Tick on dog? Pulled it out but should I still bring to vet?

Basq

Dog was out walking in one of our local woods on Friday evening and in long grass on the beach yesterday.. along the way he got bitten by what I think was a tick.

We were sort of unsure if it was but it did look swollen and somewhat buried in his skin.

We got tweezers and tried to pull it out but it really didn't do much so I grabbed it as close to as skin as I could and pulled it off. It did somewhat move when it was removed and we could see small little legs but I'm just worried I didn't get the full thing.

For peace of mind, should I bring him to the vet tomorrow?

jen_23

Hmm Ticks carry lyme disease so if your unsure whether you managed to pull the head out or not I would brng him to the vet just to be on the safe side.

Some infoe I pulled out of here http://www.canismajor.com/dog/critter.html

'Ticks

With eight legs instead of six, the tick is cousin to the spider, not the insect. It's claim to fame is its penchant for spreading disease as it feasts on mammal blood. There are several species that feed on dogs, including the wood tick, the brown dog tick, and the deer tick, and they all thrive in tall grass, shrubby areas, and woods.

Ticks can carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, encephalitis, tularemia, tick paralysis, and Lyme disease, so it is important to prevent tick infestations in domestic dogs.

Lyme disease, a frightening collection of symptoms that can mimic fatigue, heart problems, and arthritis and cause birth defects, affects dogs and horses as well as people and has been found in every state but Montana and New Mexico. Lyme Disease is tough to diagnose but can be treated with antibiotics.

Unlike the flea, the tick is a sluggish mover and can easily be picked off the dog with tweezers as it crawls about looking for a feeding spot. So, after a walk in the woods, check Bowser (and yourself) for ticks from stem to stern. Look for feeding ticks around the dog's head and ears and in his armpits and the inside of his thighs. If you miss one as it crawls, you'll likely find it when it latches on to feed as the engorged body is hard to miss in a hands-on inspection.

Daily grooming can find ticks that have not yet become embedded in the skin. Ticks can be picked up on the comb and flicked into a container of alcohol.

Embedded ticks should be removed immediately. First, forget all you ever heard about coating ticks with petroleum jelly, burning their rear ends with a match or lighted cigarette, dousing them with lighter fluid or gasoline, etc. Just protect fingers from the tick's body fluids with surgical gloves or a plastic bag, grasp the tick firmly, rock it back and forth a few times, and pull it out. If a patch of skin comes along, it's unlikely that any of the tick's head has been left behind.

A dab of antiseptic cream on the spot where the tick was removed will help prevent local infection, especially on tender ears, a favorite feeding place for ticks.

To control ticks in the environment, keep grass trimmed and control the spread of shrubbery and tall weeds.

If you, a family member, or your dog falls ill after removal of a tick, be sure to tell the doctor that RMSF or Lyme disease -- depending on the symptoms -- is a possibility.'

lorna100

Chances of getting lyme disease are slim tbh.
Bathe the spot where you pulled it out with antiseptic, if there is anything left in his skin it will swell up a little because of infection. At that point go to the vet - but if you're fairly sure its all out he should be grand. Ticks can carry disease but Ive never heard of a dog falling ill from having just one tick.

Linguo

My lad got ticks a couple of years ago down the country, there's a medication you can get without him going to the vet that goes onto the back of his neck, will sort them right out in case the head is still stuck in there which often happens

Basq

Cheers all. I reckon I got it out but the problem is I used a tweezer first time and it really did nothing and the bulbous body of the tick somewhat flattered when I used it so I've a fear some of the blood from the tick went back into the dog. Then I decided to just use my fingernails at the skin and yank it out.

But I'd probably like to have him checked out.. for peace of mind more than anything.

Anyone have any idea what the vet would suggest? Is it antibiotic or blood test?

Linguo wrote: »

My lad got ticks a couple of years ago down the country, there's a medication you can get without him going to the vet that goes onto the back of his neck, will sort them right out in case the head is still stuck in there which often happens

Yeah, it's Frontline.. right?

Will buy some of that later alright.

jen_23

Hey found this so +1 to lorna for prob not requiring a vet

# If the head of the tick remains in the skin, try to grab it and remove as much as possible. If you are unable to remove the entire head, don't fret. This is not life threatening. Your pet's immune system will try to dislodge the head by creating a site of infection or even a small abscess.

# Usually no additional therapy is needed, but if you are concerned, contact your family veterinarian. There are surgical instruments that can be used to remove the remaining part of the tick.

Obviously though if the dog comes down with any symptoms bring him to the vet then.

