Hi there, my name is ***** ***** I have 15 years of experience working both in clinic and with animal poison control where I studied animal poisonings.
I'm happy to help you decide if you need to get your pet into a clinic, or if you're able to manage an issue at home. Sometimes it takes me a bit of time to type out a longer response, please be patient!
Hello!
It's always a good idea after a tick bite to get them checked out, just because there are tick-borne diseases like lyme disease that we can see develop in dogs. So when you find a tick, antibiotics are sometimes a good idea (depending on where you live).
But so long as Gertie isn't showing any immediate signs, this isn't something that needs to be done immediately.
Lyme disease is definitely carried by deer ticks, so that could b e a cause for concerns. Doxycycline tends to be the gold standard for the treatment of Lyme. It can take about 2-6 weeks for signs to show up, so as long as you're not seeing any illness occur in the meantime, you can go in to the vet after a month or two to have a blood test done to check for it.
At this stage, it is possible the current antibiotics could help, but I would still get a test done just to be on the safe side.
Lyme disease is a bacterial disease. If left untreated, it could potentially be fatal, but generally with the appropriate treatment (a long course of antibiotics) will make the symptoms go away.
It typically causes joint pain and lameness, though we can also see a fever and a loss of appetite.
Generally about a month. Sometimes longer if the infection is tough.
That sounds like a good plan! Did you have any additional questions or concerns I can address for you?
That may just be the puncture wound where the tick was attached, or parts of the tick that broke off in the skin when it was removed. The lump is likely an inflammatory reaction that naturally occurs with a bite like this. The bump will generally fade after a few days.
You don't need to. They will break down naturally as the bump dissipates.
I am happy to help! Please don't hesitate to reach out to me again here if anything changes with Gertie, or if you just need to follow up with me!
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