Just found a weird little growth under my Labrador’s ear - any advice before I call the vet pls?

[AndCallMeNancy]

Hello

Tonight I’ve noticed something slightly grim and growth-like under my lovely dog’s ear. It’s a bit bigger and fatter than a cooked grain of rice, slightly shiny and grey-ish in colour. It’s totally attached, we’ve been a bit firm in trying to pull it off but no budging it. It doesn’t seem to hurt her at all and she’s not been itching or scratching it. Is it some kind of skin tag?
can anyone shed any light?
Of course I will take her to the vet for it to be properly checked but I don’t know if I need to panic or not. She’s a lovely girl and we would spend anything necessary on her but our finances are tricky at the moment so the timing is not great!

I’ll attach some photos.

Any thoughts much appreciated.
TIA x

That’s a fat tic, have you got a remover tool you want to twist it off /out

It looks like a tick. Have you been walking in woodland where there might be deer? You need to be very careful about removing it.

Is it a tick?
You can buy a tick remover from Amazon or a chemist & remove it yourself. Dont pull it & don’t use tweezers.

That’s a fat tic, have you got a remover tool you want to twist it off /out

I’m not sure if the images are up yet but I’ve just googled images of ticks and I’m worried this is what it is…

It’s been a really bad year for ticks. I assume weather and the councils cost cutting measure of letting grass grow long. They carry diseases which tend to be transmitted before they detach as they regurgitate blood. That’s why you want to remove them carefully not squeeze everything back in.

That’s a huge tick.

You need to get that out - one of mine ended up at the out of hours vets after an infected tick bite. Cost me £400.

Most ticks dont cause a problem. Does your dog get anti tick treatment? If so, they still latch on but die - the size of your dog's tick makes me think not tbh.

Our dogs wear tick collars as well as the anti tick treatment because we live in an area renowned for ticks and one of them is very prone to ticks and actually did get lymes disease a few years ago.

But we have been dealing with ticks for over 20 years and that was the first case of lymes.

Just be vigilant - if your dog gets any issues over the next few months, mention the tick to the vet and they can test for lymes.

Definitely a tick.

Thanks all. It’s out. My husband had a little tool for pulling out panel pins and he’s pulled the whole thing out. It was squirming around with its little pincers pinching in and out, it was absolutely disgusting!!! It’s been flushed down the loo now, the horrible bastard. I actually felt it yesterday and thought it was a bit of matted fur stupidly, I didn’t look at it until tonight so I am worried it has been on there at least a day and could have infected her.

I am now also paranoid because I have unwittingly touched it a few times whilst tickling her ears before I looked at what it is. I feel so gross.

Photo of beautiful Ddog attached as a thank you 🙏

Thank you. She’s not had anti tick treatment but we’ve moved to a rural area recently and there are lots of deer, including at the bottom of our garden, so we’ve been silly not to and we absolutely need to up the ante. This is really helpful advice, appreciate it. I will get her some treatment and a collar. I would have noticed it sooner but we are looking after two extra dogs this week plus school hols so it’s been manic. I’m just glad I didn’t ignore it any longer. My poor darling dog!

Glad it’s out. You can keep them and send them off for analysis. My did had one last year - my H threw it away before I could send it off. Thing is she’s started to have symptoms of Lyme disease so I have her booked in at vets on Tuesday (lameness that’s comes and goes switching between both front legs, and a lump under one arm possibly swollen lymph node? I’m really worried about her).

If that’s not bad enough H had a bath the two weeks ago and I found a tick in the bath when he got out. Now he’s having awful aches and pains - have told him to get to Gp. It’s been a bad year for ticks - and both cat and dog are treated for them. Dog also now gets those bandanas that have permethrin in and I keep getting them for her (last a few cycles of washing) and they appear to have worked this year.

Just keep an eye on your furry friend.

Oh goodness, major worry for you re both DH and DDog, I’m so sorry to hear about this. I really need to get vigilant against these horrible critters. I’ve never come across one before but funnily enough a friend got bitten by one just a few days ago and had to get it removed at the GPs. They are clearly rife as you and PPs have been saying. I will get armed with some anti-tick stuff and also keep her away from the wild bit of the garden where she likely picked it up from.

Last year DH found ticks on the dogs head three times petting her in the evening. I hate ticks.

I was going to say it is a tic. We live rurally and are surrounded by deer. In fact DS ran over one the other week and it has cause several £1000 of damage😡.
I would check your dog over for others. When they first attach they are tiny, sort of flat square shape often no bigger than a pin head.
If you find any more put them into alcohol ( gin works well) to kill them before disposing of them.
Labradors have a thick double coat so it can be difficult to find them. Checked between the pads and armpits. If they’ve started to engorge they will feel like lumps through the fur.
The sooner you get a treatment from the vet the better. We use the tablets rather than the stuff you apply to the skin.

That looks like a tick, one of my Border Collies used to get them on a regular basis. The vet will deal with that in no time.

They often gravitate to the head.

We have bernese mountain dogs and as a breed they are particularly prone to ticks / lymes apparently. Obviously it is hard to find ticks under all the fur, but we often find them on their faces. You can pick them off as it takes ages for them to latch on.

None of us has ever had a tick - touch wood - but I know people who have had several. It seems that some people are more prone than others.

@Angrymum22 £1000 of damage - that is a very big tick 😂

OP, order a remover from Amazon for future - always remove anti clockwise- you did well to remove with legs still moving. - I always kill them.

Treatment wise we have found Simparica to be the best..

I have had plenty of ticks myself - I do keep ones I remove from my skin and am mindful to watch for bullseye rashes. I haven't had one for a while but I think I would now have a prophylactic dose of anti biotics.

To add- I now spray myself with insect repellent, because I have been having bad reactions to mozzie bites but thinking about it I haven't had a tick since I've been spraying.

My walks are often long grass so I think that is why I get them.

We live beside richmond park, which has two herds of deer and loads of ticks. Our local vet is anal about lymes - tests for it as standard if a dog has any suggestion of it. But our dog caught lymes from a sheep tick on holiday in Scotland!

No he hit a deer. There may have been ticks involved but we live in an area overflowing with deer and presumably ticks. When I took the car in for a quote the guy said it was the the third one that week and they’d seen a lot of cars damaged by deer so if there are more deer around this year there will be more ticks.

It’s a tick don’t try to pull it off you’d probably leave the mouth parts they’re firmly attached. Get some tweezers and grab it gently and twist it round and round and round, it’ll come out intact.

If it makes you feel better op on Yorkshire Vet a good while ago a lovely elderly lady worried sick took her ddog in with a lump..
Twas a mint sweet stuck deep in the dog's fur..

Ticks are horrible things. We use a fork to twist them so they come out whole. Obviously fork is then thrown away. Always check your dogs after walks. A tick looks like a tiny poppy seed at first until they start gorging on your poor dog.

Op just saw you got it out sorry. Your dog is absolutely gorgeous!