calliecritturs
Posted : 10/2/2008 10:40:12 PM
It's when ticks 'feed' that they spread disease -- so a tick walking around isn't a big deal. A tick imbedded is the potential problem and it all depends on how long it was on him (how engorged it was).
But you essentially have to wait. You wait for the body to build antibodies to the tick (it should) and you watch for tick disease symptoms.
But DO NOT over-react. That was the mistake we made when Billy got IMHA. He DID get bitten by a 'sick tick'. But actually his body had built anti-bodies to it. But his body for some reason reacted worse than it should have and in addition to the body turning against the tick and forming antibodies (to destroy disease cells) his body began to destroy it's own red blood cells.
PROBLEM -- I knew he'd been bitten by a tick. I was trying SO hard to watch for signs, that when the vet told me he was anemic (his hematacrit was down to 20 -- which is pretty low) I told him it was likely tick disease and we tested for it.
He came out a borderline positive. Literally right on the "line" (I think 16 is the low limit and he was AT 16) sooooooooooooooooooooooo since we got that "faint positive" the vet put him on doxycycline to treat Erhlichea (common tick disease down here in FL).
It was the DOXY that spun the IMHA out of control (because he actually *had* IMHA, not erhlichea -- the 'faint positive' was actually the new antibodies that his own body had formed as a defense against the tick disease).
But we made the IMHA ***WAY*** worse because we jumped into the antibiotic. Doxy is a darned good antibiotic -- but we should have waited to see if pred alone would have brought his hematacrit back to normal.
I was so terrified of IMHA (I knew Sandra's Hunter had died from it and I knew cockers are hard-wired for it and most don't make it) that I encouraged my vet to jump on the potential for ehrlichea, not realizing that the antibiotic itself would spin the IMHA out of control.
So DON'T over-react. Frankly, there are MUCH worse things than tick diease. It's treatable -- it takes a long time TO treat but it is **very** treatable. Particularly when caught early.
Now you'll hear differing opinions on lyme shots - I've heard some folks here encourage folks to have a lyme shot given when a dog is bitten. That would *NOT* be my way. Lyme shots are a modified live virus -- meaning they have the potential to encourage the development of the disease rather than just helping the body form immunity. See the whole discussion on 1 year vaccine spacing. There are people who feel very very strongly on both sides.
Talk to your vet. But after the h$ll that Billy has gone thru in the past 2 1/2 years my solid advice is don't over-react. No, tick disease is not fun ... but it's truly not the worst that can happen. It's VERY treatable -- just make darned sure that if they do a tick test that it's a significant enough positive to be absolutely SURE of the diagnosis.