Okay, so I'm kinda freaked out right now. In the almost 20 years off and on that i've owned a pet I've NEVER had one that had a tick. AND i'm pretty sure, that about an hour ago, when i gave Bert-puppy a bath that i pulled one off his neck around the area his collar usually is, and I pretty much screamed like a girl and got it off, flushed it before it could do anything.

My situation is that I've been without a job long enough to have let his shots laps. NOW i've got one - a job, and getting his shots back up to day are on a list of things i need to do, which is including but not limited to taking car of car, and bills. He's an only puppy, and an inside puppy.

But I'm totally freaked out about how to deal with it NOW that it's not there. There's a tiny bald spot, that's kidna bleeding. : I ended up getting a tiny chunk of hair too when i yanked it.

Additionally I'm now washing the H E double hockysticks out of all his bedding. Is there anything else i can do, anything to watch out for? anyone out there ever deal with this please let me know. I really feel like a bad owner b/c he's never even had fleas :[

Well you shouldn't worry especially if he's an inside puppy. you should however wash his things and vacuum. Ticks can carry diseases but im sure he's fine, just watch for him acting sick. Also you might want to get him a flea/tick shampoo and maybe apply monthly treatments of flea/tick guards such as frontline or something like it. im sure your puppy will be fine though.

Well, my dogs have never had tick's but my parent's dog did when I was growing up. If I remember correctly they had the vet remove the tick. He had a bald spot on his nose for the longest time and they bought him a new bed. I think they had to get him a shot but I don't remember, I'm old it was a long time ago lol. If the tick wasn't on there long it shouldn't be that bad. If you can you might want to take your dog to the vet for a checkup and let them know what happened. The bleeding is just because the tick was stuck on there.

From what I remember my parents dog didn't have any problems other than the bald spot on his nose. You're not a bad owner at all. Sometimes it just happens. My parent's dog was an inside dog that got flea's so believe me it just happens. Don't you worry your pretty little head over it I'm sure he'll be just fine. If he starts acting funny then I would be worried but for right now I would just shower him with treats

One of my friends is a vet and if I can reach her tonight I'll ask for you!!!

Question: How long after you pulled the tick off was it bleeding? Was it 5 minutes later or an hour later?

If it isn't clotting, that's not good. Either your dog has a blood disorder, eg Hemophilia in humans, which is kinda doubtful, or it's because of the tick. The ticks when they bite release a chemical that's kind of like an anesthetic and an anticoagulant. Give it about an hour or two then look at it.

Your puppy should be fine though. If you are worried, which you are. Every couple of days check the site to see if there is any redness/swelling. This could be sign of an infection. However, some diseases that are transmitted by ticks don't show symptoms very often if at all. But they are relatively rare to receive. Lyme disease, on of the most commonly known, will have a red target coloration on the skin at the bite site.

But remember not to get to anxious and over-imaginative and think that the skin is turning red, that will but bring more worry and apprehension than what is necessary.

Also, does your dog wear a flea collar? Most flea collars also protect against ticks. Ticks are not really "pack" insects like fleas. Where there is one doesn't necessarily mean there are others. They live outside and usually end up just hitching a ride into the house. So the excessive cleaning of the bedding may have been a little...excessive lol, but it's still good either way.

Furthermore, don't get down on yourself for being a bad owner. Unless your dog is trained to go to the bathroom in a litter box in the house and is never let outside, then you are not to blame. Even from walking out to get mail from the mailbox you or your dog (if it gets the mail lol) could get a tick.

If you are still feeling uncomfortable, ask your vet the next time you go in, or call them during their daytime hours. I'm pretty sure they will freely help.

References:

Me
Biology
19 years of experience with dogs with ticks. In case you're wondering, my dog gets ticks all the time. She's a hunting dog that runs around in the woods. She has probably had about 100x's more ticks than yours any nothing has come of it yet, so its unlikely (but not impossible) that your puppy has received anything. Heck, even I get ticks sometimes.

My old aussie had one under her armpit one time and I freaked out too! I gave her a good bath after removing the tick myself. I work in a vet office so I knew how to do it safely, however, I did keep her under supervision the next couple days and noted if she stopped eating or her stool was any different. If anything like that happens to your pup then take him asap and have blood work and a stool sample done. I'm not sure where you live but ticks are ten times easier to kill with flea and tick medicine in my opinion than those stupid fleas are. Check your clothes, shoes etc because if he is an indoor pup then someone brought it inside and the tick found a nice warm home on your pups neck.

Also are you sure you got the head? Most ticks when they feel pressure will release their body and the head will remain in tact. It's actually quite gross. :/

As for his bald spot and bleeding it'll stop. you're not a bad mommy! If anything you saved him from that annoying blood sucking tick XD

sugar0o wrote:


I don't think that the tick was there for very long. He gets loved on regularly, and i hadn't felt it until tonight. still, there's no telling how long it was there b/c you just cant tell.



heh heh... Actually sometime you can tell. Not like exact days or anything, but the relative time, sometimes. My neighbors had a black lab that was outside a lot. Some time we found ticks on her that were eerily white and the size of the the first joint of your pinky (the distal phalange). It was disgust. Need I say, we didn't pet her very often.

