My dog had a tick and we messed up!

Chisame

Chisame

miki's #1 fan
Feb 7, 2008
75
0
#1
My 5-year-old Min Pin Miki had like a little tick on her ear tonight... I didn't know what it was (I've never seen a tick before) and she had a little bit of dried blood around her ear so I thought she had banged it. I looked at it closer and thought... um, what if it's a tick?! My dad and I freaked out (ok, I freaked out because of my intense fear of bugs along with knowing that hideous thing was hurting my dog) and we tried to pull it out with tweezers. Of course, we messed up badly and half of its body is still in her ear. I feel so terrible for her right now! I hope we didn't do any permanent damage to her. I worry that her ear is going to get infected because of the rest of the tick being left in and us trying to get it out with peroxide and tweezers.

I'm taking her without an appointment to the vet tomorrow and hope to God they take us in asap to get the rest of the tick out. I feel like I'm going to get scolded by them for being such newbs at it and screwing up. I also hope the tick didn't carry some sort of tick disease, although Miki is up to date on her booster shots. I was trying to read up stuff about tick removal and it just seemed like everyone said different things about it. Remove it fast and in one smooth motion, make sure you twist it so the head comes out, just leave the head in and it'll eventually be expelled over time, etc. I just don't know what I should follow and I don't like seeing my baby in distress.
 
#2
I'd be the same if I found a tick - so don't feel too bad!

It's a good idea to get her to the vet asap, just incase it's a tick of a deadly kind.

How is she feeling otherwise?
 
#3
Hey, don't be too hard on yourself - this is how you will learn! Trust me, after the vet appointment tomorrow, you will know how to take a tick out for the rest of your life and you'll probably teach someone else how to do it too!

I assume it's not a paralysis tick??
 
#5
No, you did it right. In just about any situation you are supposed to pull a tick off (carefully) with tweezers. The problem seems to be that you grabbed it at the wrong spot! I'm assuming that you grabbed it by the middle and the tick broke in half? You can still pull off the rest of it, you just have to get it where it's biting your dog. Pull the rest off yourself and watch your dogs behaviour for the next few days. I don't think a trip to the vet is necessary for a tick!
 
#6
Don't feel bad that's how you learn. The vet will get the rest of the tick out and teach you how to do it for next time. Your baby will be just fine. No harm done I'm sure.
 
#7
My dogs have had many ticks. If you are freaked out by the tick, go to the vet. They get freaked out as well!

To pull a tick out just apply enough pull so the skin is pulled out a little and wait for the tick to let go. My dogs are cooperative about this, ticks itch. Remember the damage is done, the dog isn't going to get any more damage from that tick if it stays in for another hour or so. So calm down so the dog will let you gently pull at its skin for a couple minutes. I usually just use my fingers and wash well afterwards. Once I had just pulled a tick and a friend found one on her dog - perfect timing! One hand washing for two ticks.

My tick magnet dog once put her head into a bush for a good sniff and came out with four ticks on her head! I hope she doesn't top this record. Remember to look your dog over after it has been out in tick country and the tick won't be attached yet.

First the tick has to find a good spot to feed. It then glues down and finally pokes its mouth parts in and attaches. I didn't realize they used a glue, I thought I was pulling off the dog's skin when I was pulling off ticks soon after a hike.

They are supposed to take up to 24 hours to attach but once *I* got an attached tick an hour after a hike where *I* was walking on a wide dirt road while the pooches were running [on leash] through the weeds. They didn't get any ticks and I had a horrible itchy spot on my back for weeks. So not fair!
 
#8
You can always coat a tick with vaseline and it'll back out slowly, it can't breathe with vaseline all over it. As soon as it starts to loosen, just apply the tweezers and pull slowly. Works every time.

I don't know if you live where a tick borne disease is rampant, but it's a good idea to get your pup's blood tested for such things as well. That
s one of the concerns they had with Tippett-Spike's sudden collapse this week.

