My 8-week puppy has a tick and is sleeping a lot. Should I worry?

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.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There is no need to take him to the vet due to the ticks. Be sure to get him in to the vet soon though for vaccines, start heart worm and flea/tick medications and to have him dewormed. Bring a stool sample. If he hasn’t had any vaccines yet he should be seen next week. If he has received his first vaccines (DHPP) the he needs it boosted 3-4weeks later. Good luck!

It sounds like Marley may be sick. Bravecto will kill ticks but if she is not feeling well, there is a high likelihood this medication will make her feel worse. We generally wait to give flea prevention to pets until they are feeling better. Additionally, you note that Marley only weighs 15 pounds but is a German Shepherd. This leads me to believe she is a puppy. Bravecto is not recommended in puppies as they will outgrow the weight range quickly. Instead you use a monthly product like Nexgard. I recommend to take her into your veterinarian today if possible. Depending on where you live, ticks can transmit many diseases and she may go on an antibiotic prophylactically. Drinking a lot of water can be a sign of a kidney or bladder infection as well. Large breed puppies however are prone to drink a lot of water and it’s not pathologic. You can’t know the difference however without testing the urine. It’s always better to be safe than sorry! I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions!

If your dog is acting normally now, I do not think a trip to the vet is necessary. Keep a close eye on Koro for any regression or backtracking. In regards to ticks, I would make sure that she has some sort of preventative, be it an oral medication, topical, or collar to address fleas and ticks. The ticks that may have bitten Koro could potentially cause disease down the line. Many of these illnesses they carry have very long incubation periods, sometimes many, many months, prior to clinical signs being obvious. Hope this helps.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! You can rest him as much as possible. Just like a sick person needs rest, they do too. However, this is concerning and warrants letting your veterinarian know as he may for example benefit from adding pain control medications added to his treatment protocol. They should be able to recommend further based on their knowledge of the case. Have a good day!

I would just remove the tick and make sure you get the mouth parts out. If you are unsure if you got them all out then I would recommend showing your veterinarian. If they are left in they can cause inflammation in the area. Tick diseases don't show positive until about 2 months after so I would not test him for anything. I would recommend once old enough to start flea/tick prevention. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.