Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Koda and the Tick

I know two posts in one is pretty unusual for this blog, but yesterday I pulled a tick off of Koda's eyebrow. I have never seen a tick before in my life so when I first noticed the bump it I looked it all over and that was when I saw the legs. I'm not a bug person and was thoroughly grossed out.



Luckily living in the country I knew to get some tweezers to pull it out, but before doing so I googled ticks on dogs to get some tips. Some one had posted a quick home cure which involved moving the tick in circles as they don't like it so they pull out. I tried this with no real luck and went back to the tweezer method but it seems that the circling helped as it came right out. I'm pretty sure that I got the head although I'm not an expert on tick removal.


My concern is that Koda still has a bump over his eye which is hard to touch. He has not shown any signs of lyme disease as he is acting like his normal self. Is the bump normal? Are their any treatments that you would reccomend for next time? I did put some polysporin on it to help it heal.

4 comments:

  1. I am going to share this and see if we can get answers for you. I would have been pretty grossed out too. Did you call the vet?

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  2. Ticks! Yuck! My dogs sometimes have bumps where a tick has been. I use tweezers too to pull them out and then flush them down the toilet. They are totally gross!

    Tick borne diseases are easy to spot. You won't see it right away, but if you see sudden lameness that worsens quickly and moves from one leg to the other then get your dog to the vet. A course of antibiotics will clear it up quickly. The vet can check for tick disease anti-bodies which will indicate that your dog was exposed to disease but not clearly that he will develop symptoms.

    This is a short video of Dexter when he got Lyme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGT_Fcq0RwY
    You can see how tender his leg is and the pain moved from one leg to the other.

    Ticks need to stay attached for a while to do their dirty work. If this was a big engorged one you might be OK. Its the little ones that are the worst for disease (at least around here).

    Mango Momma

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  3. Yep, ticks seem to leave bumps behind once they're removed, at least the ones that get on me do. Ick. I don't think it's anything to worry about though. Frontline Topspot or a similar medication will keep the ticks away from your dog if you find any more. I'm still waiting on them to invent a human equivalent - ticks are just awful around here.

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  4. It's probably a good idea to get yourself a tick remover rather than using tweezers. They cost very little and help ensure you get the head out properly.

    The potential for damage seems to depend to some extent on how long the tick has been hanging on, so how big it was when you removed it.

    In Europe, Frontline is considered highly ineffective by many people. We use Advantix on Tommy.

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