I'm guessing he picked it up from the last time we went for a walk at the North Bank Ranch. I first noticed it as a swelling above his left eye. Upon closer examination I found what looked like a wart.
I know it sounds kind of silly but there are warts that will grow really fast and I thought that's what it was. But in the back of my mind there was a suspicion...
I even went so far as to Google warts and found something that sounded like what Gus's new addition looked like.
But a few days later the swelling over his eye didn't go away (which I thought might have been from the dogs playing together in a rough manner like they sometimes do). At least the "wart" seemed to have stopped growing.
Then I did what I should have done in the first place: I put my reading glasses on, got a flashlight and took a good look at the thing. That's when I noticed the little black strings at the skin line. And then the little black strings moved!
AAACCKK! A tick! Another Google search and I found a site that showed how to remove ticks from dogs using a special tool. You can use tweezers if you don't have the tick removal tool. The thing about the site was the tick it showed looked exactly like the one over Gus's eye.
So lacking the special tick removal tool I got my tweezers and tried to carefully remove the tick.
As you can see I was successful.
It left a nice little hole over Gus's eye.
Lacking any rubbing alcohol I swabbed the hole with my Sea Breeze cleanser.
I am happy to say that today except for the little hole left behind the swelling is all down and everything is back to normal.
Looks like I'm going to have to invest in that special tick removal tool.
7 comments:
ick! I've never seen one so light colored before. Glad you got out your trusy glasses! I hate ticks.
LC
Oh Yuck! Don't the boys take any flea/tick meds? Or are those things kind of drug resistant?
I bet Gus is much happier now!!
Patti
Gus was the only one who was taking them because of his volunteer work (it was required). But since we resigned and with the move and all that he hasn't had anything for several months now. I think he might be more susceptible because of his longer, finer hair. They will all be getting flea/tick stuff from now on for sure!
You are such a good Pet Mom! Today, I read with horror about the Canadian company that slaughtered up to 100 sled dogs due to a slowed down tourist industry. "(http://www.newser.com/story/110975/canada-probes-sled-dog-slaughter.html"
God says that the righteous are not cruel to their animals. You are definitely one of God's chillin's then, Teen! Hey, but we knew that already.
Love, M
What kind of environment do ticks favor? You "found" some when you took your walk at the coast, too? (In Cali)
mt
They like cool, shady, damp, tall grass, shrubs (http://www.bmf.org/mazar/ticks.html). This is just one of those things where if you know it's in the area you have to take the proper precautions. ☹
that's huge... you can avoid that huge tick.. apply frontline so that you can avoid it
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