Tick bite

[Breanne, Dave & Maizy!]

Yesterday we took our puppy to get our Chrostmas tree with us. When I got In the car I found 2 ticks on her. When we got home we searched her all over, min you she is 6 months and has never had a real hair cut, only eye/paw/sanitary trim so her hair is long! This am I was petting her and found and embedded tick on her head. I freaked!! We smothered it in Vaseline and removed it. I am almost certain we got the whole head but there is a leg stuck. I then put peroxide on it as I was advised to do. I am scared she will get a disease from it! She is not on tick/flea preventative but has had her lymes vaccine. I am going to call te vet first thing tm am. Anything I should be doing in the meantime?? All suggestions welcome! Thanks. 

[Breanne, Dave & Maizy!]

Also- I saved the tick so the vet could see it. It wasn't too engorged. Gross, I know! 

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

It would be about 10 days before they could run the test to see if there was any infection. The tick had to be in for about 24 hours to pass anything. Was the tick really tiny like the size of a pinhead or larger, like 1/2 a pencil eraser? If it was the larger one, there's probably nothing to worry about and even if it was the smaller Deer Tick, you are probably OK with the vaccine.

There really isn't anything else you can do for now.

[Breanne, Dave & Maizy!]

Thank you for replying so quick! It was about 1/2 the size of an eraser. I am going to call the vet still because the other leg needs to be removed, right? 

Also- should I be using a preventitve? We live in NY, right outside the city and never see ticks. We were in the woods in PA, and we come here about 6-10 times a year. 
Sorry for typos! On my cell. 

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Did you try pulling the leg out with a tweezers yourself? I don't think a leg can do any harm, I usually pull them out with my fingers and don't even use the vaseline and peroxide like you did. LOL I am sure the vet will at least charge an office visit fee when you can avoid it.

 

There are a few discussions on the use of the preventatives here on DK. I am of the school who does not use them but others will tell you why they are important. If you never have a problem with fleas and ticks where you live but plan on going to a high tick area like the woods, you need a repellent. I use Cedarcide Best (now at Only Natural.com) as my only flea and tick repellent and love it. Others here will tell you they hate the smell. But it's all natural and use it all the time and reminds me of my grandmothers closet. But even with the Frontline (which does not repel), you can still use the Cedarcide.

[Breanne, Dave & Maizy!]

Good point about trying to avoid office visit charge! We tried to get the leg but had no luck. We will try later too! 
The area where the tick was is red/bloody and a little puffy. 

I am going to order the Cedarcide! Would like to avoid Frontline. 

Thanks :) 

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I don't blame you. I haven't used any of it in 3 years and I am in NJ, high tick area. The Cedarcide works on biting flies and can even be used on people. I try never to put anything that's not 100% natural in or on my dogs. Try rubbing a little neosporin on the spot.

[Breanne, Dave & Maizy!]

Thank you Lynne :)

[Moe]

I live in Rockland County NY, outside the city. Our puppy is only 13 weeks old. She only goes out to do her business then right back in, we don't let her sit or lay down outside. She was getting 2-3 ticks every day. I never knew there were so many ticks in the area. There were deer ticks and the regular ones. I was freaking out. I found 2 deer ticks crawling on my arm. I got a tick key, it is so much easier to get the entire tick than using a tweezers. The day after removing the ticks she gets a very large lumpy scab at the site. The vet said not to worry about these. He put her on Advantage and started the lyme disease vaccine. That was a week ago and we've only had one tick on her.

 

My biggest concern was that the dog was bringing ticks into the house and my kids would get bitten. The vet said that the tick medicines work to repel ticks in the first place but if one does bite the dog it would die within 24 hours. I'm normally against giving medications unnecessarily but the ticks are too much. Yuck I'm itching all over just talking about it. Good luck with your dog.

[Breanne, Dave & Maizy!]

Awe your poor puppy!!! Did a leg ever get stuck by chance? It was on the top of her head. It's a red, puffy lump. 

I totally see your reasoning for using the medications, especially since you have kids. Don't want to risk it!! 

Your pup is adorable :)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I don't think the vaseline is a good idea. Just use a tweezer and pull the tick ats close to the skin as you can. There is really nothign you can do to prevent disease from ticks that have bitten but it is said that it takes 24 hours for Lyme to be transmitted after the tick has attached. I'd try to pull out any remaining parts of the tick even if it is a bit messy and painful. Having one person hold the dog and another working to pull out the part, most likely a mouth part I think, should help. The vaseline makes grasping the head of the tick harder.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=62

[Breanne, Dave & Maizy!]

Thanks for that link. We tried again to remove the leg but the ire area is puffy. We cleaned it and will keep our eye on her. We don't need to have her tested for lymes in a few weeks do we?

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

We took our Gracie Doodle into the mountains a few years ago and she got three ticks which we didn't find for a week.  One was on the end of her ear inside flap, one near her nose and one on the top of her head where the ear bends.  We had never seen a tick or experienced one.  After trying to figure out what to do, my DH used tweezers and got a firm grip, but careful not to squish or pull off the body, down as close to the head as he could get and then he pulled.  The things we learned were to not try unscrewing it, Vaseline and peroxide are a no no as well as burning it with a hot match head or cigarette.  Just pull it straight out.  I have a feeling if you see a leg and it is that hard to get out then the head is still in there.  They look like they have legs growing out of their neck and I would think a leg alone would not be that difficult to remove.  I took Gracie to the vet and we also had to wait two weeks and then we had a blood test just to see but it was pretty unlikely she got anything.  Tests came back fine.  I understand the Deer Ticks are the ones to watch out for.  Not the brown ticks or whatever others there are.  It all depends on the regions in the US.  We did the blood test because my vet said that it can take up to 5 years for something to show up from a tick bite and then everyone is baffled as to what is wrong because they have forgotten about a tick bite that long ago!  Same with humans!  I do think if the area is puffed up that you should see your vet.  When we removed Gracie's she just had a hole that we cleaned with peroxide and then used neosporin.  It scabbed up and a small bump remained for a few months.  Keep us posted.