Basq

Cheers jen but found this elsewhere which is what I'm worried about:

To remove an attached tick, use a pair of fine-tipped tweezers or special tick removal instruments. These special devices allow one to remove the tick without squeezing the tick body. This is important, as you do not want to crush the tick and force harmful bacteria to leave the tick and enter the dog’s bloodstream

The tick's body may have been slightly crushed by the tweezer's I used.

Maybe I'm over-reacting.. will buy Frontline later and we'll think about whether to bring him to the vet in the morning.

Thanks again all.

jen_23

Well if your ever overly worried bring him to the vet to be safe. It gives peace of mind atleast and saves on the worry lines

sorella

If we took our cats and dogs to the vet every time they get a tick, we would be there every day.

We are plagued by them in sheep country and extract at least 20 a week from our two dogs and two cats.

At first it was a scary nightmare, but we are used to it now; you did just fine. Better than I did the first time:)

Now I just get a bit of tissue and pull with fingertips; you can feel them letting go.

Lyme disease is very rare so please do not worry. I have been bitten a few times.

This got very bad a few years ago only, no idea why. Many of the farmers now do not dip their sheep but use the spot on stuff; we tried that in our two long haired cats and it made not an iota of difference.

Hope you feel easier about it; they are revolting looking creatures.

They dig in with those legs, so if you see those then it is all out. There will be a wee swelling, as they cause irritation, but that soon passes.

westwicklow

basquille wrote: »

Yeah, it's Frontline.. right?

Will buy some of that later alright.

I found Frontline to be useless on our three dogs.

sorella

Ditto with our two cats...

westwicklow wrote: »

I found Frontline to be useless on our three dogs.

lorna100

basquille wrote: »

But I'd probably like to have him checked out.. for peace of mind more than anything.

Anyone have any idea what the vet would suggest? Is it antibiotic or blood test?

QUOTE]

Lovely to see someone who genuinely cares about their pet

As for the vet, if no localised swelling is visable, I doubt they would give antibiotics or do bloods. Probably tell you to keep the area clean and to see what happens overnight, if there is major swelling they might give a shot of antibiotic just to make sure.

Dogs and cats getting bitten by ticks is a very common thing, if she/he gets any again, its best to by frontline spray and spray the tick directly, it will fall off itself dead within 24hours.

If you're still worried, why not give the vets a quick ring and see what they say to put your mind at ease?

Oh and I wouldnt go by info found on the net, Im guilty of looking things like that up and they give every possibility under the sun - if you type in indigestion somewhere will say you've cancer.

lisajane

That is scary. Can we use frontline on ourselves?

Anyway, i got a book about dogs and the care of them and everything else a few weeks ago in a second hand bookshop. And here's what the book says.

1. As someone else quoted, wear gloves.

2. Soak the tick in alcohol. This should loosen their grip and won't start to dig back in once you apply some pressure. This will make it easier to remove the entire tick, body and head.
Don't use kerosene or gasoline-they will hurt the skin.

3. Remove the tick, near its head. If you leave the head in, there's a risk of an abscess forming and a vet has to be seen.

4. Dispose of the tick in alcohol.

5. Disinfect the area with cleaners such as povidone-iodine or chlorhexidine.


Now, i have been meaning to pick up some alcohol, but can it be used on cats also? My cat is forever bringing them home and the frontline doesn't work on him.
And can alcohol be got in a chemist? I don't want to sound like a fool asking for some and being told to go to the pub.

lorna100

lisajane wrote: »

Can we use frontline on ourselves?

Not that I know of. Frontline works by being dissovled in the animals blood, and when a tick bites, the animals blood poisions the tick, causing it to die and fall off.

lisajane wrote: »

Now, i have been meaning to pick up some alcohol, but can it be used on cats also? My cat is forever bringing them home and the frontline doesn't work on him.
And can alcohol be got in a chemist? I don't want to sound like a fool asking for some and being told to go to the pub.

Yes, alcohol can be used on cats. You dab it onto the tick, and within 24 hours it should die and fall off. You can buy it in most chemists, its called rubbing/medicinal alcohol. It has a denaturing agent added to it, which makes it poisionous to indigest, therefore can be sold on a premises that doesnt have an alcohol sale licence.

sorella

Ticks fall off in three days anyway; they stay only long enough to fill with blood.

Then they live off that blood and shrink back to their old size....

We care deeply but we are around 30 miles from any vet and have learned ho to cope with so many things less stressfully than taking a cat to the vet. For the cat I mean:)

Ticks are easy to deal with really. They really are. We have never used alcohol etc either.

