Tick

[macky]

I just found a tick on my border collie, we were camping 2.5 weeks ago but I checked him very well after and didn't find anything on him, I had one though. I'm not sure if he could've gotten it out in our yard or what, but I could see it when I looked at him just now, so I'm hoping it's new. But it was very large, so it's probably not so new.

 

I searched for some pictures of ticks and this one here, http://www.cat-world.com.au/images/Tick.jpg , looks like it, it only had feet/teeth up front and a huge body. I was able to pull it off. That site says it's a paralysis tick!? But I can only find info on it at Australian websites.

 

He grew up on a farm, so he no doubt has had ticks before and a test on him said he has Lyme disease. But the vet said he probably developed an immunity to it, but it will still show up as positive in tests. They only treat it as needed it.

 

So my question is, what to do? Does he need to get to a vet right away?

[cattledog5]

I guess I would take him to the vet because he would probably be able to check if there are any more tics better than I can.

Matt.

[Alicia]

Ticks are really common and not that big of a deal. That tick looks like a standard engorged wood tick to me. Here's a site with different stage pics of a Wood Tick and others as well. http://www.tickinfo.com/rockymtnwoodtick.htm

If he has already been tested for lyme disease then all you'll be doin is getting charged for the vet taking the time, and Emergency call, to pull more ticks out if they're there.

 

What I'd do is thoroughly search your dog and gently and steadily pull any out that you find.

If you accidentaly leave a head in fish around as best you can after sterilizing the tweezer tips, but it's not the end of the world as the dog's natural immune system will usually be able to push it out in a short amount of time.

 

After checking, and making sure there are none on him anywhere, I would simply Frontline, Advantage or Revolution him to prevent ticks from getting on him, or wanting to stay on him, again.

[macky]

You're right, that is the tick it looks like. I got it completely out, checked him thoroughly several times and don't see anything else. Was about to do the Frontline, but decided to wait and see what others thought I should do first. Thanks, makes me feel better... one of my last vets always made a huge deal out of everything.

[Alicia]

Alot of vets do, unfortunately, because if you panic about something so small they get money for it everytime.

 

Protection is the best thing to do unless you want to be pulling them off. This year 2 of my very good friends spent at least an hour a day picking ticks off of their 2 dogs (an Aussie with MASSIVE amounts of hair, and Thick coated ACD). My BestF is all natural and doesnt want to put the chemicals on her dog, but she broke down because of the hassle. hiking, thick coats and tick season with out protection dont go well together lol ;D

[Tassie]

Of course, if you were in Australia, and pulled a tick engorged like this off a dog who had no tick protection - or even if he did have - you would be making a trip to the vet the instant you saw/heard any suspected signs of paralysis tick poisoning. But I don't think you guys have the paralysis tick over there, do you? They're really bad in Oz this season.

[Alicia]

I dont think we have the paralysis tick, not sure though. I've never even heard of it. Most common ticks here are Wood and Deer Ticks, at least where I'm at. I think Dog Ticks are pretty commone elsewhere as well. But, the only thing anyone ever mentions here with ticks is Lymes Disease.

 

Hmm, I'll have to research that now just to check.

[juliepoudrier]

Alicia,

We don't have the paralysis tick, but when I was working for a vet (back in the dark ages) we did see dogs with "tick paralysis" which apparently resulted from massive amounts of ticks on the dog and resolved once the ticks were removed. From what I understand, the paralysis ticks in Australia can cause death of the dog.

 

Macky,

If it were me, I'd be delving a bit deeper into your vet's reasoning for not treating a positive Lyme test. I don't think all vets are out to gouge their clients, and Lyme and the other tick-borne diseases are nothing to ignore. Lyme can become chronic, and can ultimately cause neurological symptoms, kidney failure, and death, so I'd certainly want some clarification from my vet that s/he is absolutely sure there's no active or chronic infection going on. It's so cheap and easy to treat that I would automatically put my dog on doxy, even in the absence of symptoms, rather than risk missing an infection and allowing a chronic infection to set in. JMO.

 

As examples, one of my dogs had occasional lameness on a front leg. I had treated it for a while but then decided there must be an underlying cause and suspected Lyme (even though I hadn't removed a tick recently). I took her to the vet, who was skeptical of my suspicions, but did the test, which came back positive. Treatment with doxycycline set her right in no time. Another of my dogs never tested positive for the disease, but had indications in her bloodwork, unexplained by anything else, that could have been evidence of TBD. Rather than take a chance (she's my best working dog), I put her on a full course of doxycycline. Now, I do live in the south, where ticks and TBDs are a big problem, and I don't know where you live, but I think I'd follow up on the positive Lyme test.

