RE: "Please help!" (Thank you all..) (bite, clean, skin)

[FloGrownGrl]

To all of you who responded to my post over here I want to say THANK YOU! The night I made that post, my mom & I removed the tick later that evening. It came out fine with no problem..so thank you all for the info! We used the method of tweezers..grabbed it by the head, closest to the skin, and pulled it out..flushed it. She was squeemish, but after all, she's a big baby anyway..however, she did not even yelp and she got a doggy treat after her little procedure!


I did not recognize what it was initially because I've never had that situation before (one reason being this is my first pet..we've had her for a couple years, but never seen a tick). I thought ticks would be more round and "full" looking since they suck the blood out and into their bodies.
None the less, it's out! So that saved a trip and cost of going to the vet. She's been off of her meds for a month or two..and well, I guess that was enough for her to catch a bug!
the only thing now is she keeps scratching her side with her hind leg. Sometimes she does it just when she's resting there sleeping..her little hind leg will sweep up and scratch her side every 5-10minutes. It's not always a motion where she wakes up, sits up and scratches herself..its been something she does subconsciously almost, she's never done this before.
Do you think this is an effect of the bug..or could this just be because her skin is dry from the cold weather? I know my skin has dried significantly from this change in weather!

[DreamChasers8]

Tick bites are normally itchy afterwards (similar to a mosquito bite) should be nothing to worry about, give it a week to heal. Did you put any alcohol on the bite after removing the tick? And are you sure you removed the head? Put her on some Frontline to prevent further tick bites and tick carried diseases. Good Luck, Stephanie

[FloGrownGrl]

Originally Posted by DreamChasers8

Tick bites are normally itchy afterwards (similar to a mosquito bite) should be nothing to worry about, give it a week to heal. Did you put any alcohol on the bite after removing the tick? And are you sure you removed the head? Put her on some Frontline to prevent further tick bites and tick carried diseases. Good Luck, Stephanie

Well the site of the tick was under her chin..and she is scratching her side with her hind leg. Yes, I cleaned and wiped thoroughly with alcohol the site at which the tick had attached itself. I'm pretty sure the head was removed..all I saw was bright pink clear skin with the slightest dot of blood after the tick (and surrounding hairs lol) was removed.It looks to be fine, I will take another look at it in the morning to see how it is healing over.

[pinetreelover]

Dogs can get dry itchy winter skin just like we do. You can try a moisturizing shampoo but I have better success with massaging in some Vaseline Intensive Care lotion and getting my dog really goopy with that then rubbing it all off before a good bath.

Also, make sure your dog isn't sitting around in front of the heating vents. My dog would sit right on the vent if we let him and it really dries out his skin!

[lizmyer]

Try a shampoo and conditioner with oatmeal in it. It does a really good job of hydrating the skin. Don't forget the conditioner! I forgot once and Baxter was itchy! Also try feeding your dog some eggs (depending on how big they are, I would say a couple eggs a week, sans shells of course) Skip this if your dog is a puppy though. We've always fed him an egg or some chicken or turkey. It really helps keep their coat shiny; sometimes regular old dog food just isn't enough. Plus it gives them some variety!