Ticked Tuesday

Oh the perils of parenting! We have a special needs child and this post has nothing to do with her, its about our dog! Ha!

Bolt is 5 years old and has never had fleas or anything of the sort.

Last week I was changing Sweetpea, and found what looked like a fresh mosquito bite on her chest. I looked closer, and saw a black spot. I noticed it was a bug, (size of a pin head), and thought it was a spider. I grabbed it off of her and got a better look and it was a teeny tiny tick! I checked Bolt and our bed and found no more. A few days later we found an average sized one in our bed again! The next day (Sunday evening), one crawled on Mr. Incredible, and we had enough! We grabbed Bolt, and with a flashlight closely examined him. We found the little sucker- no pun intended. At midnight, Mr. Incredible ran to Walmart to get supplies to de-tick Bolt. After that was all said and done, Bolt had to sleep in the kennel- (he usually sleeps with us).

He barked all night! Barked, cried, whimpered, scratched-you name it, he did it. By 6 we were at our wits end. Then Sweetpea woke up. Hours before she needed to. She freaked out because of her lack of sleep. I've spent a total of 4 weeks with her in the hospital, and she never freaked out like this-she was TIRED! Mr. Incredible went to work while I tried to sooth my child who momentarily lost her mind. Finally 8 rolled around and we ran to the vet, (which is about 1 minute from our house, and he's fabulous!).

Now let me say that since Bolt had never had so much as a flea, when I saw the tick, I freaked. I wanted to take him to the doggie er! We arrived at the vet the next morning and I began to feel sheepish. No one told me that ticks were super common out here. Like no big deal-at all! No one takes their dog to the vet for this unless they are covered! I arrive with a tick in a ziplock bag to show the vet, like the www said to do. Yeah, I felt like a big loser!

We got home and by 10 am all three of us were out cold, (Bolt obviously didn't sleep the night before either). I let Sweetpea sleep until 2 to make up for her lost time, but woke her up so she'd sleep that night.

The pic below is one of Bolt snoozing while Sweetpea and I played outside. This never happens, so you know he was tired!

That evening we went for dinner and came home and Bolt had pooped in his kennel. Seriously?! So Mr. Incredible gave him a shower,(we don't have a working bath yet!). When we were drying him off I going 2 new ticks near his ear! One had latched but didn't engorge, and the other hadn't latched at all. Yep, way of life here, (couldn't someone have warned us?!).

He went to bed pretty quickly. Rough day for Bolt. Well, we all had a rough day and planned to go to bed early. Bathing Bolt pushed back our bed time, and by 9:30 we were ready for bed. Mr. Incredible was showering, and Bolt vomited all over our bed. Not the little stomach bile dogs usually throw up, but full blown vomit. Twice. I had to fight him off the bed before he vomited again. Which he did. At least 10 more times. Numerous spots on our floor were now covered in vomit. We called the vet and were told to take him in if he doesn't improve. Mr. Incredible ran to Walmart to get a new sheet for our bed and other supplies to clean up the massive amount of vomit. A few hours later Bolt begged for water, so I have him a small bit, which thankfully he kept down! He's still asleep now.

So, do I take him to the vet, or is he better? Was last night only the beginning of something, or is it over?