I am keeping you and your pup in my puppy prayers!
 
#9
I went to the vet and he got the rest of the tick out in a few minutes. He said that the tick was "an amputee" since we had severed the body in half, leaving the other half of it attached to her. We just gotta put some doggy ointment on her ear for one week and I got her a tick collar as well as her next 7 months of Advantix.

I don't live in a place where tick-spread diseases run rampant so I don't think we have to worry about blood tests (doctor didn't seem too concerned and said that they had gotten a sudden rash of people bringing in their pets with ticks on them recently; he said all of the rain that's been falling in SoCal lately must've been bringing them out).

Thankfully, Miki is totally parasite-free again (she had a stunt a few months ago when she swallowed a flea and it caused her to get tapeworms) and I am relieved. The only thing I still worry a bit about is that even though Miki was on her flea/tick monthly topical medication, she still got this nasty tick on her. I guess they can't prevent every single parasite from finding its way to her and I really fear bugs so that makes me sad). But I swear, I spent all night having tick-related nightmares. :lol:
 
#10
I'm so glad to hear the tick is gone, and your pup will be okay!!!

Two of our dogs have had ticks, and we freaked out too! The first time we found one, we didn't know what it was either, and it was huge and engorged with blood by the time we found it, because it was on our Husky cross (my avatar baby) and she is so furry we didn't see it until it was big! We had never seen a tick before either, and EWWWWW!!!! :throwup: I kid you not, it was the size of a Glosette raisin! My husband pulled it off, and when we saw the legs moving, we both screamed! It was so icky--and it pulled a piece of our poor pup's skin off with it. We called the vet right away, and she told us to look for more--which there were--three more!

I didn't sleep that night, because Bella-Luna (my pup) was beside me, and I was so freaked out wondering if there were more of those terrible things on her.

Give Miki a hug for me--I'm sure everything will be fine now!
 
#11
Don't the flea/tick drops only stop ticks for a week? Tapeworm? Old dog had one of those once. Way ickier than ticks! Glad you all survived the tick. Hope there are no more. Ever.
 
#12
The drops are supposed to be effective for 1 month, but this was the 4th week of her January drops so I guess it was losing its potency.

I also think I saw a baby tick ON A TOWEL (wibble) in my bathroom and I freaked out and made my dad kill it... Ugh... do I need to fumigate the entire house now?! The thought of little ticks crawling all over my body and attaching itself to all sorts of soft parts of my skin to drink blood while I'm bathing or even worse... using the toilet... it's like something out of a B-rated horror movie. :sick:
 
#13
Speedy said:
You can always coat a tick with vaseline and it'll back out slowly, it can't breathe with vaseline all over it. As soon as it starts to loosen, just apply the tweezers and pull slowly. Works every time.

I don't know if you live where a tick borne disease is rampant, but it's a good idea to get your pup's blood tested for such things as well. That
s one of the concerns they had with Tippett-Spike's sudden collapse this week.

I am keeping you and your pup in my puppy prayers!
Click to expand...

I would be cautious putting vaseline on the tick like this. This does cause the tick not to breathe, but the tick could also throw-up in your dogs blood stream dumping with it all of the icky stuff it is carrying. This is a big no-no in NY where Lyme disease is a big deal.

So glad you and pup are through this! *hugs*
 
#14
KittyBag said:
I would be cautious putting vaseline on the tick like this. This does cause the tick not to breathe, but the tick could also throw-up in your dogs blood stream dumping with it all of the icky stuff it is carrying. This is a big no-no in NY where Lyme disease is a big deal.

So glad you and pup are through this! *hugs*
Click to expand...

Yup I heard this too....
 
#15
Please, please take the dog to the vet immediately. The dog needs to be tested for ehrlichiosis as well as lyme; ehrlichiosis is a creeper disease and by the time you know the dog has it, it can be too late. We lost my golden retriever that way and it was heartbreaking.
 
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