If you're in my family, I'm sure you're sick of hearing about this by now. But hopefully this will be the last talk about it for a very long, long time!
About five weeks ago, I spotted two tick's in Ginger's ear. This is the first time in all of our four years we've owned her, have I seen a tick. I FREAKED (& that's an understatement). I rushed her to Banfield Hospital at Petsmart. They couldn't get her in for a few hours. After booking the appointment and reluctantly putting her back into the car, I drove home and called my friend Genny, an animal lover and "retired' veterinarian.
She told me they're nothing to be afraid of and how to remove them myself. After taking her advice & watching a how-to video on YouTube, I decided I was gonna tackle this little sucker on my own and save the $60 plus dollars at the vet. After all, it was just two ticks...
So I pulled out the two from her ear with ease. Not so bad! Then, I decided I'd better check the rest of her body. TWO HOURS LATER, I'd pulled 20+ off her poor little body. Yes, you read right. I get the hibijibi's just writing it. Actually, I get the worst anxiety ever just thinking about it!
Let me tell you, I am the tick master. I now know everything there is to know about ticks. No joke.
So anyway, then moving day comes. Thank goodness I de-ticked Ginger before we moved (my thoughts). She has Frontline on her now (something I will never stop putting on her from now on) and I was confident she was tick-free.
After a week in our new home, I started finding ticks crawling on the floor, the wall, and what felt like everywhere. Another phone call was into my dear friend Genny. :) She informed me that if we're seeing them crawling around, we've got an infestation. She suggested we check every nook & cranny on ourselves and Peyton. Thank the Great God Above that we didn't find any on ourselves!
The next day (which couldn't come fast enough) we called pest control to come spray our house. In the meantime, I change Peyton's diaper and find a tick sitting on his hip bone (NOT attached, thank God again!) This time, I just cried. And cried. At this point in the game, I felt so defeated and helpless, there was nothing left for me to do. Sound dramatic? Unless you've dealt with ticks before, you'd probably think so. Trust me, it's not fun.
I then pulled myself together just in time to spot one crawling on the back of his shirt. Another short outburst, and I was okay. The lifesaver (aka tick guy) came a few hours later and was super nice, answered all of my questions, and sprayed the heck out of the house, furniture, and yard. He also informed me that the East Valley is experiencing the worst tick problem in years due to all the construction. He asked if I happened to be from the San Tan Valley area and I said, "YES!" That's the worst, he said. At this point, I'm feeling a little better. :) Also, the few people I called before this guy informed me that ticks are a huge problem right now and they're getting 3-4 calls a day about it. Gross. But glad I'm not the only one!
Sooooo, I start finding dead ticks (phew!) and a few live ones still after the spray. I found one more crawling on Peyton's pants. Why oh why do they have to be on him! I was literally praying that they would be on me before him. But that was the last one I found on him, and neither of us found any on ourselves throughout this mess.
Now we're going on three weeks of this madness. Let me explain: we just moved in, the ticks could be anywhere because clearly we brought them with us, I don't want to unpack anything because who knows where one will be, our house is a mess and all I want to do is unpack, and I'm spending every possible minute OUT of the house to procrastinate and ease my fear of running into one of these suckers. I can't put anything on without checking it, I can't get into bed without checking it, and I definitely will not sit on the couch. I'm continuing to find one or two on Ginger every few days, and we decide to take her to the vet because she's shaking (as in shaking off something) constantly. What if they're in her ear canals?
The vet checks her out and she's fine. She's most likely shaking from all the scabs she has. Yes indeed, that was it. She itches! But now she's on fish oil and a medicated wash to help.
Fast forward to week four and we're all good. Now we're at week five and I haven't seen any in almost two weeks. I've been finding dead, crusty ones, but I can handle that. I think we're in the clear. Although I'm expecting to find one live one per month for the next few months (per the vet), but that's okay, because the worst is over.
A lady in Steve's office who lives in Mesa said they find a tick per month in their house, and they spray monthly and the dogs are on Frontline. It's just something they can't get away from. Reason #50 I'm happy we moved to Phoenix. :)
We were told to bring Ginger back in a few months for a blood test to make sure she didn't contract any diseases from them. Lyme disease thankfully, isn't a problem in the Valley, but there's others out there. And let me add before anyone thinks we're horrible pet owners, that this could've happened in one week. I was for sure she'd had them for months in order for this type of infestation to occur, but they said it could've been as little as one week.
So anyway, I'm off to the vet tomorrow because Ginger's been limping for a week plus. I can't find anything in her paw. I was telling Steve that it's so strange she limps only at night and in the morning. She doesn't seem in pain when I touch it. He suggested it could be joint pain.... I google "dog joint pain" only to find it's a symptom of tick diseases. Yup, that's right. When it rains, it pours!
I'll keep you posted on what happens with our poor little Gingie and please keep your fingers crossed that we don't find anymore ticks in the house!
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| Gingie and her best friend. :) |
Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this!! :(
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