Tick-born Diseases in Dubai

We are sure you know that ticks can transmit infectious diseases when they attach themselves to our dogs. One of these diseases, Ehrlichiosis, is quite prominent in the UAE.

The infectious agent, Ehrlichia canis will introduce itself in the dog’s (rarely cats) blood cells and multiply from there.

The disease will generally develop in 2 phases:

The 1st phase (acute phase), will appear 1 to 3 weeks after the infected tick bite. Symptoms will be fever, fatigue, anorexia, and clotting issues resulting in nose bleeding, bruising, blood in urine or stools etc… Some neurologic symptoms can sometimes accompany the 1st phase.

The 2nd phase (chronic phase) will then follow if the pet survives the 1st phase. During the 2nd phase, anaemia and clotting issues are still present, plus the dog can also have enlarged spleen, liver and lymph nodes. Eye issues, arthritis and seizures can also appear.

The prognosis is good ONLY in the very first days of the Acute phase and early treatment usually results in drastic improvement within a couple of days. Unfortunately, if left untreated, the bone marrow will not be able to produce new blood cells to replace those that have been destroyed by Ehrlichia (we talk about medullary aplasia). In these cases, the prognosis is very compromised.

Tick prevention is therefore very important and should not be overlooked. We have a range of very effective treatments from spot-on treatments to collars or tablets, please visit us for info.

If you discover a tick on your dog, we can test him for Ehrichia canis in the Clinic. It takes 10 minutes to have an answer and we can start the treatment promptly.