i found a tick!!!!
 It was not fully engorged yet..so i think we caught it right away. I pulled as suggested on a website with tweezers...but am not sure if i left the head inside. The wound is red and swollen and i see a little back dot in the middle of it. Does that mean the head is in there still? I flushed the tick!!! How do you know its there? Will it come out? I put alcolhole on the spot and some antibiotic ointment. Any advice? Thanks!  |
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| I think you've done just about all you can do.
The bad news is, yeah, it sounds like you probably left the mouth parts inside. The good news is that it probably wasn't a Lyme Disease carrying tick.... Here's info on that: http://www.oes.org/html/how_2_identify_ ... ticks.html In the meantime, I'd keep it treated with Neosporin or Bacitracin or one of the equivalents. Keep an eye on it and if develops a bad infection (or even a bull's eye ring around it) see the vet. In removing the tick I've found that using the tweezers from the side, sliding the tweezers mostly between the dog and the tick, and then squeezing VERY gently while pulling is just a little bit more effective than trying to grab the tick straight on with the tweezers. The goal is to have a straight-out pulling, with very little squeezing. I've seen some products on the market that look like little rounded measuring cups with a V-notch in them designed to help you get between the dog and the tick and to help in lifting out. I don't know if they work. Good luck. |
| Thanks Ron. I freaked out and tried to get it out with a needle. Its in there! Won't come out. So i did what u said...put some antibiotic ointment on it and will keep an eye on it. If it gets worse i will bring her to the vet. How soon would a bullseye ring develope? She doesn't seem bothered by it at all even when i was picking at it. Freakin ticks in Brooklyn! Thought they would die from the fumes! lol |
| I used to find that when the parts were left in, it would take 10 days or 2 weeks to work their way out... but sometimes it would just get infected... So it's a wait and watch game at this point.
When you get everything out, it usually is healed in a couple of days. Did you check that webpage and see if you remember what it looked like and how big it was? If it is the large common dog tick, you've really nothing to worry about in terms of Lyme Disease (bull's eye ring). I think the ring develops in 7 to 10 days in humans... come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever seen it described that way in dogs. Perhaps the hair/fur makes looking for a bull's eye impractical, or perhaps it just doesn't manifest that way in dogs. |
yeah, i looked it up and it looks like it was a common dog tic. I called the vet and he told me not to worry about, and just keep an eye on it. I really wish i could get it out!  |
| Make sure you keep an eye where your dog has been. We've had explosions of ticks (with my other dogs) and found them on the bed frame *shudders*. My friend had them crawling up the walls *more shuddering*. Ok, we had a bad tick year 5 years ago, but it could happen again. |
| Yeek!! I figured that it was too early for ticks. But I guess not! We are gonna keep an eye out, i am glad that we caught this one right away...he was just borrowing into her. *yikes* |
| Ohhhh one year, we pulled at least 500 ticks off of Jake. That's no exaggeration. We'd go for a walk and spend 20 minutes searching for ticks and nabbing them. 5 or 10 a day, EASY, for the whole summer.
Even with dilligence, we'd find an engorged tick every few days. We'd see them walking on the carpet, we had them on the walls, too... their favorite place to hang out and wait to pounce. The walls must have reminded them of shrubberies. I won't mention how many times we had to pull one off of us, after feeling them crawling on us. ....And.... yes, a couple out of our skin, specifically Joan's head. None of them engorged... yet. Needless to say, short hair was critical to our sanity. That was a bad year. There have been other years while not nearly as bad, certainly not a lot of fun. |
| Oh, I forgot the one found on the kid (human). Horrible tick year. I don't want to do that again. |
| Depending on where it is on the dog, and how you safe you feel doing this, I grew up in the country where our Bouvier getting ticks was a daily occurrence. The vet told us to light a match, blow it out and gently touch the exposed part of the tick. That makes it it curl up to see what's hurting it and then it's easy to nab with tweezers.
Yuck, nasty little things. I had forgotten all about them until now! |
| Hi,
Sorry you had to go through that. Last year I wrote about Merlin having a tick on his head and rushing him to the vet as I didn't know what that "thing"was. Ticks are extremely rare in my area. For 25 dollars I purchased a tick collar from the vet which worked really effectively for all the dogs when I visit my friend on the Island. There's many deer there and that's where Merlin picked it up. Maybe I'm being extra cautious but my vet highly recommended placing Merlin on antibiotics as a preventative measure to safeguard against lime disease. Ron, the vet used those V shaped things that you spoke of and it appears they would only cost a couple bucks. It worked great just flipped it out intact ...it was a highly engorged female. Ewww Yucky! I sympathize with you and hope you'll all be fine. Marianne |
| We are lucky with ticks, most of our neighbors, as well as us spray for all sorts of creepy crawlies. We have taken one tick off of one of the pups, but it was after they were out at my mom's 5 acres.
