Wife gained a unwanted guest
Ditch-Runner
Member Posts: 25,228 ✭✭✭✭
A coupe days ago my wife woke up her neck as hurting she said it felt like she had slept on it wrong
She felt a bump and really touchy sore spot
It was a tick very tiny and loked like a black legged aka deer tick to me
We Pulled the tick off went to urgent care as no way to get to see our doc
They loaded her down with antibiotics and told her if it caused problems or looked infected to come back in
Truly strange to have a tick in January
Our best guess it was in the straw bales we have in the chicken coop to help them stay warm we bought from a local farmer
We have cats and dogs in and out of the house so can't rule them out but my guess if it had been on one of them it would have latched on to which ever unlucky one
From what read about deer ticks they get on and bite asap to the host .
We rarely even see a tick maybe one or two a year and ther the brown dog tick variety .
Suprized us and the attending doc to have one thus time of year around here
Comments
Those little devils! I found two crawling on me last week after splitting some wood . I was told that they are spread by field mice. I've been treated twice for Lyme disease. Both times a two inch ring formed around the site.
Cold weather doesn't seen to affect them.
Ticks thrive, when there is snow. It acts as an insulator and keeps them warm. I find a lot of ticks on deer and our dogs, when we have snow. This year, it has been unseasonable warm here in South Jersey. Usually it about 20 to 30 degrees here. It has been in the upper 60s and low in the 40s and 50s at night. I have been in a t shirt all week. I can never remember a winter this warm.
I hope the antibiotics kick in and take care of any issues for her.....I have pulled ticks off myself in December and even January and February. Just a few warmer days seem to bring them back out around here..
I detest those little buggars !!!
Good thing you caught it! Tick put me in hospital for a week last year, was never so sick in my life.
Had a tick on the neck of my indoor house cat just last month! Cat is always in the house and NEVER outside! Probably came in on one of the dogs and jumped ship for the soft kitty.
Question for you all. What procedure do you use to remove an embedded tick? I used a pair of tweezers and got a good grip on it close to the pets skin. Then pulled straight up and out. Used some alcohol on a cotton ball to clean the wound and then applied some neosporing antibiotic creme. The area was on top of the cats neck where he couldn't lick or mess with it.
Back in 1998 they marketed a Lyme Vaccine called LymeRix. It was a 2 shots the first year & then a booster every year. It actually attacked the tick when it took it's first sip of your blood, preventing the transfer of harmful bacteria. After I received the vaccine, ticks came off easily & appeared dead. Unfortunately, they recalled this vaccine due to fears of discounted side affects. As it wore off, I noticed that that ticks didn't come off as easily & were still moving. If offered again, I would be first in line.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/7/17314716/lyme-disease-vaccine-history-effectiveness
I hate hate hate ticks. When I was a kid I'd have a random tick here and there on my leg or in my hair because I constantly played outside. I'm rarely outdoors at all anymore, but I do have dogs....we treat the yard once a year and they take some combo pill during the summer that kills ticks/fleas and such, so its rare that I see one....but they do turn up from time to time.
My brother in law was bitten by a tick and now he can't eat beef or pork.....its the craziest thing and took some time to figure out. Just knowing what happened to him has made me extra vigilant about taking care of them here. I love steaks too much to have a tick ruin things!
I'm really glad it was still on her to be seen and identified. Had it been gone it would be a guessing game. Glad she got treated. Hope she is OK.
when she told me about it her and my oldest son had" pulled "it off and tossed it 😫 it was complete when I seen it later on so its head and mouth parts all came out
I told her find it take it with her so she fished it back out of the trash can in her bath room and thats how I knew what it was and what kind it was easy to match up with the internet as a guide it was tiny maybe 1/16 " if that
she took it with her to the urgent care when she got home I ask did they agree what kind of tick it was
she said no the doc just said its a tick and tossed it then defended the doc told me no way the doc would know what kind of tick he is a doctor not a bug expert I said there is only three types around us and do not look alike and he should have know with Lyme disease a big danger what to look for then I just tossed in the towel on the discussion ...can't post what I want to say
the doc just gave her some antibiotics to take and said keep ya know they carry a lot of diseases a eye on it 😖
My brother was weedeating his yard last summer and 3 ticks got on him. He pulled them all off. Three days later he showed me one of the bites. There was a red circle 3 inches in diameter. Not a "bullseye" of rings, but solid red. I told him to get to the doctor right now!
He went to the doc the next day and she said Lyme Disease. She gave him a 3 week supply of antibiotics. She said if he had waited 2 days more, he would have been up the creek.
Lyme disease is serious business
Worked for a consulting engineering company- swear our folks WADED in ticks. Besides the tick repellents, we used permethrin spray on their clothes. You can get it most anywhere. Hang your pants on clothesline, spray well. let dry, Now good for about 10 washings. Duct tape pants over boot tops. By the time tick climbs to waist, too sick to bite you.
Use tweezers, grab tick as close to head as possible, pull STRAIGHT out, clean bite site, WASH HANDS.
We normaly have permethtin on hand use to (but dilute it down) bath the dogs but never use it on cats if you don't know it will kill them
The spot on my wife's neck luckly has all but went away hard to see now .she is finishing up the antibiotics the doc prescribed
Honest in the summer and fall I am suprized we do not see more of them with all critters that wonder thru
Fleas are a different subject twice in recent years we had way more than our share we got some pills from the vet and in no time Fleas were gone
Thanks for all the support and God advice and concern