[capt_noonie]

Originally Posted by crazydoglade

I'm out inthe Riverside/Mo Valley area, not too far from you, and I have to say we're having a horrible time with ticks this year. My dogs haven't had any for years but this year we have to check almost every day. I ordered some new treatment thinking maybe the ticks are becoming immune to the ones I've been using. One of our foster moms brought in a lttle shih tzu the other day, the poor baby had 3-4 on her. I know she was treated because I did it. Right now we're using advantix. Any opinions on a better treatment? I do hope your baby is alright. I know the waiting is one of the hardest things.

It is totally possible that the ticks are getting immune. My vet told me that was what happened with the flea meds. I don't know what else would be better. Maybe someone else on here can make a recommendation?

Originally Posted by spiritwings1202

I think its a mole Daisy has a few of those one her and once my husband had the tweezers out and was complaining that he couldn't grab the tick and when I looked at it with my jewelry scope..lol I realized it was a mole!

This wasn't a mole, bc the vet pulled out a hard ball thing that looked like a seed. You could def feel something hard underneath her skin.

Originally Posted by kjc

I think a tick will latch on, and when they get comfortable they fall asleep. Then when they are disturbed with say, tweezers, their legs come up from their sides to help them hold on. (IDK if they really go to sleep, lol)

I was bit by a tick last summer, and it started out being very itchy. Now, from my techy days, I have seen dogs come in with 300+ ticks on them and had to help remove them, one by one, with tweezers. It took 3-4 techs about 2-3 hours to get this done.

I've never had a problem removing ticks off a dog, but for the life of me, I could not get this tick off me! Finally after about 30 minutes, I got him off, and it left a small raised, hard, red bump. In the next few days, it turned a bright, neon-ish red/orange color... very scary. And it hurt, like an ache and a burning sensation on and off. Also the inflamed area got bigger, about 2 inches, and didn't appear to be healing. I did go to the doctor. She said to use AB ointment on it and not to worry, Lyme Disease doesn't come from Lone Star Ticks. After a month this thing still wasn't healing, but now I can see a black spot in the center. This was a tick leg or something (I looked at it magnified), that had finally worked it's way out. Then healing began and it was healed in a week.



They don't usually embed themselves, but I have seen ticks get in the wound they make pretty deep, like 1/2 their body length. Most the time they just bite and stay on the surface, and drop off when they become engorged (which can be in the house!).

Priscilla... I read up on this a bit while I stayed awake last night. Along with Uni's itchy skin and sparse coat, it 's possible she may have a congenital condition having to do with the sebaceous(?) glands in the skin or the hair follicles, as this seems to be a recurring problem with her. The sac can fill with fluid, or an oily substance. Depending on the type of cyst, medicated shampoos (like Nutri-Vet) may help, or some respond to antibiotics and/or a topical cream. I'd ask the vet too, about any dietary supplements that could help.

Also if a tick body part was the cause, it would come back out unchanged, but maybe covered with goopy stuff.

This could very well be the case, and I will talk with my vet about it. She does have a few other bumps on her body, but they all look different. I have no doubt that her crappy coat is due to poor breeding. She is on a rx shampoo already. I forget what it's called, but I remember it's $18 a bottle! LOL She always responds well with steroids after an esp bad itching episode, but of course we can't keep her on them all the time. So far they have just told me to give her 1/4 tab of zyrtec every day. It helps, but probably what makes it worse is she is at the shop with us everyday, and it's dusty here. And I probably don't bathe her enough (once a week). I don't know if I should be bathing her more often. Would bathing more strip her oils and make her skin more dry, or perhaps the rx shampoo doesn't do that?