*in the middle of washing all the bedding tonight.

I plan to get him back on the monthly things, but i haven't had the money to do any of that stuff until recently. It's kidna taken a back seat to keep car going, and paying bills.

:[

I don't think that the tick was there for very long. He gets loved on regularly, and i hadn't felt it until tonight. still, there's no telling how long it was there b/c you just cant tell.

Glad to hear that the bleeding shouldn't cause problems. The bald spot? will that go away? @_@ i still feel like a bad owner :[ Is there anything i can use on my carpet? other then just vacuuming?

[b]Phoenix89 wrote:[/b]
Also are you sure you got the head? Most ticks when they feel pressure will release their body and the head will remain in tact. It's actually quite gross. :/

As for his bald spot and bleeding it'll stop. you're not a bad mommy! If anything you saved him from that annoying blood sucking tick XD @_@ dear god. I think so I can see his skin. It was bleeding after i removed it. At first i don't think i did but i went back. and tried again.

I have a puppy scrubber that i use when he gets baths, it's kinda like a hand comb that's kinda like a small plastic brush. Not as invasive as a lice comb or something, but it's meant to be used when scrubbing the scalp.

The area last time i looked (he's drying off right now, so he's not around and out just yet) but when i looked, last, i cold see his skin, it was a bit bloody b/c i removed it, but in the center there was a bit of a darker spot kinda red/purple in color. but it was his skin.

@_@ I'll be sure to keep an eye on him for anything else. The only thing i can think is that he seemed to be scratching a bit more in the last few days. I still feel bad, but i think it's because seriously NEVER had a tick issue before. :[ plus he was behind on his regular bath schedule b/c it's been cold and i didn't want him to freeze out. it's warmed enough that i finally got to it, and i was all D: !!!!!

seriously screamed like a girl. WASHING BEDDING! mostly because he does sleep on my bed sometimes. so i'm all @_@ now.

Houjin Shikaku wrote:
sugar0o wrote:
I don't think that the tick was there for very long. He gets loved on regularly, and i hadn't felt it until tonight. still, there's no telling how long it was there b/c you just cant tell.heh heh... Actually sometime you can tell. Not like exact days or anything, but the relative time, sometimes. My neighbors had a black lab that was outside a lot. Some time we found ticks on her that were eerily white and the size of the the first joint of your pinky (the distal phalange). It was disgust. Need I say, we didn't pet her very often.@_@ mine was about the size of a pencil eraser and grey/brownish maybe as big as the size of a pinkie fingernail. @_@ i'm rather paranoid right now

Best thing is that it sounds like the tick was only on him for a short period of time. I am concerned that you said there is a reddish purple area under the skin. That could be one of two things...the head of the tick or just a bubble of blood. Chances are it's the blood. This is going to sound cruel X.X but take a q-tip and poke at the bubble and see if it moves. Literally moves. If it does then it's the head if not it's just blood. But you said it's the skin which I'm sure it is..I mean if you had a tick on you, your skin would be red and raw too. :/

Bald spot will go away. It's the same with us when we get a bald spot on our heads. Fuzz will grow back and then slowly hair. My dog got into a dog fight couple months back and we had to shave the area on his leg to get to the would and it took the hair nearly 2 months to grow back.

Winter is horrible for dogs! I know! My dog is behind on his baths too because of how cold it is and I feel soooo bad when I give him one and all he does is curl up and look pathetic in his bed.

The picture I attached is my pups wound after a month. You can see how the fuzz is just then growing back. He looked strange for a while.

Yeah the one I found on my old aussie...gosh five years ago?? lol was a fat little orange one about the size of my pinky nail.

ho squirmy skin, and it's not bleeding anymore, is clotting. @_@ i still feel horrible

Nah, whenever Phoenix my pup gets hurt I shower him with tons of love and usually a new toy. XD Who am I kidding, he gets new toys and treats nearly every time I go to the store. haha. Don't feel bad, there was nothing you could have done to prevent it. Even if he was on flea and tick medicine the tick would still be on his skin (just dead) and you would have to remove it. If anything you did a fantastic job finding it before he got more irritated at it

No worries, r0o-zilla!!!

You ish a VERY VERY good dog mommy... speaking from my many years as an animal owner (and you KNOW how OLD *I* am!), you did exactly what you needed to do. TICKS HAPPEN. Srsly. Even in the cities, ticks happen, 'k? There isn't much you can do to prevent it when they happen to catch a ride on whatever wanders by!

HUGGLES to you and puppy-r0o!!

