"Gimmie your belly." He rolls over, and there it is, a crusty dark scab in his pit. It’s not a scab at all, is it? Jesus, it’s an adult male tick. What? Oh yeah, see I’ve done some disturbingly good research, the way one does upon the first sign of unusual medical symptoms on WebMD. It’s a torture we put ourselves through, self-diagnosing, predicting, worrying ourselves sick. We make ourselves insane with worry; every line item relates to us. On a good day, you’re a sociopath with slight scoliosis and a profound case of IBS. Every medical student on one rotation is certain they have neck cancer because of the unusual bump they have found. It’s called a lymph node. Stop it.
But this isn’t a scab in his armpit. The tick is flat and red-brown, and upon feeding, it’s doesn’t enlarge like the female. When I pinch my tweezers on the flat dark body, the legs fan out, stretching like small turtleheads. Oh God. This reminds me of crabs. I’ve never seen genital crabs (I just knocked on my wooden bookcase), but I’ve read about them after reading Jonathan Ames’ "A W On My P." If you haven’t read it, you must. It’s disturbingly good. At the first mention of laying eggs and uniform white sacks, you’ll be scratching.
Where are these ticks coming from? This is the second one I’ve found, and it’s not like Linus is hanging out in bushes or rolling in the grass. It has been raining; he’s been chillin’ on the sofa with the tivo. "Baby, are you okay? Mommy worries about you. What if the tick crawled in your little rosebud ears? Then what baby dog?" We’re both disturbingly good.
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Get him some Frontline from the vet, kills fleas and ticks. you dont want him getting lime disease.
Ewwwwwww. An apocalyptic plague of blood-sucking-city-roaches perhaps? Or maybe it just came from the grass.
Happy spring, by the way!
if linus could talk, he'd tell you how lucky he is to have someone who loves him so much. that and more pig ears please.
When was the last time that Linus had a bath? Did you give it to him at home or did you take him to a place? As weird as it may sound, my parent's dog got fleas and ticks from the place they dropped the dog off to get a bath.
Put the tick in a jar and take it to the doctor to make sure it isn't carrying anything serious – lime disease and such
Rain brings 'em out. Frontline will definitely help. :)
Those kind of ticks don't carry Lyme disease. Only deer ticks do, and they are very very small ticks, not the kind stephanie found. Plus, they don't test every tick that bites you for Lyme. You're supposed to watch for a bullseye rash. It's difficult to get Lyme, and even more difficult to get over it.
That's a relief. We have lots of ticks and other gross bugs here in TX
I'm neurotic about it. I spent like an hour staring at my dog's chin to trying to tell if he had a tick. Then I realized it was just a scab.
Also, I guess "Lime" disease would be what I had last night after 3 margaritas as opposed to Lyme disease which is carried by (deer) ticks. My b
Hey there. Like someone else mentioned, get him Frontline, Advantage or Revolution (my personal fave, it does more than the others). I guess it isn't completely necessary since he lives indoors, but he still goes outside (I imagine) and fleas, you can bring fleas from the soles of your shoes even! I'm quite paranoid about it since I have an outdoor/indoor cat who sleeps on our beds.
Stephanie (and others)-
My URL for this post links you to the CDC's risk assessment map for Lyme Disease. That site has tons of good info on the disease as well.
~~(__)8>
"It's difficult to get Lyme, and even more difficult to get over it". – Michael
I wish I agreed with you, Michael. Perhaps in NYC, it's difficult to get Lyme, but in Westchester/Putnam/Dutchess counties, it's difficult to NOT get it.
I can say that roughly 30-40% of my friends have Lyme disease. Two of them had it so severely that they were completely incapacitated and needed months of aggressive I.V. anti-biotic treatments to even be able to function. Lyme is a very serious and alarmingly common disease.
Stepping down from the soapbox.
"30-40% of my friends have Lyme disease. Two of them had it so severely that they were completely incapacitated and needed months of aggressive I.V. anti-biotic treatments to even be able to function. Lyme is a very serious and alarmingly common disease."
OH my goodness!! I'm sorry. I had no idea it was that common.
Dogs don't get the "same" Lyme disease humans do- or at least they don't suffer from the same symptoms. My dog has tested positive for it twice (meaning she had Lyme disease antibodies present in her blood.) The first time was more than 2 years ago the vet said it was a very low level of antibodies so she either just got it, or it was working it's way out of her season. On her most recent visit she tested positive again and the vet prescribed a month long course of anti-biotics. That being said, my vet also told me that about 30% of the dogs she sees test positive, but only 10% of those that test positive ever have any symptoms. The most noticeable of which is not a bullseye rash (which would be tough to see on a furry dog) but an irregular gait, problems running/walking etc. Daisy never had any of these- thank goodness. I have a friend who's dog has to go on doggy prednisone because the dog got swollen joints and was retaining fluid due to Lyme's disease.
That's your pet medicine segment for the day.
if its possible for dogs to get "limes" pls write me i dont know and i love my dog :)