My dog has a dead tick and bites. Should I worry or get blood tests?

As long as the area on Miley's skin looks okay (no significant redness or swelling), then you don't need to take her to the vet right away after finding an attached tick. If the tick was attached for long enough to transmit disease, like Lyme disease, Ehrlichia or Anaplasma, then it takes about 6 months for a blood test to diagnose an infection. Unfortunately, there are no measures to take to stop any of these diseases if she's already been infected. I would certainly mention this tick attachment to Miley's vet the next time she goes in for an exam because her vet will most likely recommend running a tick-borne disease blood test about 6 months from the date of tick exposure. In the long run, definitely add some tick prevention in for Miley. Seresto collars, K9 Advantix II, Bravecto, Nexgard, Simparica or Credelio are all great options to discuss with your vet. I hope this helps and that everything goes well!

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Bree. Good on you for making sure that she is protected from ticks. Given that the tick is not engorged, it did not feed her on, so no disease would have been transmitted. The tick needs to bite and feed to pass along disease into her bloodstream. I imagine she is quite tired from her busy day. To be safe, watch for continued lethargy, limping, joint swelling, and a loss of appetite. I hope this helps!

It is likely you will not see clinical symptoms for any tuck borne disease this soon if Otis were to contract one of the diseases. I would recommend starting a flea and tick preventative such as Nexgard and have Otis monitored for tick borne diseases once yearly. The test is cheap and your vet can run it in the hospital. It is a simple snap test that takes 15 minutes to run. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Ticks can cause infection if their mouth is left behind when removed, this causes a local reaction. There are also some tick bourne diseases that ticks carry, but hese are quite rare. I recommend using a product such as frontline or nexgaurd or advocate to protect against ticks. And use a special tick remober to disattach any on the dog.

Hello, given the tick exposure, there is always a risk that your pet may contract a tick born disease. Unfortunately, there is no accurate diagnosis of infection until some time has passed. You should consider speaking with your veterinarian about checking a tick disease snap test (4DX), if available in 3-4 weeks or sooner if Zoe develops any signs of illness (limping, decreased appetite, lethargy, pale gums, collapse). Zoe should be on strict monthly, flea and tick preventative to avoid continued exposure to ticks. Hope this helps and best of luck.

There is no reason to see a vet at the moment, usually the tick bite itself is not an issue, it's the disease that they can potentially transmit to the dog (tick fever, lyme). These diseases usually do not show up right away, it usually takes several weeks, sometimes more. You might want to add a seresto collar on top of the Bravecto in case you see any ticks on him again.

Flea and tick products like First Shield are supposed to repel fleas and ticks and kill them after attachment, but ticks can still bite. There also seems to be resistance to some products with these ingredients in certain areas. I would recommend talking to your veterinarian about what product they recommend in your area. You should monitor the tick bite and if it is becoming very red, swollen or if you notice discharge you should have a veterinarian take a look, but it is very rare for tick bites to become infected. If you saved the tick your veterinarian may be able to submit it to a reference laboratory to see if it was carrying any tick borne diseases. Otherwise you should watch for signs of tick borne disease like lethargy, decreased appetite, fever and joint pain.