Chronic shortage in tick anti-toxin serum on South Coast, Southern Highlands and Southern Tablelands

It follows unprecedented numbers of paralysis ticks caused by recent rains and warm weather, particularly on the South Coast.

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Casey's Beach Veterinary Clinic has a limited supply of tick anti-serum available and Dr Amelia Perry-Powell said the situation was concerning.

"We're seeing absolutely unprecedented numbers of ticks across the country this year," she said.

"It's definitely a very concerning position to be in."

Tick toxin can remain in the blood stream of animals for up to three days after it is removed. However, tick anti-venom cuts that to between 12 and 24 hours.

According to Dr Perry-Powell Australia relies on one supplier for the tick-anti-serum used to treat paralysis ticks on animals.

"And they just haven't been able to keep up with the demand," Ms Perry-Powell said.

"They're trying to produce more but it's not available yet."

Dr Perry-Powell said Casey's Beach Veterinary Clinic had enough supply to last about 30 days.

"I've been a vet for seven years and I don't know of a time in the past where it's been this big of a problem," she said.

"Basically any animal that needs the serum will get the supply that we have but once we run out all we can do is support our patients through it."

Dr Perry-Powell said the dose of anti-serum required depends on the size of the animal.

"At the moment we would have enough to treat three large dogs or five to ten very small dogs or cats," she said.

"November and December are our worst months for tick paralysis because it's when there's the most [ticks] around. And sometimes people have stopped treating their animals over winter and haven't quite started again by that point."

Dr Perry-Powell said Casey's Beach Veterinary Clinic currently treats about one animal a day.

"It's the same species of ticks. There's just a lot more of them around at the moment," she said.

"They really like warm, wet conditions so with all the rain we've had, and the weather warming up, we're seeing ticks in greater and greater numbers."

Supply of tick anti-toxin is also low at veterinaries across the Southern Highlands and Southern Tablelands. However, ticks in these areas continue to be less common.

"We're sort of similar to the Highlands in that we don't generally get cases that originated from this area," Southern Tablelands Vet Hospital's Dr Madeleine Reichstein said.

"To my knowledge this clinic has never had a tick that's been confirmed to originate in Goulburn. We have pets that come back from the coastline, who come home to Goulburn [with a tick]. However, as far as I'm aware we've had very minimal cases."

Despite this, Dr Reichstein encouraged all Southern Tablelands pet owners to be proactive and take steps necessary for tick prevention.

"We're down to our last vial," Dr Reichstein said.

"The slightly tricky part with the anti-serum is there's no definitive idea of how much the patient needs. We would probably only get one or two patients out of a bottle that size."

Dr Reichstein pointed at information out of the Australian Veterinarian Association, which said floods affected the production lines of Australian suppliers.

"They are working at full capacity but due to the interruptions and due to the rains there has been an Australia-wide shortage," she said.

"They are currently working at full production capacity but this is causing a major issue. It's concurrently going with the change in weather, which has caused a sudden increase in tick resurgence."

Dr Reichstein said veterinarian peers working in emergency reported a 25 to 30 per cent increase in the number of tick cases compared with last year.

"The concurrent increase of tick paralysis is placing an additional demand on the tick serum," Dr Reichstein said.

"I think there's also a little bit of complacency by owners with tick prevention. That paired with the unusual weather has unfortunately left a lot of animals unprotected and we're seeing more cases than we usually would."

Both Dr Reichstein and Dr Perry-Powell said animals on the South Coast required reliable tick preventions.

"If you live in Goulburn it's not as much of a concern but if they're going anywhere near the South Coast, or any further north, we recommend that they give it prior to leaving and keep it up to date while they're out of the area," Dr Reichstein said.

At the moment there is no issue around the supply of tick prevention products, according to Dr Perry-Powell.

"The most important thing people can do is have their dogs and cats on a reliable tick product," she said.

"There's a really great variety of options available so it's very unlikely that there won't be one that's suitable for a particular pet."

To now there has been a decline in the number of tick cases at vets across the region.

That's according to Dr Perry-Powell, who said this was because of the wide range of reliable tick prevention products available.

"In previous years we've seen a drop in the number of tick cases because there are so many great products available," she said.

"Years ago there was a very limited number of products available but it's gotten so much better in recent years."

Dr Perry-Powell said no product was 100 per cent reliable. She urged owners to also look for signs of paralysis ticks.

"It usually starts from the back of the body forwards and as it gets more advanced they start to have difficulty breathing, which is really dangerous," she said.

"It paralyses their breathing and fatal toxicity is what kills them in most cases. If people see these signs they should contact their vet immediately."