Tick question

[prosefullstop]

I found two of the suckers on Stella's neck today. I reckon they'd been there since Sunday, when we last walked in the woods.

They were the large dog ticks, so no worries about Lyme, but do I need to be concerned about the lumps left on her skin? She's had ticks before, and I don't seem to remember the bumps lingering for hours following removal. I definitely got all the legs out, as we have a nifty tick removing device.

 

[KarynK]

Yes they are crawling about here had one on each of the boys in the last couple of days, and little lumps, but they went down a few days later, read somewhere that it's a reaction to the bite/saliva?

 

[prosefullstop]

The swellings have gone down, but I'm a bit concerned by her behaviour. She's been pushing herself against my leg (she does this when something's wrong) and she seems a bit sluggish.

Would dog ticks, assuming they'd been there four days, cause such a reaction?

 

[KarynK]

Not sure but they must introduce infection from the bite, so it might be worth a call to the vet if she is acting like that? Damn things trouble is they are so tiny you can't see them until it's too late!

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Tick infections certainly is nothing to joke about, but over here I think I recall my vet having said, that they can't do anything until one or two weeks after the bite, because that is how long it takes before it will show in the blood, what it is that have infected them.

From my own experience though, sadly I always seems to get a few ticks myself every year, I can only say that the bite itches sometimes for a day or more, after that I have removed the tick. So perhaps if Stella, had her ticks on a place on the neck that she can't reach to scratch herself, pushing herself against your leg, could easily and simply be about that it itches?

Either way, call the vet. I once took my late Smooth Collie to the vet and said "I can't explain it, I can't pinpoint any symptoms but I just know that something isn't right. The closest thing to a symptom that I can think of, is that when she gets out of her dog bed to go out for a walk, it takes her just a tiny nanosecond longer than usual." They took blood test for rheumatism and both this and that + tick diseases and the result came back, showing that she had a tick transmitted disease.


{{{Fingers crossed}}} for Stella.