Back in May and recently August we had gone to Nebraska for a couple of long weekends, on the May trip my dog Stella had about 8 ticks on her which we pulled of,the August trip we didn't notice any. Well a week and half ago she was just not herself,sluggish, appetite not normal. Monday we take her to the vet and she is a sick dog. Finally figured out she picked up Rocky Mounted Spotted fever. She's been on IV's 24hrs,spiked 106 deg fever. She is on 2 anti biotics and yesterday they added steriods to the mix. There's a 20% fatality risk and we are hoping we caught it early enough before it damages internal organs and blood cells. Moral of the story is"KILL ALL TICKS"....wishful thinking but what the vets are saying is keep the ticks in a plastic jar or container so that if your dog/pet gets sick they can identify what the potential disease is by what type of tick it is. They are finding more and more diseases these little sh#ts carry..