My dog has tick fever. Why is his skin purple, swollen, and bruised?

Hi and thanks for posting! If Bruno was diagnosed with a tick borne illness by his veterinarian, the fever he experienced may be due to this. If he was placed on any inflammatory medications, this would have helped his fever subside. There are many other medical causes of fever in dogs aside from tick borne diseases which should be explored and ruled out with Bruno's veterinarian. I hope this helps and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hello there! I am sorry to hear Platypus has tick fever. Hopefully treatment has already been started. Yes, bleeding from the nose could potentially be another symptom as tick diseases can affect the platelets. In order for the nose bleeds to be related to the platelets, her count would have to be extremely low (range is usually 170-400 and they would have to be <20). If her counts are indeed that low it can be very serious and potentially life threatening if she starts to have bleeding in other places. I would recommend you take her in to see her vet so she can be examined and have some bloodwork checked. They will likely want to check a CBC (complete blood count) that measures her white cells, red cells and platelets. Depending on the levels additional treatment may be needed to help her platelet levels until the tick disease can be fully be treated. I hope this information has been helpful to you and I wish you and Platypus all the best! Dr. Angela Hinton

This looks like a bacterial skin infection. It is not very likely to be related to the tick issue. Sometimes a medicated shampoo bath helps clear this up but other times oral antibiotics are needed. If this is not gotten better in the next 1 to 2 days I would contact your veterinarian to discuss antibiotics for Opie.

To be sure and get a diagnosis, I would have Scooby checked out by a vet. Tick bites can cause a local reaction, sometimes it shows up as a small pimple or a scab, but rarely something the size I would call a lump. Tick fever itself does not usually cause lumps in the skin. Other possible causes for a lump in this area include a lipoma (fatty tumor), seroma from trauma, an abscess, or another type of tumor.

Ticks can transmit disease such as lyme disease. This can cause a rash or bruising, lameness and tremors, and generalized not feeling well--often non specific signs. I would take her to the vet to have a test ran for tick borne disease and have a CBC performed to make sure there is no signs of a decreased counts that can cause bruising. It could be inflammation from the collar but I would not risk that chance without testings due to the extreme side effects of tick borne disease.

Tick fever is one option, but because of the reddish discharge from the penis i would also suspect prostate cancer (common in unneutered dogs his age). this needs to be ruled out before continuing with the treatment.

Hi there. It's probably a reaction to the tick bite and may need antibiotics. You can apply triple antibiotic cream to it in the mean time-just don't allow your dog to lick or eat any of it. Probably not an emergency if your pup is otherwise fine! Hope this helps.