If you've ever dreamed of domesticating an adorable bear, it seems Russia is the place to be. The evidence is this amazing video of a bear cub helping a woman dig in her garden while she offers words of encouragement.
According to a Russian-speaker on Reddit, the woman is saying: "Are you a garden helper, Syomochka? Who's helping me? Syo-oma! My he-еlper! Digger! Say yes, Syoma! Be more careful." You know, just the normal kind of thing you say to your tiny bear assistant.
It's unclear if Syomochka helps out with other chores besides gardening—or what will happen when he gets bigger—but for now, he seems perfectly at home, and a perfect gentleman. So where do I get one?
The Billboard Music Awards, AKA the poor man's Grammys, were Sunday night, and celebrities hit the red carpet in outfits that will seriously make them want to fire their stylists on Monday. In the spirit of full disclosure, we don't know much about fashion, but we know a ton about being petty. Let's judge some people's outfits, shall we?
This year's worst dressed list includes:
1. Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line
Stop me if you heard this one: a fake cowboy and a used car salesman walk into a bar...
2. DJ Khaled
Those pants look like he borrowed them a catering company.
3. Ashley Tisdale
Ugh, this outfit is great conceptually, but that silhouette is just not flattering.
4. Jason Derulo
GREEN VELVET? In MAY? In VEGAS? No. I would say more, but Derulo is probably getting enough literal and metaphorical heat already.
5. Noah Cyrus
Can someone tell Miley Cryus' little sister that JNCO Jeans aren't a thing anymore?
6. Denica
Look, we can appreciate taking a fashion risk, but this one is just way too pointy.
7. Halsey
How can a bra be too tight and too saggy at the same time? Maybe Halsey should untie the trench coat from around her waist and use it to cover her outfit.
8. Rita Orta
Half mother-of-the-bride, half lady-of-the-night, all ugly.
The Billboard Music Awards were on Sunday, and beautiful celebrities took a moment to strut down red carpet in their beautiful outfits to remind us that they are much more beautiful than us common folk. Sure, it seems highly unfair that these hot, rich people get to wear fancy outfits to events while we sit home dropping salsa on our shirts (just me?), but at least we can admire them from afar. Not everyone nailed it this year, but here is who did:
1. Camila Cabello
Cabello looks like the IRL version of the dancing lady emoji...in a really good way.
2. Lindsey Stirling
I honestly have no idea who Stirling is, but her dress is pretty.
3. Rickey Thompson
Internet personality Rickey Thompson looks classy as hell in an olive green suit.
4. Lea Michele
Just the right ratio of sexy and classy.
5. Sibley Scole
She looks like a gorgeous Jedi in the best possible way.
6. Machine Gun Kelly
Man, I don't know who half these people are, but I like this dude's suit! Jury's still out on his name, though.
7. Hailee Steinfeld
Cut out dresses are definitely having a moment, and Steinfeld absolutely rocks this one.
8. John Legend
There are many ways the double-breasted suit could go wrong, but Legend got it right.
9. Vanessa Hudgens
Leave it to Hudgens to make giant satin pink bows look fashionable.
Piers Morgan is definitely not a fan of the revealing outfit Cher wore on Sunday night to perform at the Billboard Music Awards. Cher, who just turned 71, wore an outfit consisting of sparkly rhinestones, a blond wig, one pasty, and not much else, to perform her hit "Believe." On Monday morning's Good Morning Britain, Morgan said of Cher, "She’s a grandmother, it’s like for goodness sake, put it away, grow old gracefully, put them away.”
Cher received the Icon Award on Sunday night, and gave her first awards show performance in 15 years, according to The Sun.
Morgan's co-hosts, Susanna Reid and Kate Garraway, disagreed with Morgan, saying that they thought Cher was aging "beautifully," to which Morgan responded, “I think her [plastic] surgeon’s probably working over time.”
Morgan asked, rhetorically, “At what point do Cher’s outfits become inappropriate? She’s 70.” But we already know at what point Morgan thinks it's inappropriate: as Reid points out, Morgan, 52, apparently has a cut off age for ladies wearing sexy attire—56.
