Diagnostic Efficacy of Certain Physical Examination and Serum Biochemistry Parameters in Dogs with Tick Paralysis

Recognizing tick paralysis is crucial as it can be fatal, but no specific diagnostic test exists. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic effectiveness of routine clinical examinations and selected laboratory analytes and to understand the impact of tick burden on the severity of symptoms in tick-paralyzed dogs. Fourteen dogs, whose diagnosis of tick paralysis was confirmed by the ex juvantibus method, were divided into Low Tick (1-4 ticks, n=7) and High Tick (5-60 ticks, n=7) subgroups based on the number of ticks. The healthy group consisted of dogs with no disease history (n=7). Physical examinations and certain serum biochemistry profile analyses of all the dogs were evaluated comparatively. The diagnostic efficiency of all the parameters was investigated by ROC-based diagnostic performance analysis. The respiratory rate of the dogs with tick paralysis was higher than that of the healthy dogs (p