Our puppy was just diagnosed with this disease, it's a parasite carried by ticks and can be fatal. The vet said that he has had several cases just this week, as it has been very warm and ticks are still around.

So look out for symptoms. If your dog starts shivering, is not interested in food, lays low, has a fever - please don't dismiss this as a common cold, but go see the vet immediately.

Oh no - I'm so sorry to hear this.

All fingers, toes, paws and dewclaws here are firmly crossed for your pup. And thumbs pressed as well.

Hoping for the best...

Thank you Meloncollie. His fever is already down so hoping for the best..It happened so suddenly, was ok in the morning, but sick by lunchtime. Good we did not decide to wait and see.

Ullainga, I don't have any experience of piroplasmosis, but do with FSME (tick-born encephalitis). From what we went through:

If you have any doubts, please get experts involved. My general practice vet referred Hooligan to the Spezialistenklinik in ZG, and she was also seen by the neurologist at the Tierspital in ZH.


You and your doglet will be in our thoughts.

Thank you, he is much better already this morning, so looks like the vet was right. But he also said that it's very important to start treatment ASAP, so I'm very glad we didn't ignore this.

What a fright!!! I am glad to hear that your dog is better today!!! I am really surprise that the ticks are still out. Have taken off his flea collar ages ago.

Speedy recovery!

Sorry to hear about your pup's illness.

Out of genuine curiousity, what flea/tick preventative were you using and is your puppy an indoor or outdoor pupppy?

He's an indoor dog (well, the puppy is really 1,5 years old and 40 kilos), but spends a lot of time running in the fields.
He had his usual frontline, but didn't this month, as usually the tick season should be over. Well, that was a scary lesson. All the pets were promptly treated.

I'm so sorry to hear that one of your beautiful pooches had to go through this! I'm glad and relieved to hear that he's doing better today. What a scare! Thanks for the warning for the rest of us. I had no idea that ticks were still about...I always thought they couldn't survive once it goes below freezing at night. My mistake. I guess we'll have to just assume they're a problem year-round here.

How's your boy today, Ullainga?

(Paws still crossed.)

I too thought tick season was over and didn't apply anything! Thank you for the reminder!

Speedy recovery to your pup. Glad it was caught early.

Thank you for asking, he's a lot better, eating and running again. Still tired and not as energetic as before of course, but hopefully will make a full recovery. Since then I've been told so many stories about dogs dying of this in the matter of days -very scary indeed. But treatable, as long as you get treatment asap.

Thinking about your pooch, Ullainga - and hoping he is continuing to do well.

Hello everyone!
I'm completely new to this forum, we're now moving to Switzerland from Russia with our two dogs: a labrador and a flatcoat. I've experienced piroplasmosis with them twice last year.. So I'm wishing every dog to avoid this bad thing!

So, it's now clear that I need to use tick treatment on my dogs all the year round.. Actually I was told Europe is free of piro..