Happily, later in the show, as Reid was tallying up the number of times he'd criticized Cher so far Monday morning (3), Morgan accidentally spilled hot tea all over his new suit. Well, there's karma for you.
They say prom is a night you will always remember. But for a group of students from Vancouver, prom will definitely be something they will never forget— and it is all thanks to Justin Trudeau.
As a group of students posed for prom pictures by the water in Stanley Park Seawall in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canadian Prime Minister/very-in-shape person Justin Trudeau casually jogged by unnoticed.
The moment was captured by Trudeau's official photographer Adam Scotti. It's like playing Where's Waldo with a world leader:
— The Church Of Satan (@ChurchofSatan) May 22, 2017
In reality, the orb was a globe—of the world—and served as the centerpiece at the grand opening of Saudi Arabia's Global Centre for Combating Extremist Ideology.
According to the Guardian, "the leaders' placing their hands on the globe 'officially activated the centre and launched a splashy welcome video.'"
A strange optics choice, since the entire internet saw: SUPER VILLAINS, ILLUMINATI, or SATANIC RITUAL instead of a showy replacement for cutting the blue ribbon.
tfw you and your friends unearth an ancient alien hell orb and combine your powers inside it to stop superman >>>>> pic.twitter.com/kzsYEKC4R0
A lot of people say the Orb is evil. Stupid! I will negotiate with the Orb, make it work for us. Good deal for everyone!!! Hail the Orb. pic.twitter.com/vmN12iTulB
As for Satanic ritual, the Church of Satan strongly disputes that assumption. And they took the opportunity to educate the masses a little bit:
Islam is theism and has no connection with Satanism.
— The Church Of Satan (@ChurchofSatan) May 22, 2017
Just because something is not Christian does not equate it with Satanism.
— The Church Of Satan (@ChurchofSatan) May 22, 2017
@ladylibertylove We don't worship any imaginary deities. Feel free to read our FAQ.
— The Church Of Satan (@ChurchofSatan) May 22, 2017
For the record, "Satanists," as they're called, don't worship the devil. They're atheists who believe in "pride, liberty and individualism," and Satan is just "an external metaphorical projection of our highest personal potential. We do not believe in Satan as a being or person."
Every year, the best and brightest students across the country distinguish themselves with crafty ways to sneak NSFW, violent, or otherwise uncouth quotes into the yearbook. Going viral today is one crafty senior, who used The Office to make her feelings about school unequivocally known.
Amber's quote was a timestamp, pointing to an episode of The Office called "Garage Sale." The school censors either had a great sense of humor or no one would let them borrow a Netflix password to find the quote:
"Should have burned this place down when I had a chance."
The full quote, in context:
No, I am not going to be proposed to in the break room. That is not going to be our story. Should have burned this place down when I had a chance.
Not that the context is important at all, but it's a good show. And a better quote.
A waitress who spent the night with Orlando Bloom was fired from her job when she was found naked in his hotel bed the next morning, according to The Sun. The woman, 21-year-old aspiring actor Viviana Ross, had met Bloom while serving him drinks at Chiltern Firehouse. He was staying at the restaurant and hotel in London's West End while promoting his new movie, Unlocked.
A post shared by Viviana Ross (@iamvivianaross) on
The Sun spoke to one of Ross' friends, who had a lot to say. According to the friend, “After her shift on the Friday night [Ross] got changed into normal clothes, left the bar and bumped into Orlando outside. They chatted and he asked her to join him in his room for a drink. Of course she said ‘Yes’."
But in the morning when Bloom left for an early interview, Ross stayed in bed (still naked), according to the friend. And then a general manager came into Bloom's suite and she was busted. Within an hour she got a text saying she was being let go from her job for “fraternizing with clients.”
A post shared by Viviana Ross (@iamvivianaross) on
However, according to Ross' very talky buddy, she had no regrets about the “night of incredible sex." The friend The Sun, “There was real electricity between her and Orlando from the moment they saw each other. She said she had an amazing time and his body was very good. He was an exceptionally good lover.”
