Recent Feedback
i found a tick on my dog and it already had a sack attached to it and was full of blood
Optional Information: Type of Animal: dog Pet's Gender: border collie mix Pet's Age: 3 Name of Dog: mia Already Tried: we removed the tick from her,but am worried that she might have gotten disease
Thank you for your question.Since the tick was attached to Mia long enough to obtain a blood meal, it is possible that disease transmission occurred. For most tick-borne diseases, the tick must be attached to the dog for about 24 hours in order to transmit an infection.Depending upon which tick-borne disease is transmitted, it takes anywhere from 1 week to several weeks for the dog to exhibit clinical signs of disease. I recommend that on Monday you call your vet to discuss the most common types of tick-borne diseases in your area. Lyme disease, Ehrlichia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Babesia are some of the more common infections spread by ticks. Your vet can decide, based upon the risk level in your region, whether or not to start Mia on prophylactic antibiotic therapy to help prevent the development of infection. He can also decide when is the best time to test for disease, based upon which diseases are prevalent in your area.There is nothing you need to do for Mia right now. Just be sure to contact your vet early next week to discuss how to proceed.
i work with children every day coming in with tick bites. i didn't know if i could do anything else for my dog until i can get her into the vets on monday. i know children are put on an antibiotic and then have to have blood drawn in a few weeks to check for lyme disease...i think my dog was given lyme disease vaccination. does this prevent her from getting disease? she is like family and i don't want to see her get sick..we also bagged up the tick with the blood sac to show vet.
It's wonderful that you were able to save the tick, as this will help your vet to know Mia's potential risks. Not all ticks carry disease. The same thing is often done for dogs with potential Lyme disease exposure if they live in an area where Lyme is prevalent. Prophylactic antibiotic therapy (usually Doxycycline or Amoxicillin) is started and then the dog is tested 3- 5 weeks after exposure. The Lyme vaccination is not 100% protective against the development of the disease. It helps a pet to fight off the infection more effectively so can prevent it from taking hold and causing clinical signs of disease. However, if the spirochete load passed from the tick is large enough, or the dog's immune response is not strong enough, then infection may still result.
there is a small lump under her skin where the tick was removed...what is the lump? how do we know if we got the head out? the legs were still moving after we pulled tick out, but could not see the head. there was a blood sac and the legs were sticking out of blood sac and were moving.
Your vet will be able to tell you, upon examination of the tick, if the mouthparts were removed from the skin. It can be difficult to tell, as these are quite small. The portion of the tick that was filled with blood is its abdomen and the legs stick out from herer.It is very common, even when the entire head has been removed, for the skin to develop a localized inflammatory reaction at the site where the tick was embedded. You can treat this by cleaning once daily with an antibacterial soap and applying a topical triple antibiotic agent such as Neosporin or Bacitracin. Even if the tick's head remained embedded, it will usually work itself out and doesn't typically cause any problems.
Experience: 9 yrs experience as a small animal veterinarian; 19 yrs exp. in the animal care field