I thought I was brushing dirt off Owen’s neck this morning (he had just been outside for a few minutes)…but it didn’t brush off. Okay, maybe it was dried dirt…so I used my nail. And it still wasn’t coming off.
OH MY GAWD IT WAS A TICK!!! EEK!!! (I’d never actually seen one in person but I was pretty sure that’s what it was.)
I only semi-panicked. š
I scratched/pulled it off, took it to the kitchen where I put it on a bowl and took a picture of it (so I could make sure later), then squished it to death with a knife. Then Googling affirmed it was a tick. EWWWWW!!!
I checked out the rest of his body and didn’t find anything (and there was nothing on me or Maggie). But of course it had been on his neck right on a freckle so I was paranoid there was still tick pieces in his neck…so I got out the lighted magnifying glasses to try and see better—which didn’t really help but Owen loves them—and assured myself it was just a freckle.
I then emailed a pic to Tom and he said the mouth was still attached so that was good.
So, where the hell did it come from? It’s not like he’s been tromping through backwoods North Carolina. He plays in the back yard! It wasn’t too attached so it couldn’t have been on him for too long…
/shudder
Eew eew eew eew eew!
You’ll need to do complete body checks on everyone whenever they go outside. It was in your yard somewhere! There is also a tick remover utensil to make sure you get it all out. I had to pull one off David one time. I was horrified! I saw ticks everywhere after that. Good job finding it!