Well, now at least she's got something she can put on her résumé when she applies for a new job.
President Donald Trump arrived in Israel on Monday. During a stately walk down the tarmac, First Lady Melania appeared to bat away his attempt to hold her hand.
That was a mistake, because Trump's hands always get him in trouble when he's around world leaders. Like when he lingered too long on the Japanese prime minister. Or when he refused to touch Angela Merkel. Or when Justin Trudeau bested him at his own game.
Then there's the fact that people go wild whenever Melania Trump's shows disdain for her husband, real or imagined.
The latestPirates of the Caribbean movie is set to be released in theaters this week, but it was originally supposed to look very different from the film you'll see on the big screen. And it's all because Johnny Depp didn't want to go up against a girl.
MoviePilot recently discovered a blog post written in 2016 by Pirates of the Caribbean screenwriter Terri Rossio. In the post, Rossio, who had worked on previous Pirates films, revealed that he originally wrote the plot of the newest one, Dead Men Tell No Tales. His story was ultimately rejected, though, because Johnny Depp didn't like that it featured a female villain.
"My version of Dead Men Tell No Tales was set aside because it featured a female villain, and Johnny Depp was worried that would be redundant to Dark Shadows, which also featured a female villain," Rossio wrote.
Oh, God forbid Johnny Depp has to deal with yet ANOTHER female villain. He already worked with ONE. Meanwhile, Depp doesn't seem to have any problem with the multiple male villains he's fought over the years.
But, alas, Depp got what he wanted. Writer Jeff Nathanson was brought on to write the film instead, along with Depp, who collaborated on the script.
“Sometimes it just takes a single decision by a single person, often just a whim, to destroy years of story creation and world-building," Rossio wrote in his blog post.
Start your week off right with a new Dr. Pimple Popper video! In this one, the internet-famous dermatologist, whose real name is Dr. Sandra Lee, takes out a "gumball" cyst from a patient's arm. She determines that it's probably a pilar cyst, which is usually (but clearly not always) found in the scalp. Pilar cysts (also called trichilemmal cysts, or wens) tend to be a little firmer than other cysts, and easier to pop out whole. Ah, that's the good stuff.
The popping part starts at about the 2 minute mark in the video.
Look a that sucker! It could be a gumball, but it could also be an eyeball, peering out from under the skin. Uh-oh, did I make it weird? I made it weird.
Botha was with a group of hunters in Zimbabwe who encountered a breeding herd of elephant cows at the Good Luck Farm near Hwange National Park, according to MSN.
News24 reported that three startled elephant cows charged the group of hunters, and Botha opened fire on them, only to be caught by surprise by a fourth elephant cow that attacked from the side. That elephant lifted Botha with her trunk, and one of the hunters shot her. In a spectacular display of instant karma, she fell on top of Botha when she died, killing him, too.
An elephant hunt picture from Botha's website.
Theunis Botha had been leading guided hunting safaris in Africa since 1989, the Washington Post explained. According to his company's website, Botha was a specialist in leopard and lion hunting, and he developed a new method of using hound dogs to track big game.
Botha is survived by a wife and five children, according to News24. No word on who the elephant is survived by.
Every Tuesday is Travel Tuesday, otherwise known by its hashtag #TravelTuesday. People from all over the world share their best vacation and holiday pictures, generally on Twitter and Instagram, with the #TravelTuesday hashtag. Whether you're spending your time in a luxury resort, at a campfire, or on safari– people draw inspiration from other people's journeys.
Looking for travel inspiration? Here's 3 years worth. Get out of your comfort zone!
Travel Tuesday is also great if you're a traveler looking for advice, if you want to share your prior knowledge and experience to help others, or if you simply love traveling and talking with like-minded people. You can also share your favorite URLs, pictures, blog posts, and more. Below are some of the best #TravelTuesday posts. Scroll down for some of the best celebrity travel photos.
It's always fun when you find a math problem meant for children that you, a grown-ass adult, cannot solve for the life of you. (Like this one, or this one.) Right?! Well, we've got yet another word problem to make you go crazy. This one, which was a bonus question on a math exam for first graders in Singapore,was recently posted to an online forum.
