Tick Infection?

by Christine
(Venezuela)

What is your treatment for a dog with tick bites that caused a serious infection?

Our workers' dog goes in the woods a lot and was full of 3 different types of ticks and wasn't eating.

They took her to the vet and the vet gave them Doxcillina 50mg to give her every 8 hours. I went and cleaned the dog of the ticks (hundred or more) and fleas, gave her a liquid vitamin 5cc and told them to give her it for 2 more days, gave her a deworming pill, put an oil treatment on her to heal the skin and keep the ticks and fleas off her (which is to be put on again in 7 days), and gave her 40cc of liquid food 3x while I was there and told them to give the liquid food to her every hour till she starts eating on her own again. The food was a combination of: 1 cup cooked rice, liver and hamburger (which I had already prepared for my dogs), plus 1/2 chopped carrot boil in 2 cups water, one raw egg, and tablespoon sugar (didn't have honey) and I would have added a pinch alfalfa sprouts (but didn't have them) and then put all the ingredients in a blender to liquify for the injector.

I am taking them some chicken parts for them to make the food combination with rice and chicken instead of the liver and hamburger plus all the other ingredients.

I saved my dog years ago with this treatment when the vet said my dog was going to die with only a 25% chance of living. When I told the vet later that my dog Jose lived the vet couldn't believe it and Jose is still living to this day and it has been 10 years. It's amazing what love for animals, the right medication, vitamins and food can do!!!

I just hope they will give her the medicine, vitamins and especially the liquid food every hour cause I think that will save her life cause she will become more anemic and dehydrated if they don't keep up with the liquid food every hour. That is why most vets presume the animals will die cause with just the medicine and vitamins their chance of living are low - but if the people take the effort and force feed them food and water their chances of surviving improve greatly.

Just like people when they are sick and don't want to eat they go to the hospital and are force fed intravenously. Think about it.




Hi Christine
Thank you so much for such a detailed piece on helping a dog with a tick borne disease.

Here in the US, Doxycyline is the antibiotic used to treat some of the illnesses that ticks cause. I'm guessing, due to the similarity of the names, that this is the medication that was prescribed for your workers' dog.

You're absolutely correct that there's a lot more to helping him regain his health, than just the medication. Going without food weakens the whole system, and dehydration can kill by causing the major organs to shut down.

A good nutritious diet is invaluable, and it seems that you've worked hard to create a regime of food, medications, supplements etc. that will provide optimum benefits. I hope that the dog does recover the way yours did, you seem to have managed to pull off a miracle.

Anyone who wants more information on dealing with ticks (and fleas!) can check out my Fleas and Ticks page.

Bless you for the caring and compassion for this dog. I will be adding a section for visitors to send in tips and advice for other dog owners soon, and will then move this submission to that section as I think it will help others.

Best of luck to you all.