I am in a real state!
Gave Rufus a bath just now, and when washing his beard felt a 'hard lump'
just pulled it off, as i thought it was muck or something as usual.
However there was a bloody bubble type blister, then realised
it may have been a tick.
Now I am worried sick as I have been reading past posts on the subject
and am worried I may have left the head in or something - how do I know?
The whole process did not bother Rufus, but it was difficult to get off.

I am also worried as to how long its been there hiding under his beard.

Is there anything I should go and buy or do now?

I am really worried about what he can catch etc - please help!

Louise

ps Pets @ Home shuts at 8pm, so earliest response if is appreciated.

First off, don't worry! I've left heads on before and nothing has happened. There is just a hard lump. Can you see the head? There should be a little dot in the centre of a hard lump if it is there. I bathed mine with salt water which seems to ease it out if it is stuck in. You should also be able to feel it with a finger nail if it is there. If it isn't, don't worry.

Helen

Hi Helen,

Going to go and soak it in some salt water, not 100% sure
if the heads there or not. The hard lump looks awful though
its like a big blister full of blood!

The 'thing' I pulled off his skin did not look anything like an insect
though, forgot to mention in first post.

Thanks for replying so quickly!

Louise

Mine do get hard lumps around the bite when the tick is in. Harvey has a worse reaction than the others as well. I've not noticed them as being like a blood blister though, just a hard lump underneath the skin.

If a tick has been on a dog for a while, the body part is quite big because of the blood it has feasted on. I've seen really big ones before! They have a tiny head and the legs are right next to the head.

There is some information on Lyme's disease on here http://www.dogstuff.info/lyme_disease_usbcc.html which includes the symptoms.

Helen

The body of a tick is a greyish colour, round, with indented lilnes on one side. They kinda look like a pebble, and i think feels a bit rubbery. If it had been in there for a while it would have been quite big. Is that what the bit you pulled off looked like?

hi,
if you find a tick again on your dog smother it with vasaline, it will take a while but the tick will drop off as the vasaline stops it from takeing air, regards tina

Is there a chance that it may have been a wart like skin tag ?
When my bitch got a tick I got a case of the heebie jeebies - god how I hate them and like you I pulled the thing off and I left the head behind. Went to my vet the next day and as a safety measure he gave her an antibiotic jab, never had any problems and never did find the head. I would be tempted to give you rdog a good going over to make sure that there is no more.

The more I think about it - which has been alot!! I am not
sure it was a tick. The 'thing' I pulled off broke into bits easily
and did not look like what everyone is saying it should.
I am wondering if it was a scab or something.
This morning the 'blood bubble' had gone right down
and was just like a bit of matted blood on his skin/fur.

I am thinking of taking him to the vets, what does everyone think?

I'm thinking it could be what Margaret said - a skin tag. Holly has one on her eyebrow and it grows a bit and we pull it off when it starts to droop in her eye. It is quite thin and pale and it does bleed a little where it comes off.

If it was me and the "wound" looks ok, I wouldn't bother but if it will put your mind at rest...

Helen