The symptoms of the tick-borne disease aren’t easy to spot.
Saturday, May 26th, 2007When Marita Barrett saw a tick crawling on her dog, Shadow, back in September, she didn’t think much about it.
Barrett, who lives on Rolling Hills golf course in west Wichita, was holding the 8-year-old Italian greyhound on her lap on her home’s deck when she noticed the tick.
“It wasn’t filled with blood; it was just flat,” said Barrett, who flicked the tick off.
Shadow didn’t spend that much time outdoors, Barrett said, “and we didn’t walk much on the course because of the mosquitoes.”
About a month and a half later, when Shadow refused to eat one evening, Barrett had pretty much forgotten about the tick. But because Shadow had an autoimmune disorder, she decided to take her to the veterinarian the next day.
Later that night, Barrett was awakened by the sound of Shadow in obvious pain.
“In the middle of the night she started groaning,” Barrett said. “I sat on the divan with her until I could call the vet.”
When they got to the veterinarian the next day, he ran some tests and started Shadow on antibiotics right away. But the dog was so sick, she had to be euthanized by the end of the week.
A blood test revealed that Shadow had Lyme disease, caused by bacteria transmitted by the bite of infected deer ticks and western black-legged ticks.
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