Yes. One cat, one dog. (see attached photo of Akela playing in the surf)

I was afraid that was what the bug was, but was hoping for something more benign.

You are correct, it is an engorged tick, and an examination of Akela's dog house shows more of them inside. I have sprayed his fuzzy doggie bed and the inside of the doghouse with insecticide (I'll have to wash them both thoroughly with soap and water before he's allowed to use them again) and dosed both animals with Advantage tick and flea medicine. I'll have to keep a close eye out to be sure that I've gotten them all, and I'll call the fumigator tomorrow to come and go through the place as well.

Thanks, all, for the heads-up.

tanstaafl.

Edit -- OK, what's with the link on the word "correct"? I didn't put it there, looks like someone has hacked the bbs!

Edit2 -- Now that spurious link has disappeared. It was to some site about winning a free iPad... It is the second time I have seen that pop up here today.

Edit3 -- Now that link is back on the word "free". Probably it will go away as soon as I finish editing this post. But it looks like there is some hackery going on here, possibly based on key words.

Edit4 -- More likely, it is my computer that is hacked, and not the bbs... but this anomaly only shows up when I am here.

db