~~me~~

:3 i want to thank everyone for putting up with me through my moment of terror. seriously, while i'm still all D: i feel better to have people that could answer the questions i had.

my puppy doesn't seem to be acting any differently then before so i don't think he's bothered by it all, even if i'm much more of a mess then he is. I can't help but look at that spot when i catch a glimpse of it and be all :{ *lip wibbles*

either way thank you all for helping with this! Sadly bed going to bed early tonight is going to be pushed back into staying up to do laundry @_@

And you will for a while more haha no worries. Whenever I look at Phoenix's leg and see the red scar tissue and still feel bad but it'll pass.

okay on a morbid note, they can live with just a head? O_o so gross!

You mentioned the area you lived in awhile back in chat, and an inexpensive way to get shots is to go to luvmypet.com, but they travel through Petco's and do shots and flea/tick stuff, ultra cheap, and you can pick what you want them to get. Also, dunno if you have any around you, but we get our dog's shots at the local horse store for about ten bucks. The only one required to be done by a vet is the rabies shot, for verification.

Also, I just posted and realized how late this is. Soz.

I grew up in the boons. No one EVER got their pets shots on time, and ticks and fleas are pretty common place out near the water and wilderness. You arn't a bad pet owner (the fact that you are worried about something like this just says how good an owner you really are) Ask a local vet to check him out and see if they can offer a payment plan on the shots, or perhaps if they know a place where they can do it for less.

But let me ust stress again... you're a GOOD momma! Don't you fret yourself aobut the shots. Its common to be late (especially if you have indoor pets.) In fact, I didn't even realize that my cat was over a year due for one of his vaccines until we had to have him boarded. I was imbarrassed and I felt like a horrible pet owner too. The vet was all "pfft. You have no idea how normal it is." But really, I'd get at least the ones that you legally need for your area and check to see if they can work with you on a payment plan or direct you to a more affordable vaccinator.

Good r0o mama! I live in the middle of nowhere so ticks are the norm out here...unfortunately. A cheap way to help with flea and ticks is bathe in flea and tick shampoo...and put a flea and tick collar on.

You care...and you got rid of it for her...which takes bravery cuz those things freak me out! I had one on my head not that long ago and I ran around the house screaming and bawling until my bf stopped laughing at me long enough to get it off me! (then I kicked him in the shins for laughing lol)

Your dog is probably all like "I love you r0o-mama for gettin the bug offa my head!"

I work as a vet tech (although here in Hawaii we only have 1 species of tick that doesn't carry similar worries of Lyme disease and the like) and ticks are kinda more of a nuisance for owners than of a grave health concern. That being said, I am in no way saying that tick prevention is not important. However, in regards to the hierarchy of canine health management, it would fall far below the important things like heartworm prevention medication, routine vaccinations, neuter/spay. Ticks in the household are a pain to get rid of because they are not obligate parasites like fleas (meaning, ticks can exists w/o a host for periods of time; they have 3 life stages where they drop off the host after feeding). By far some of the larger tick-borne concerns would be ehrlichiosis or Lyme disease for both you and your puppy. But keep in mind that humans are not a tick's primary host, so if there are dogs around, it will choose it over you, if possible. There is a canine Lyme disease vaccine available from your vet should it be a concern to your vet (which he/she and you can assess the risks) and ehrlichiosis is more like a viral infection deal: symptoms manifest, test, treat. Don't worry about the hair loss unless it never grows back or, more importantly, spreads. If you notice the fur loss spreading, check with your vet.

At this point in time, the only tick prevention available are topicals: collars, spot treatment, powders/sprays. Stay away from the collars. Not only are they toxic to you, they can create skin sensitivities to puppy where it rests on the neck. The popular and most effective choice is the spot treatments like Frontline or Advantix (Advantix: if you do not have cats). As long as properly applied, it is effective 3-4 weeks; part fur between shoulder blades, apply to skin, no baths 2 days before or after treatment. However, the common misconception is that it acts as a barrier. It will not, it just kills ticks as they go to feed. Also, if buying online, beware of online discounters. Many customers have found products sent from other countries and have overdosed their pets due to not realizing it's in metric measurements. Also, wash any beddings and stuff that puppy frequents. Nymphs (baby ticks) are quite small and barely, if at all, visible to the naked eye. Machine washing and drying is effective, so no special process needed.

So, uhh, I think that's it. Ticks, preventable, but not a big worry. Unfortunately, you'll probably see them again, esp if puppy walks in grassy areas and during certain seasons. But for puppy's overall health, definitely keep up with the vaccinations. Don't worry that it's been a while. You're human and it's once a year, so people tend to forget, but even for an indoor dog, important. The distemper/parvo combo vaccination is good for up to 3 years for low risk dogs, so unless puppy goes out often, which you said it doesn't, the vaccination schedule can probably be spread to once every 3 years unless a lfestyle change (taking puppy to an area where unvaccinated dogs may frequent: dog parks, doggie daycare, groomers). I can't tell you how many people choose to decline them only to come in crying when their dog is dying of parvo. Sorry, I know that sounded harsh, but we're starting to see more cases and it's the truth; preventable, important.

I, myself, use Frontline or Parastar for my dog. Hope this helps!

<3 Emiko <-- actually my own four legged child's name