I'll say a prayer for Tikeya. I don't know much about ticks. I only found one on a dog that was a neighbor's and he took it off. They are really disgusting. And so huge. I don't know how long they have to be on the dog for them to get so big b/c I heard they are as tiny as a dot. Can a dog show symptoms right away or does it have to take a while? I've always had a fenced-in yard and I never really left them out very long. When we went for walks, it was on a paved road. I guess I've been really lucky all this time. Fleas are another story - OMG did I have an incident with that - and I hope I never do again. That was a nightmare. Please let us know how Tikeya is.