A TikTok video generated curiosity among users by showing a dog, in a veterinary emergency, in the United States, with its ears bouncing spontaneously, as if they were being swayed by a non-existent wind.
User charlie.vet.nurse, who works there, posted a video of a four-year-old Pyrenean mountain dog and listed his symptoms, challenging followers to guess what he had.
The dog was lethargic for at least 24 hours, and its ears were flopping, like a dog with its head hanging out of a car.
@charlie.vet.nurse drop your differentials in the comments #ervettech #vetnurse #vettech #vettok #vetmed #vettechlife #vettechsoftiktok #veterinarymedicine #emergencyvetmed
Followers’ guesses varied: tick-related illnesses, eating macadamia nuts, and anemia. One of them made the correct guess.
The dog had babesiosis, a disease caused by parasites transmitted by ticks. In a second video, Charlie said that his team took a blood sample from the ear to diagnose the dog’s illness.
According to her, this test is mandatory in Oklahoma due to the large number of tick-borne diseases.
In the video’s caption, Charlie explained that the disease was causing the dog’s “bilateral focal auricular dyskinesia,” which are abnormal movements of the facial or ear-related muscles on the sides of the face.
@charlie.vet.nurse Replying to @Ashley Marrama babesia gibsoni is correct and causing this patient’s bilateral focal auricular dyskinesia. Do not worry! Our quick and thorough work-up meant we could start Atovaquone & Azithromycin ASAP. #ervettech #vetnurse #vettech #vettok #vetmed #babesiagibsoni #babesia
If left untreated, the disease can cause the death of the animal. In the TikTok caption, Charlie explained that the quick diagnosis helped treat the dog with antibiotics and that he made a complete recovery.
“What caught my attention most about this TikTok case was the fact that the owner was extremely attentive to his dog. At the slightest symptom, he already knew something was wrong”, says veterinarian Lívia Carolina Beserra.
“For us veterinarians, who deal with beings that don’t know how to speak, don’t know how to show where it hurts, for example, any perception of the tute itself helps us in which diagnosis we can follow. Like a mother who takes her child to the pediatrician and describes the symptoms the baby presents.”
According to her, this case was a symptom in itself, as each dog, each disease can manifest itself in a different way. “However, when you notice that the dog has its ear down, scratches the area a lot, or shakes its head a lot, it could be a symptom of otitis, which is an infection or inflammation that affects the animals’ ear canals.”
Lívia says that other neurological diseases, strokes, tumors that can grow and compress the nerves in the face can reveal themselves in unusual behaviors or movements of the ears.
“In cases of signs that appear and last more than a day, such as stopping eating, lethargy, it is always a good idea to have a physical evaluation by the veterinarian and laboratory tests, if necessary”, he states.
Source: CNN Brasil
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