The math problem prompts students to study the number pattern and fill in the missing numbers.
Huh?
We'll give you a minute to figure it out.
How are we doing? Are you suddenly questioning everything you've ever known?
Has this inane puzzle driven you to start pulling out your hair yet?
Okay, we'll give you an answer. One forum user responded to the original post with this explanation for how to solve the problem:
Well, that was way less complicated than we thought.
And now you're probably mad at us for making you over-think a problem that was actually very simple. Sorry!
The Western Wall in Jerusalem is one of the holiest sites in the Jewish religion, and on Monday, a world-travelingPresident Donald Trump joined the millions of tourists each year who visit it and place a note within the timeworn cracks in the stone.
"The notes are a way to pray if you don't know how," explained Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz to Reuters back in 2007. "After all, if you want to receive, you have to ask."
So it's obvious that everyone's wondering just what Trump asked for—and just what he put in his note.
— Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) May 22, 2017
But if you're more fascinated by what Trump wrote than what Twitter thinks he wrote, you might be in luck. In 2008, then-candidate for president Barack Obama visited the Western Wall and left the customary prayer message.
Reportedly, his note was "removed from the wall by a student" as soon as Obama left, according to the Telegraph. The note was later published, and—viola—here it is:
Trump appeared to place note in Western Wall today. In '08, Obama's note was stolen and published. pic.twitter.com/8Dbmesftd2
By all accounts, Pippa Middleton had the perfect wedding. She had the fairytale white lace dress, the five-course sit down-dinner and the £100,000 marquee erected right in her family's garden. And her wedding was attended by literal royalty, taboot.
There just may be one thing that spoiled Pippa's special day— a particularly bawdy best man's speech.
Justin Johannsen, longtime friend of the groom, was given the honor of being the best man and thus delivering the best man speech at Pippa Middleton and James Matthews' wedding. He isn't the first groomsman to turn his speech into his own personal open mic, but according to The Daily Mail, his dirty jokes didn't exactly land, and received a cold reception from guests.
Toward the beginning of the speech, Johannsen joked about where he kept Pippa's wedding ring for safe keeping.
Other than having to having to carry all of his baggage, the hard part was to keep the rings safe. James doesn't ok now this but I have a habit of losing things. Not often, but they are usually quite expensive. So I resolved to keep them on my person the entire time that they were in my custody. We both got up for a run early this morning and James jokingly asked if the rings were on my person. I had them in a shower cap tucked in my shorts. He said "really, in a shower cap? I don't want that in my head when I am putting the ring on Pippa's finger in the church. I'm sure it wasn't on your mind in the church, but it was on your mind now, sorry Pippa.
Okay, that could have been worse. What else ya got, Johannsen?
He also took a moment to reference the bride's famous behind. At her wedding. In front of many dignified guests.
Firstly, some messages from those who couldn't be here today. 'Wish Pippa the best with the hair. We have really enjoyed seeing you and how you have mastered interpretive dance. Don't forget to buttock clench on the star jumps.' That's from Steve and the gang at the Crazy Feet dance studio in Soho.'
And then made this joke that not only was out of place, but sounded like it was ripped out of a cheesy joke book.
I'm not married. But I took a girl home, my mother didn't like her. Took another girl home and my mother still didn't like her. So I went out and picked a girl that looked like my mother, took her home, and my father didn't like her.
He discussed a particularly rowdy boy's weekend the two took when they were both single.
There was a time when both James and I were single. We took ourselves off on a boys' weekend. I proclaimed to James that I was going to try it on with anything that moves. I said to James, "what are you going to do?" He said: "Stand very still."
Okay, that one was pretty good.
But Pippa might not take too kindly to this next joke:
Now to the love of James' life: beautiful, energetic, loyal, soft-mouthed, comes on command, great behind. But that is enough about Jame's spaniel, Rafa, I'm here to talk about James' love, Pippa.
