Bomaderry Vet Dr Neal Johnson warns Shoalhaven pet owners of chronic shortage in tick anti-serum

It follows unprecedented numbers of paralysis ticks caused by recent rains and warm weather along the NSW coastline and Queensland.

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Bomaderry Vet Dr Neal Johnson said tick protection was a matter of life and death, particularly now that treatment options may be limited.

"The shortage of this potentially life-saving medication means that if a dog is affected with tick paralysis, it will be even more difficult to treat," Dr Johnson said.

"We're seeing a lot of tick cases where unfortunately it's because people are not using a preventative."

Dr Johnson said there were a number of good tick prevention products on the market.

"There are really good preventatives out there so this really shouldn't be happening," Dr Johnson said.

He said it was a combination of ten years of drought and people becoming complacent about tick prevention.

"We've got an upswing in tick cases because of the weather. There's good products available but people aren't using them," Dr Johnson said.

"We're seeing this across the board, across the district and across economic groupings. We're seeing between three and four cases a day."

For now Dr Johnson has tick anti-serum in-stock but he anticipates difficulty getting product from wholesalers moving forward.

"There's a very limited production in Australia. It's made by a couple of small companies on the north coast because it only occurs on the eastern seaboard so none of the big companies are interested. There's no market for them," Dr Johnson said.

"As a result the companies who do make tick anti-serum have been overwhelmed. It's overwhelming the supply."

Veterinarians are limited in what they can do to help an animal affected by paralysis tick bite without tick anti-serum

"Paralysis ticks are so nasty. They're such a little thing that causes so much damage," Dr Johnson said.

"We can do symptomatic things but basically the animals die because they can't breathe. The symptoms that people first see - they're wobbly on their back legs, their voice changes or they might regurgitate - all that's interesting but it's not going to kill them. It's their inability to breathe."

In very severe cases animals require ventilation but Dr Johnson said this was "ridiculously intense and expensive".

"Other than giving tick anti-serum we have no other treatment," Dr Johnson said.

He warned pet owners that dogs and cats were not the only animals at risk.

"It can affect any animal," Dr Johnson said.

"We've seen two calves this week and we will probably see more because there has been a boom in the cattle industry and now with the weather and so many ticks around it's a perfect storm."

Dr Johnson said there were better tick prevention products available for animals than people.

"You go bushwalking and you're limited to what you can use to prevent ticks," he said.

"We have better products than they do in the human field but you've got to use them."

Dr Johnson urged visitors to the South Coast to start a prevention treatment at least one week prior to travel.

"At least three or four days beforehand so that product is at the maximum level before they walk into the problem," he said.

"It is eminently preventable if people use a preventative product and there are good products available."