My puppy got bit by a tick!

[glaucomflecken]

We boarded our 7 month old westie this weekend while we were out of town and when we picked her up, there was a HUGE tick embedded in her cheek (well it wasnt huge huge but it was disgusting)! We dont know if she picked it up before we took her there or during her stay. With the help of a neighbor, DH and I were able to pull it out freely and successfully and we cleaned it up well.

Im new to this whole puppy thing still and I havent ever even seen a tick before (i grew up in the big city) so I was really freaked out and now I am worried that something will happen to my precious pup. Should I call the vet? Is there anything I should be on the lookout for? anything else I should be doing? Im so scared she will get some awful disease now and I am such a bad puppy mom because I hadnt gotten around to getting her any tick prevention from the vet yet.

I can only imagine what a worrywart i am gonna be when I have kids...

 

[sunkist]

Date: 5/7/2006 11:20:26 PM
Author:PunchNPie75
We boarded our 7 month old westie this weekend while we were out of town and when we picked her up, there was a HUGE tick embedded in her cheek (well it wasnt huge huge but it was disgusting)! We dont know if she picked it up before we took her there or during her stay. With the help of a neighbor, DH and I were able to pull it out freely and successfully and we cleaned it up well.


Im new to this whole puppy thing still and I havent ever even seen a tick before (i grew up in the big city) so I was really freaked out and now I am worried that something will happen to my precious pup. Should I call the vet? Is there anything I should be on the lookout for? anything else I should be doing? Im so scared she will get some awful disease now and I am such a bad puppy mom because I hadnt gotten around to getting her any tick prevention from the vet yet.


I can only imagine what a worrywart i am gonna be when I have kids...

Oh no! Aren''t those things disgusting!??! My dog got a tick a few years ago and it was the sickest thing.

Just be sure that you got it ALL out. I think that''s most important.

 

[diamondfan]

Where do you live? I live in PA and Lyme disease is prevalent. I use frontline on my 6 month old pup and want to give her the Lyme disease vaccination since she is in my yard and on walks a lot and the deer ticks are insane. I would definitely call your vet and tell them, and ask what they think. Maybe worth a blood test after a latency period to see if the tick did anything. I think you should not worry too much, it is treatable (in humans I know) and when caught early it is better. I would just call in the morning...since a tick needs to be on a certain length of time in order to inflict damage, I would hope they would have seen it and removed it...

 

[strmrdr]

the big ticks arent the ones that spread lyme so no worries there.
just watch the spot that it doesnt get infected and it will be fine.
Dogs have been tick bait for thousands of years it will be fine.

 

[Mara]

awwwwww punchie im so sorry to hear this!!!!!!

i told greg and he was like AWWWW and then cuddled with portia for a few minutes, poor molly!!!!

he also agreed that if it was a big tick you don't have to worry about it...but i would still call your vet because i also am a paranoid puppy mom too and it's worth just asking the doctor to just be sure. hope everything is fine!

 

[glaucomflecken]

Thanks everyone! I called the vet today and they checked her records and she has indeed had the Lyme vaccination (whew). DH will go get her some flea/tick control today at the vet and they said if she acts unusual in any way to bring her in but that she should be ok. She seemed her happy chipper self today!

 

[AndyRosse]

Sounds like you have this under control PNP!!

My only other suggestion is to always hold onto the dead tick for a bit just to make sure that if she falls ill for any reason, the tick can be tested or at least looked at by the vet.