Finally, Johannsen concluded his 10-minute address with this eyebrow raising joke:
With the wedding shadowed in secrecy, I can reveal, and wish the bride and groom a happy honeymoon in North Wales. At least that's where I presume they are going as I heard Spencer saying that after the wedding, he was going to Bangor for two weeks. Enjoy the Welsh coast, guys.
OH DAMN!
Of course, there were a few really lovely things said in the speech as well, which you can read here.
Looking back on your high school prom dress may be embarrassing, but all you can really do is laugh about it. Or, we suppose you can do what Ellen DeGeneres did on Monday's show and turn it into a fun game called "Prom Dress or Craigslist Couch?"
The game went like this: Ellen showed the audience close-up photos of fabric that were either from someone's prom dress or a sofa that's being sold on Craigslist. Ellen and her DJ, Twitch, had to guess which one it was. The photos were then zoomed out to reveal the answer. Some of them were very surprising.
So, if your prom dress didn't turn out the way you expected, look on the bright side. 30 years from now, a photo of it may appear on a talk show where people are trying to distinguish it from a secondhand sofa. That's kinda fun, right?
Johanssen took the opportunity in front of the future King of England try out some standup jokes.
"I'm not married. But I took a girl home, my mother didn't like her. Took another girl home and my mother still didn't like her," he said. "So I went out and picked a girl that looked like my mother, took her home, and my father didn't like her."
And the stuff about the bride is where it gets really big and juicy. Johanssen opened with a reference to her butt:
Firstly, some messages from those who couldn't be here today. "Wish Pippa the best with the hair. We have really enjoyed seeing you and how you have mastered interpretive dance. Don't forget to buttock clench on the star jumps. That's from Steve and the gang at the Crazy Feet dance studio in Soho.
And then about Matthew's bitch, the dog kind:
Now to the love of James' life: beautiful, energetic, loyal, soft-mouthed, comes on command, great behind. But that is enough about Jame's spaniel, Rafa, I'm here to talk about James' love, Pippa.
A royal grimace.
Johanssen then bravely moved on to honeymoon sex:
With the wedding shadowed in secrecy, I can reveal, and wish the bride and groom a happy honeymoon in North Wales.
At least that's where I presume they are going as I heard Spencer saying that after the wedding, he [James] was going to Bangor for two weeks.
"Bangor"! Get it? Like "banging"!
While it's pretty standard best man fare, you can't help but cringe at crudity when it comes to Britain's high society. Poor Pippa.
4. James Cameron, because he's being sued by "the real Jack Dawson."
Pocahontas is also lawyering up to sue him for Avatar.
TMZ reports that director James Cameron is being sued for $300 million by Florida man Stephen Cummings for allegedly stealing his stories to create Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Titanic. Oh, and he also thinks that Cameron stole the story of the Titanic sinking from him, too.
"Shh...I'm actually a Floridian 'yacht master.'"
Court documents show that the complaint is arguing that Cameron got the idea for the gorgeous American rapscallion Jack Dawson after overhearing a conversation Cummings, a former "yacht master," was having with his friends in 1988. TMZadds that Cummings insists that Cameron overheard him telling friends about relatives who were aboard the doomed ship, and just like in the movie, the husband died while the wife survived.
"Sure, Steve."
One-thousand-five-hundred-and-seventeen people died on that cold night in 1912, so Cummings's tale isn't a particularly original take.
Cummings is asking for $300 million, plus 1 percent of royalties.
This lawsuit seems like a long shot. I believe that Cameron's heart will go on.
3. Melania Trump, because she almost had to hold Donald's hand.
Can't touch this.
Melania Trump, America's First Lady who works remotely from New York, is joining her husband Donald for his foreign trip through the Middle East and Europe. Unfortunately for Melania, this means having to be in the same cities at the same time as her husband.
Forgive Donald, he's not used to things being able to swat his hand away as he grabs them.
2. The couple who had to pay up $2,000 because of the emoji they used.
How to prove intent in court :(
A landlord in Israel has successfully sued a couple for misleading him with emoji, also known as just another day on Tinder.
Room 404 reports that the landlord, Yaniv Dahan, posted an apartment listing, and received a response from a couple which included enthusiastic emoji.
