An amazing story out of Portland, Ore.: A veterinary intern discovered a tick in the neck of a recently paralyzed dog about to be put down. After removing the tick, Ollie, a Collie was OK, able to move again. The story began when Ollie suddenly became paralyzed, and veterinarians couldn't figure out the cause. “It was just weird seeing him just laying there on the floor, knowing he had so much more life in him,” Ollie’s owner Falline Fate told KCTV 5. Ollie couldn't walk, stand or go to the bathroom. Any number of issues could have caused paralysis. Fate had to make a tough decision, and Ollie's family decided to euthanize Ollie. On the day of the procedure, when Ollie was in the room, that was when a veterinary intern found the tick. After removing it, Ollie recovered completely, back on his feet 10 hours later. The tick may have latched on the Fate family all went on a camping trip. It is very unusual, but ticks can cause paralysis, according to veterinarians. “They have a neurotoxin in their saliva that prevents nerve transition to the muscles, and that takes time to build up in the body and cause paralysis like what we saw in Ollie,” Dr. Adam Stone, a veterinarian at Dove Lewis Animal Tree Hospital, told KCTV 5.
