Hooray! Tick Season Is Here!

I was petting our dog Mo this morning and felt a relatively large lump on his back. Upon closer inspection, this was no blister. A rather an engorged tick had been feasting on Mo's blood all night long as he slept (in our son's bed!) and was about the size of a large blueberry. Where the tick was attached, we found a second tick who was apparently waiting his turn. We removed both of them with tweezers, being careful to grab them by the head to avoid leaving any parts under the skin. We've photographed Dermacentor variabilis (The American Dog Tick) here just for your viewing pleasure. It's flabbergasting how big they can get after sucking their fill! After breakfast I spotted two more ticks on Mo's face near the edge of his mouth (thank goodness for his white fur). Later in the evening as we were bathing the kids, we found another tick attached to Foster's ribs. He was very brave about the whole thing even though the tick took a big bite of skin as we removed it. Needless to say, now every little dark spot in the house looks like a tick and it is very unnerving indeed. Both dogs got a bath and will get their flea and tick protection tomorrow without fail. Ticks can be disease carriers so we'll be watching for any unusual symptoms in the next week or two. Why so many ticks? The locals will tell you it's because we had a mild winter which didn't kill off as many of the bugs as a harsh winter normally would.