 

J.

[Alicia]

I didnt think we had the paralysis tick

 

I too have seen Tick paralysis, last year at the vet I worked for there. We had a dog come in, she was a long coat and an outside only dog, no one ever petted her, she wsa COVERED in tick, I think we counted a few hundred! She was anemic and to top it off was slightly aggessive Poor girl, well we got em all pulled and got her on a good preventative and she ended up being really sweet dog by the time she was ready to go home because we loved on her so much

 

In regards to treating for Lymes when the dog is currently non-symptomatic. I could be wrong but....I personally would be concerned giving Doxy that isnt treating something directly. Animals can get resistant to antibiotics and if you give too much and are just giving almost as a preventative it may make the dog resistant to the antibiotic, which, in turn, makes it harder to treat an infection later on. Now, I dont know this for sure on dogs but it is common in other animals, especially rats, so maybe it doesnt apply but.. it popped into my head as something to think about.

[juliepoudrier]

Alicia,

Common wisdom among the folks on Tick-L is to treat a positive Lyme case and to treat suspected Lyme even if the test is negative (i.e., the dog is showing some sort of symptoms that makes one suspect Lyme)--and treat aggressively. This is not the same as using doxycycline prophylactically, which I know some people do. And in these situations (positive test result or symptomatic dogs) it's better to be safe and treat than to take a wait-and-see approach as the disease can become chronic and cause all sorts of problems for the life of the dog. I think that in the view of many the risk vs. benefit (risk of resistance vs. benefit of treatment) falls squarely on the side of benefit.

 

In Macky's case, even if the vet chose not to treat as if there were an active infection, ISTM that s/he would continue to monitor titers to make sure that no disease really was occurring.

 

If you want to ask these questions (about resistance), join Tick-L. It's a very informative list. Spend some time on the list and you will gain a very healthy respect for TBDs and the damage they can do. Here's a link to a site that tells you how to join and that also has all sorts of useful and informative links on the various TBDs:

http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/ticklinks.htm

 

Here's one page on Lyme (from the above site):

http://blackgsd.googlepages.com/home

 

Re: antibiotic resistance--It's not the dog who becomes resistant, it's the organism against which the antibiotic is being used. So in the discussion here, the Lyme spirochete would be the thing that becomes resistant, if in fact it does. In other words, the bacteria against which an antibiotic is being used may become resistant to that antibiotic, and resistance has nothing to do with the host organism (dogs, rats, humans, etc.).

 

J.

[Tassie]

Be thankful you don't have the paralysis tick, guys - it is truly scary. One tick can take a dog down - once they start showing symptoms, you have very little time to get them treated with antiserum - and then they don't always make it. Many dogs die each year. We don't have many of them here in Tasmania, thankfully, but I get paranoid when the dogs nad I travel in tick areas. It is soooo hard to find a tick on a rough coated dog, and none of the preventatives is 100% effective.

 

On the good side, Lyme and other TBDs are only just starting to make inroads here - and only in the far north (our equivalent of the deep south!).

[stockdogranch]

Macky,

 

Sorry I noticed this thread so late...I absolutely agree with Julie--do not take any indication of a TBD lightly. Tick disease is NOT "not that big of a deal." Yes, check out tick-L--as Julie says, they have a wealth of information there. One of the (many) tricky things about TBDs is that you can have symptoms and "negative" titers; you can have positive titers and no symptoms, at least until the dog has some other stressors in its life which can cause the TBD to manifest in many different ways. All the TBDs can become chronic, not just Lyme. Either way, an agressive course of doxy is the best thing you can do. And even then, it can be a crap shoot.

 

Another thing I learned on tick-L--don't think your area "doesn't have a tick problem." Apparently they are everywhere. As for paralysis ticks, though I've never seen one here (southern CA) (and indeed, I don't really see ticks here at all, but that surely didn't stop my number one bitch from getting a TBD while pregnant), a friend in northern CA had one of his dogs come down with some weird paralysis, and when the (single) tick was removed, she recovered.

 

Hope your dog is alright,

Anna