The text in question.
The message reads:
Good morning [smiley face]. We want the house [Flamenco dancer, twin dancers, peace fingers, comet, squirrel, champagne.] Just need the weekend for the details...When's good for you?
Dahan interpreted those enthusiastic emoji as a sure thing that they wanted to rent the house, and took down the ad. The couple responded about seeing the place, but then proceeded to ghost him, ignoring his messages... so he took them to small claims court.
Mean emoji = Mens rea.
The judge interpreted the couples' little dancers and squirrels as "proof of intent" of desire to rent the apartment, delivering the most serious analysis of emoji yet:
These icons convey great optimism. Although this message did not constitute a binding contract between the parties, this message naturally led to the Plaintiff’s great reliance on the defendants’ desire to rent his apartment.
It's official, people: your optimistic squirrel just may be legally binding.
1. This Florida woman who called the cops about her semen thermos and got outed on Facebook.
Getting jizzy with it.
For three years now, Felicia Nevins and her husband have been trying to conceive a child, but to no avail. The couple decided to try artificial insemination, and got into a near-explosive situation, different from your average explosion of semen.
To keep the semen cool and fresh, Nevins put the lil swimmers in a thermos with dry ice, but as the Tampa Bay Times reports, "by forgetting to remove a rubber O-ring, the container could have exploded." Not the first time an O has been forgotten with regard to semen.
Felicia Nevins called up the Sheriff's Office "non-emergency line" for help safely opening up the semen, and a deputy and firefighters arrived, keeping quiet so the neighbors wouldn't suspect a thing. But the Sheriff's Office couldn't resist the potential Facebook likes a juicy story about near-explosive semen could get them, and shared the story on Facebook.
Although the Facebook post didn't mention her name, people were able to deduce who she was from the sheriff's office's description of her age, location, and time of the incident, and camera crews arrived at her doorstep.
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office defended the post, saying, "We attempt to show every day what our officers see in calls and we are a very open agency about the types of calls we see each day."
While Felicia Nevins might have been publicly humiliated by her own police force, at least she now knows how to preserve semen.
Abrantes wanted to include her best friends in her pre-wedding festivities, but she works in a male-dominated field, so most of her friends are guys.
"I was looking into some 'making of' pictures of brides with their gang of girls, all in robes, laughing, drinking champagne and all, and I got a bit sad because I wouldn’t be able to do anything like that," she told Bored Panda.
Luckily, her guy friends rose to the occasion. Beautifully.
These brosmaids, in true bro fashion, may have gone a little overboard on the booze.
"The photoshoot was super fun," said Abrantes. "Everyone was taking shots of cheap booze and sometimes we were laughing so much that we had to take some time to recover and go on with the photos."
Good thing they did recover. Abrantes shared her non-traditional bridesmaids photos on Facebook, where they wracked up over 70,000 "likes" and50,000 shares since last week. And according to the comments, people are obsessed with the idea.
Will brosmaids soon overtake bridesmaids as a pre-wedding tradition?
In a now-viral Facebook post, mom Amanda Lewis wrote about a scary thing that happened to her daughter, Evelyn. They live in Eastern Oregon, where ticks are everywhere this time of year. As Scary Mommy reports, deer ticks can sometimes cause Lyme disease, but there's something else that can happen if your child is bitten by a tick and it's much less well-known. It's called tick paralysis.
According to Amanda Lewis' post, Evelyn "started acting weird" around bedtime. After her bath, the little girl didn't want to stand up to get into her pajamas. So Lewis helped her and then spent the night in bed with her, claiming she was "a little fussy." By the next morning, Evelyn could barely walk, crawl, or use her arms. Lewis and her husband took video of her daughter, and sent it to friends and family to see if anyone had any idea what was going on. They also took Evelyn to the emergency room, because her symptoms were getting worse.
