Hi

I was looking for some advice on how to deal with a lump that has been left on my girl after I took a tick off her.  I used a tick hook and got all the tick out - nothing left!!

I had to take her to the vet about 2 weeks ago because she had an infection in her hair folicles on her head.  She was put on 10 day course of antibiotics and I thought that would clear up any infection left by the tick bite.  It hasn't!!

I've tried bathing her with hibiscrub and malaseb but it just doesnt seem to be going away.  She's a short-coated dog and the hair around that area is standing up on end.  It looks awful!!

She's fine in herself so its not affecting her.  I'm just worried as to why it might not be going away.

I've also noticed this year that she has had a lot of midge bites - more so than last year.  We also got attacked by wasps when out on our walk.  One of my other Braccos was stung 10 times and I was stung 4 times trying to get them off her.  The others were stung once or twice.  Think my other girl got stung twice (the girl with the tick bite!). 

Never had this before.  We go lots of different walks but one of our favourites is round the local Forestry Commission forest which is where they pick up ticks occasionally. 

If anybody could give me any advice as to what to do to help I would be very thankful.

Thank you.
Kingdom

you will problably find the lump will stay.  depending on how long the tick was left in will determine how big the lump is.

Wretched ticks - how I loathe them.

One of my dogs always has a bad reaction to tick bites....rock solid lump which takes around 7-14 days to clear. To be honest, as long as there is no sign of infection, I would leave well alone.

I've found this year particularly bad for ticks also....I hasten to add...not just on my dogs!!

Yukky ticks, awful things.
Tess only ever got one on her when we still lived in the UK.  That left a little lump too, but totally my fault, as I was rubbing under her belly, felt a little lump (assumed wrongly it was just a little clump of mud or similar) and picked it off!!!  I then realised what was in my hand, but thankfully after keeping an eye on the area, the lump did eventually go.
However, here in Queensland, and other parts of Australia, there are 'normal' brown dog ticks, and worse still paralysis ticks! 
Tess and Alf are treated with Frontline Plus, which covers paralysis ticks, but some people aren't keen on Frontline and don't rate it much.
Others tend to stick with Advantix which they seem to think works better.
So far, thankfully (and I'm being watchful!) neither of the dogs have had any on them.  My poor husband on the other hand (because of working quite rurally) did discover one which was, shall we say, somewhere it shouldn't have been!!!!  Boy did he panic!  Thankfully it appears to only have been a brown tick, but not very nice nontheless!
I shall treat hubby next time around too! lol (joking of course).

Mine always seem to end up with lumps after having ticks - but they always disappear eventually :)

Daisy

Hi again

Thanks for the replies.  They are awful things and my other dogs don't seem to be affected at all when they're removed.  I got this one when it was tiny and removed it with a tick hook.  I have some fuciderm cream that I was going to try.  Does anyone know if this will help?

The trials and tribulations of walking rurally.  However, I wouldn't change it for the world because the dogs absolutely love it!!

Thanks again
Kingdom

mine always get them as we walk in the forestall the time, i frontline them very regularly bu it doesn't stop the tick attaching just stops it getting big and sucking blood. we remove them with tick hook things and sometimes small lump ares are left but this is probably becuase the dogs body is using its anti defence system against a foreign body. The lumps do subside as otherwise we would have very lumpy dogs with the amount of ticks they have had over th years!

I wonder if the wasp attack has anything to do with it?  One of my dogs disturbed a bike when we were walking in the woods.  She was covered with wasps and was being stung again and again.  It was horrendous!!  I managed to get them off her but I also got stung into the bargain.  The other dogs got stung.  Stella got stung a couple of times.  I took Ruby off to the vet and she got antihistamine.  Vet recommended I treat the other dogs as well.  All seemed to be fine.

However, after that Stella developed small lumps over her head so I took her to the vet.  Vet prescribed 10 day course of antibiotics as she had an infection in her hair follicles.  This seemed to do the trick but, since then, this lump won't go away and she seems to be having reactions to anything ie thorns, midge bites etc., 

I wonder if I should nip her off to the vet for a wee check up or am I just being paranoid?

Kingdom

Hi there,

Ruby had her first tick I've ever had on any of my dogs this summer, which left a lump, right before her first show, great!

There was no redness or no irritation or anything left in, just a raised bald patch. I smothered it in aloe vera gel twice a day as advised by someone and it went no problem, it did take a while though :-(

I wouldn't worry unless its causing a problem, it is just unsightly I know unfortunately.

Nicki xx

Yup, Nellie always gets a HUGE unsightly lump whenever she is unfortunate enough to get a tick...no matter how carefully it is removed, the vet did it once and she still got the big lump!  They almost always get infected, take weeks to go and leave a bald patch for a while.

Needless to say, she is Frontlined to within an inch of her life. :)

Interestingly enough, she has also been attacked by wasps twice this year so far....the first time she collapsed and had to spend the night at the vets on a drip, this time she was pretty traumatised but not quite as bad as the first time. 

She hasn't had a tick for ages (*touches wood*) - had harvest mites on her tummy though, which the spot-on Frontline didn't touch!