Tick killed my dog and we had no warning signs

Your welcome. it's winter here, so hopefully the ticks aren't to bad. I'm not sure exactly if they come out in winter or not...not to up on the whole tick thing. I know the fleas are awful though. I have to give my dog a bath in flea shampoo almost every time she comes back in the house from going to the bathroom. It's crazy and i thought that winter time everything got a little better for animals. I will definitely need to read up on some things to make sure i'm doing the right thing for her. She's only six months old, but my whole family has bonded to her so much. God bless

Thank you. It is never easy to lose a loved one and pets are just as much members of the family as humans.

Thank you. It is sad but we will get over her and eventually get a new puppy. I cannot imagine living without a dog. Our other dog does seem to be missing her but now he will probably get even more spoiled than before.

The only way you can tell it to check the body regularly looking for them. When a tick bites it stays on the dog. The vet said that one week was enough time for the poison to reach the heart and start the paralysis. Once that happens it is too late for the anti-venom. The tick that was on my dog was white and her fur was white. We had checked her neck, tummy and leg joints but the tick was buried in the fur on the corner of her mouth. My dog had lots of white fluffy fur like cotton wool. I had never seen a tick before so I was not sure what I was looking for. Now I know and I will check my other dog often. Check your dog regularly to see any sign of an insect or anything that seems to be stuck to her skin. I am not sure how to describe it. My partner got bitten by a tick once but it was black, we sprayed it with insect repellent until it dropped off. He was lucky that nothing bad happened to him. You cannot pull them as the head is inside the body and if you try to pull them off the head may stay inside the body. The only way to get them off that I know if to spray them with an insect repellent to make them leave. With dogs I am not sure if the same thing would work but I hope so. I treated my dog with frontline and I thought that she would be safe. The vet tells me it is not foolproof and that there are better ones on the market. Even so check your dog regularly. A week is not long and there appear to be know bad health signs until it is too late.

Yes pets are the best friends. I cannot imagine life without animal companions, they give such wonderful love. We know that we will always outlive them so there will always be sadness when we lose them but I would rather go through that than never have that love.

Thank you. Yes we do draw closer to those we have left when we lose a loved one. Grief draws us together. I have been cuddling our other dog and checking that he is healthy. At least his fur is much easier to check. I loved my little powder puff but I will never get another one like her. We lived in the city when I bought her and she was a perfect city dog but he fur became a nightmare to care for when we moved to the country and she loved to go bush walking. She was a wonderful like dog. Oddly enough the loss of one makes me think of getting a new puppy. I have had dogs all my life and I cannot imagine living without one.

Thank you for your commiserations. It is nice to still have one and I keep giving him cuddles.