Basq

Sorry I'm only replying now but had a very busy day - hunting for frontline, then trimmed the hedges and took a strimmer to our jungle of a garden.

Anyways, went on the hunt for Frontline and could only find a Bob Martin 12 week treatment for ticks in Tesco. So bought him that and some Bob Martin anti-bacterial wipes.

Wiped him down with the anti-bacterial wipes and applied the treatment to his neck.

But while I was out in the garden, my girlfriend found another tick (this one was darker.. almost black. More than likely full of blood. But when I pulled him, the dog jerked but I found the tick on his coat and got his head and all out. We've brushed him with a a very fine comb and literally have looked over every centimetre of him and can't find any more.

Every time the dog scratches, my girlfriend gets a bit anxious. Went looking for some kind of tick shampoo but could only find flea shampoo and a "tick-off drops" (apply to the tick and their grip will apparently loosen). Didn't bother buying that!

We reckon he'll be OK.. but I do worry about the little guy. He's a Yorkshire Terrier (8 months old) and we've had him 5.

lisajane

Lyme disease is rare, but you can't be to careful. Go to the long term illness forum and there is a topic on lyme disease and some were infected in ireland.

cloudy day

My dogs have had ticks too. I've just pulled them off and no problems.

I have found that with hairy little dogs, mix a fairly strong dose of dettol in a small bottle and once the dog is wet (as though ready to bath) wash him with the dettol solution,really working into skin then rinse thoroughly and shampoo.

It's really good at killing fleas ( a bad infestation) and dislodging them and it heals the skin.

sorella

It does get easier.... At first we had no idea what these lumps were; wondered if it was dietary....

I work on the laptop in bed a lot, and the cats come on of course, so sometimes a tick looking for flesh crawls up the screen. Like a tiny chocolate brown spider and thankfully slow moving. They get caught with tissue and put in a screw top jar I keep handy.

Thee are so many these days... but the cats are so good at letting me pull them off them.

caroline1111

Sometimes when you pull off a tick their jaw can remain stuck in the animal, this is when problems occur. If it remains swelled or gets infected or anything, I'd bring it to the vet just to be safe.

Basq

It didn't appear to swollen when we pulled it out.. will check later though.

sorella

There was something niggling re Lyme's and ticks, and this is it; the ticks that carry Lyme's in Ireland are deer ticks.They are smaller than the big ones we usually see.

The ordinary ones do not carry Lymes.

Basq

Do you know how small are these ticks are sorella? The ones we found on the puppy were quite small to be honest. About the size of a small pimple / spot.

sorella

They are tiny all of them; when I catch them before they dig in, just tiny spidery things. They suck blood and kind of expand:) Horrible. Yes, a small pimple is right. After their three days thay are large.

If you were not in deer country, you are fine; and Lyme's is very, very rare indeed.

They are keeping a watch of course.

I read it up when I got one in me; I already have M.E and am prone to infections.

Also most Lyme's in Ireland comes from bites abroad; ie people are bitten there. There is still not much known re the dormancy period.

There is a lot of scaremongering about it.

Most of the online sites re Lymes are American, where it is endemic.

Which is where people are getting info from.

Please do not worry; we have a long summer ahead of us and you are vigialant.

As I have said to people; if ticks here carried disease, my cats would be dead or very sick by now and they are just fine.

Please worry not; I am sure all is well.

Also, they say the tick must remain in the skin for at least a day before the bacteria can enter.

And it it treatable of course.

basquille wrote: »

Do you know how small are these ticks are sorella? The ones we found on the puppy were quite small to be honest. About the size of a small pimple / spot.

Basq

Call me paranoid but we brought him to the vet this morning!

He's been scratching a lot over the last few days. And soon after I posted last night, I found a lump under his skin where I pulled the first one out. Either some of it was left or there's another whole one in there (not likely). That and the combination that the deer tick sounds slighty like the one I pulled out? It was very small.. like I said, about the size of a pimple.

So just for peace of mind.. we brought him to our local vet who said that Bob Martin stuff is not trustworthy at all (herself and other vets were discussing recently that they've never heard of any of the drugs in it). So he got some Advantix on the nape of his neck, a shot of steroids, antiseptic as well (he got 2 shots anyways I think) and we got some antibiotics to give him.

So he's well and truly high to the eyeballs!

EDIT: Oh.. and another reason was this is where we had him out walking on Friday!

Fauna: Badger, fox and fallow deer. Mute swan, duck and heron may be observed on the lake while blackbird, thrush, lark and pigeon can be found in the woodland.