Meet Tikki! She is a 14 year old, spry little lady. Tikki belongs to one of our technician assistants, Mal. Tikki has been a prominently outdoor cat for much of her life. Tikki spends most of her day basking in the sun and chasing after birds and bunnies.
Eventually, she noticed she had a bit of a limp. With Tikki being a bit older, Mal, figured that was the cause of her slowing down. She decided to bring her in for a physical exam. Upon exam, Dr. Yoder found that Tikki was overweight and would benefit from losing a few pounds, (couldn’t we all). She also recommended starting Tikki on a joint supplement because lets face it, she is an older cat and she lives outside, so she is the perfect candidate for a joint supplement. Mal started Tikki on her new medication and started cutting her food portions back. She noticed a slight improvement overtime, Tikki lost a bit of weight and slowly started to come around but she never really made it back to 100 %. As the leaves started falling and the weather began to change, Mal noticed Tikki’s limp again, this time slightly worse than before. Mal brought Tikki in again and this time Dr. Yoder did another good physical exam on Tikki but couldn’t find anything remarkable. After putting all the puzzle pieces together, outdoor cat, tick exposure, limping, normal temperature, she decided to do a tick borne disease test. Just like that, Tikki tested positive for both Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis! Dr. Yoder began Tikki on a one month course of antibiotics and just 2 weeks in, Tikki has significantly improved. Although Mal uses a monthly topical flea and tick preventative, Tikki still tested positive for tick borne diseases. Remember, no product is 100 %, diligently checking your 4 legged family members for ticks, and of course yearly exams for your pet are important in keeping your pet healthy and safe.