Lovely

Remember how I said I hate bugs? I hate all bugs, but ticks are highest on the hate list. We live in the woods, so all summer long we have to do tick checks whenever we come in the house.

Well, Livvie spent about 45 minutes outside in her play yard yesterday. I totally did not perform a tick check on her, because I stupidly forgot.

This is a photo I found online of a deer tick. These are the ones we get most frequently because, duh, deer are constantly moving through the yard. The babies are called seed ticks. These are also the most frequent ones we find on us.

So, as I'm sure you have guessed, Livvie got her first tick yesterday. I found bites on her this morning when she got up, and assumed they might be flea bites. Well, I went to dress her about 20 minutes ago and discovered a tick imbedded in her arm pit. It was a seed tick. 

I dug it out and put it in the tick jar, which is a medication bottle filled with alcohol. Alcohol kills ticks. Thank goodness.

I had to mark the bite on the calendar because we now have to watch her for 2 weeks to make sure she doesn't get sick.  

Interjection: I was just rubbing her head and I found another tick in her hairline. This one was an adult lone star tick. Which means the potential for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Which might mean dicyclomine. Which might mean puking.

I am thinking we have to go to the doctor on Monday for prophylactic treatment. Again, Lovely.

Doctor is closed on Monday. Spoke with On call doc and he said not to bring her in unless she starts showing flu like symptoms, and to simply watch her for 2 weeks. I sure hope she doesn't get sick. I had Spotted Fever 3 years ago, and it was just awful.