Now I’m not particularly scared of or grossed out by most bugs. I do admit to a certain little shudder every time I’m faced with relocating a spider but it is ticks that really make my skin crawl.
We came home from the dog park last night to discover we had brought two additional creatures home, both of the blood sucking variety. Thankfully he is light colored so the dark deer ticks are quite easy to spot but the return of ticks means a return to every single walk ending in a 10 minute grooming session.
It also means a return to having my skin crawl for hours whenever I do find one on him. A stray hair brushing my neck or a little itch will have me running my fingers through my hair countless times searching for an elusive tick.
There is unfortunately no way around it though, he needs to be walked and the forest has a large deer population so he is going to pick some up. Grooming is the only method we have to keep them off him as he is terribly allergic to the tick repellant available.
Using these drops was one of the scariest doggie moments we’ve had. He began to pant and pace within minutes of its application. After struggling rolling around in the grass and trying to scratch his own back he simply lay there not moving and gasping for air.
I threw him in the shower and washed the stuff off, I have never seen him before or since look so happy being washed, it has never been something he enjoys. After washing and drying him he seemed tired but ok. I was shocked when speaking to his vet to discover his reaction was quite common and that many smaller dogs die from reactions to these drops every year.
All of this because of a tiny little creature no bigger than a match head.
