Sick Puppy. =[

[Gemm]

I rescued a puppy today from a friends house. Someone had thrown the puppy in my friends backyard with all her big dogs in the early morning hours.

The poor thing is covered in ticks and is really skinny.. you can see his ribs and everything.. He's very scared and he doesn't like people very much. We think the people that threw him in the backyard mistreated him because when I first tried to get him he tried to bite me.

We finally got him out of the backyard and he got used to me and let me take care of him we haven't got all the ticks off of him yet but we have given him a bath and got some of the ticks off. I've never seen ticks this bad on a puppy before they are down in his ears on his tummy.. they are just everywhere. It makes me sick that someone would let it get that bad.

Is there anyway I can help get the ticks off without hurting / scaring him more??
Is there a limit to how much I should feed him since he's so small??

I don't really know what type of dog he is... he looks like a type of huntin' dog but I'm not for sure and I don't have a picture to post of him because I was scared that I'd scare him more...

What should I do?
[besides take him to the vet. I plan on doing that in the morning]

[Cassiepeia]

Use tweezers to get the ticks off him, you need to get the head out more importantly than anything else because that is infact the body of the tick. The big bulbus butt is simply where the blood is stored and all the poison is in the "head" (ie: main body) of the tick. So use tweezers to get as close to the skin as you can to get the ticks out, don't use your fingernails. This will make it quicker too.
You might want to swab the area with an antiseptic too. I would anyway.

As for any other advice...just take him to the vet (which I know you're already doing). That's the best thing for him and what he really needs ASAP.

Thankyou for rescuing him.

Cass.

[calgal]

I think I would call the police on this too. Those monsters that could neglect this baby then just toss him away like a dirty rag should be locked up. If you can't afford to take him to a Vet. then take him to the animal shelter. They will take care of him. I'm sure he's going to have worms, maybe even heartworms.

[Gemm]

thanks guy for the advice! We got him all better and a friend of the family even adopted him from us! He's doing very well in his new home.. he has a family that loves him and tons of room to run around and play.

[Rivsky]

I'm glad things have worked out for the poor little guy and so quickly too

[Swiftwind]

That's fantastic news! Poor guy had a rough start to life, but by the sounds of it he's got a lovely family now.

[Dangels]

That's awesome! Very glad to hear that the little one found a loving new home!