Ron~after your post I will be scratching and cringing for a week. I would be moving after that.
Our first year at this house, it had set for well over a year. We had 2 old ponds that were mosquito heaven, and there were bugs of all nature everywhere. The worst was the spiders, I have a huge (did I say huge) phobia of spiders and there were brown recluse and black widows around every corner, nook, and cranny. LOL I told CJ after just a few months that we were selling the house and moving back into the city. I hated it, but we finally settled in and started the spraying, it is a lot better. Plus, now we have a pride of cats that will spring into action and alert us to any creepy crawlys or flying things with an odd chatter...LOL Stormi and co. |
stormi wrote: Ron~after your post I will be scratching and cringing for a week. What makes you think that we've stopped scratching and cringing? During tick season every time you feel an itch... |
Just curious...does your vet vacinate for Lyme's disease? When I took Beau in for his shots, they had just started doing this here. I had them give him the shot (and the boosters) to safeguard. We always have lots of ticks here in the summer.  |
| Stormi Wrote: Quote: The worst was the spiders, I have a huge (did I say huge) phobia of spiders and there were brown recluse and black widows around every corner, nook, and cranny. LOL I told CJ after just a few months that we were selling the house and moving back into the city.
Too Funny...When I moved to Shilo, Manitoba I was unpacking the kitchen late at night and I looked at the window and saw a silhouette of the biggest, ugliest spider I had ever seem. I grabbed the only thing I could find to kill it...a can of oven cleaner. I ran outside and sprayed it. I don't think I slept for a week...I kept imagining these big monster spiders attacking the baby in his crib.  I was terrified of spiders when I moved there but I soon learned to get over it. I kept telling myself...They eat mosquitoes!
We also had a ton of ticks in Manitoba...We would sit on the floor with the dog, one person pulling the ticks off, the other one burning them. |
| Eeewwwwww....I hate all bugs, fortunately I have a cat that enjoys catching flies...we don't even own a fly swatter. My husband has a phobia of bees. My daughter use to be scared of ants. I will take all of our AB bugs over things like a tick, or anything that has poison...our bugs don't do more than leave you with a bit of itch...of course that's different if your allergic. I think my husband and daughter are a touch allergic to mosquito bites....their bites swell up, like something horrendous got them.
When we we go out, it's head to toe repellent. So sorry to all of you having to deal with those nasty bugs and ticks.  |
NABsMom wrote: [...]I grabbed the only thing I could find to kill it...a can of oven cleaner. I ran outside and sprayed it... Writer's Embellishment:Quote: ...a few days later, I patented a new wildlife degreaser, which is now widely used to save waterfowl after oil tanker spills, and retired as a multi-Billionaire to Barrow Alaska, a spider-free zone. |
| Those ticks are horrible little creatures. We have a ton of deer in our area so lyme disease is always a concern. In fact, we just got back from the vet b/c Maddie's been having some issues (stiffness when she gets up, favoring her right leg). They did xrays on her hips and legs. Everything was fine thankfully. The vet did some blood work as a precaution to rule out tick-bearing diseases. The results will come back in 7 - 10 days. Until them, we have her on doxcycline. Stinks we have to worry about this whole tick issue!!! I just hope our girl is OK. |
| Ticks are a hot subject, i see! lol Steve went to the vet today and got Mopsey a collar that kills ticks! I am so relieved! The vet said not to worry about lime desease, its very rare in NYC. The tick was a dog tick, not a deer tick...if there is a deer around it has escaped from a petting zoo. lol ( wel...ok, maybe not...) I keep an eye on the bite site and it seems much better today. I think i did more damage trying to dig out the tick head then the tick did. Thanks all for all your advice! Your stories were very informative....and funny! I hate bugs! |
| We just had our Dog Buddy at our Cottage for a Week in Northern Michigan. Yesterday, I discovered a large(quarter size) Bullseye on her stomach. I was very nervious about this because I am automatically was thinking that it's a tick. What to do? I immediately called the Vet when I arrived home and they put Buddy on a 10 day course of Antibiotics. I was told not to worry and to also get on the Frontline program along with getting the 2 shot Vaccination for Ticks to avoid Lyme Disease.
When in doubt, call the Vet!  |
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