Tick or Cyst or what?

[V8LM]

Found this on my dog's leg. Doesn't bother him, much, but occasionally licks it. Ovoid in shape, almost 1 cm long on its longest axis.

[bexVN]

Looks like a wart/cyst, how old is your dog just out of interest?

[Mr GrimNasty]

Looks like a tick to me.

[bexVN]

Hmm do you think we have helped the OP , can't rule out a tick completely, it is just a bit bloody looking to me (unless it has been picked at causing the blood.)

[Jasandjules]

Can you squirt a bit of water on it and see what colour it remains?

Do you have a tick remover?

[Mr GrimNasty]

Yer, a tick remover/come cyst burster should help.

[V8LM]

This is it after being squirted with water:



Me thinks it's a tick.

Dog is 6 years old. Shop had sold out of tick removers.

[vanordinaire]

Ticks drop off the host after a couple of days at most (when they are full). If it's been there a while it's not a tick

[bexVN]

Oops got that one wrong!
You can use tweezers if you know what you are doing, don't want to be squeezing it too much (releases toxins into the blood stream)

It has the shape of a tick but whilst they come in many colours, I don't usually see them look like this one (could be the flash though)

I asked age incase it was a growth.

You should be able to see some legs if you look at the 'entry' point.

[V8LM]

Thank you all. It's difficult to see any legs but pretty sure it's a tick. Trawling the shops to find a removal tool as the current high incidence means all have sold out.

[bexVN]

Your vets should sell them

[Mr GrimNasty]

Ticks come in all sizes and colours, although they have host preferences, most aren't that bothered what they suck.
That one is well engorged and almost translucent, hence it looks a bit bloody.

[SGirl]

You can remove ticks with tweezers.

http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/removal/

You need to be careful not to leave the mouth parts in the dog's skin, though.

ETA: You can get tick collars from the vet's which supposedly prevent ticks wanting to bite your dog. (We use them on our dogs, we see the occasional tick but nothing major.) I don't know if they work on ticks already attached, though.

Edited by SGirl on Thursday 28th May 10:31

[bexVN]

Failing that get your vets to remove it. The vet nurses remove them at my place for free.

[V8LM]

At 10.5 stone he is a bit of a handful and runs riot at the vets.

[bexVN]

V8LM said:

At 10.5 stone he is a bit of a handful and runs riot at the vets.

And.... . Surely his Master can control him for a tick removal failing that, it gives the nurses a challenge for the day because, you know, we all love a challenge! (usually the little uns cause more trouble tbh!)

Do try and get the tick off soon though, the longer it's on the more risk of it causing a localised infection and increases the chance of disease spread.

[V8LM]

So, not a tick.

Vet took a sample to be sent off for a test to see if benign or not.

[bexVN]

Should have stuck to my original conviction. I was being outnumbered by those saying it was a tick yet I was never really happy it was.

I'm glad you managed to get it checked, hope you weren't dragged around too much by 10.5 stone of dog !

Fingers crossed it is just a warty/cystic growth but they will be ruling out mast cell tumour. It could be a benign histiocytoma but generally they affect young dogs (hence the age question at the start)

Hope you get the results back soon, I hate waiting for test results!

[Mr GrimNasty]

That's a cross then.

To be fair, it looks indistinguishable from a white bodied tick in the photos, sometimes you just need to see things in the flesh.

[bexVN]

It was the nick in the back of the 'body' that made me think it wasn't a tick aswell as the colouring. Still it's being sorted which is really what counts in the end.