We had a little bit of a scary morning today...luckily everything is ok but I wanted to share this so the rest of you are aware. Evelyn started acting a little weird last night around bed time. She didn't want to stand up after her bath to get into her pajamas. I helped her and got her in bed. She was a little fussy last night and I ended up sleeping in bed with her all night. This morning she was having a hard time standing. She could barely walk, or crawl, and could hardly use her arms. We took some video this morninh to send to family to see if they had any idea what could be going on. We decided to take her into the ER right after we took this video because her symptoms were getting worse, and given Lantz's history with cancer we were quite concerned. We got into a room quickly, thank God, and were seen almost right away. The doctor talked to us for a minute and said over the past 15 years he had seen about 7 or 8 children her age with identical symptoms and more than likely she had a tick. They looked her over, combed through her hair really well and sure enough found a tick hiding in her hair. This condition is called tick paralysis. It can affect dogs also and can be fatal. I'm glad we took her in when we did and that it wasn't something worse and that we found it before it got worse. The ticks are out like crazy right now in this area so if your children or dogs start acting a little off, check them thoroughly for ticks! I feel awful for not having seen the little bugger sooner but I never would have even thought to look for a tick. It's crazy that a little bug can do this! We're still in the ER. Now that the tick has been removed, Evelyn should start feeling like herself in a couple of hours. She's enjoying popsicles and watching cartoons ☺ They want to monitor her for a little longer then we can go home Crazy morning UPDATE: I didn't realize how widespread this video would end up! So for those of you who don't know us personally, Evelyn is doing much better. It took her until the next morning to start acting like herself again. She is now pretty much completely back to her feisty little self. She complains a lot about her head itching but otherwise she's just fine. My husband and I are still in shock that this happened to our baby girl and I'm glad we were able to spread some awareness about this. It's not terribly common for this to happen but it's good to be aware that if your children or pets start having weakness in their limbs to look for a tick! The doctor told us that the type of tick that was found on her does not typically carry lyme disease (dog tick) but we are keeping a close eye on her anyway. "Tick paralysis results from injection of a toxin from tick salivary glands during a blood meal. The toxin causes symptoms within 2–7 days, beginning with weakness in both legs that progresses to paralysis. The paralysis ascends to the trunk, arms, and head within hours and may lead to respiratory failure and death. The disease can present as acute ataxia without muscle weakness" For more information on Tick paralysis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick_paralysis http://www.cvbd.org/en/tick-borne-diseases/tick-paralysis/human-tick-paralysis/ I'm so thankful that we got her to the doctor quickly before her symptoms got worse and that the doctor in the ER that day had experience with this otherwise who knows how many tests they would have been doing on her trying to figure out what was wrong! Thank you all for your kind words and support through this crazy time! ♥ UPDATE AGAIN: We're located in Eastern Oregon USA. Ticks though can be found all over. They're causing all kinds of problems on the east coast of America right now as well
The ER doctor had an idea about her diagnosis, although according to Lewis' post, he claimed that he'd only seen seven or eight cases in his 15 years of medical work. He suspected that Evelyn had a tick on her, and sure enough, they found one in her hair.
According to the Companion Vector-Borne Diseases website, tick paralysis (which can also occur in dogs) is caused when the tick's salivary gland produces and transmits a neurotoxin to its host. The site reports:
“In humans, tick paralysis is most likely to be seen in children. The symptoms in humans are similar to the clinical signs in dogs. About two thirds of human cases are seen in young females. The tick bites are most often found at the head and there at the transition of hair and neck."
CBVD states that the first symptoms of tick paralysis are irritability, restlessness, and fatigue. It continues, “During the next 12 to 24 hours the muscles innervated by facial nerves become weak. Without removal of the tick, finally the respiratory muscles will fail and the patient will die of respiratory failure.” YIKES.
But once the tick is removed, the symptoms begin to abate fairly quickly. Amanda Lewis updated her post, writing, “Evelyn is doing much better. It took her until the next morning to start acting like herself again. She is now pretty much completely back to her feisty little self. She complains a lot about her head itching but otherwise she’s just fine."
This is a really useful bit of information for any parents (or dog owners!) who live in an area with an abundance of ticks. It's also yet another thing parents have to worry about, but better safe than sorry, right?
