General Chat

please can anyone advise me how to rid my best friend of ticks? ive treated him with some stuff called Frontline recommended by vets, but it doesnt seem to be working. its making me feel really paronoid as i have been having to remove them with tweezers as i find them. help, x

Hello Y/Pud....there is a special of tweezers you can get from pet shops, is that what you are using. Don't pull them with human tweezers cause they often leave the head in. Your vet should be able to remove them aswell......yucks

Good luck!!

jude

I am not an expert but in Spain where I live the Vets have told me that we must have extreme caution when removing the ticks as they may break and then it is very difficult to remove. Luckily my Cocker Spaniels have never had them and we do not take them into the forests, again on the recommendation of the vet
If the Frontline is working I would speak to the vet again.
Sorry I can't be more helpful

Bridget

I don't know if this is right but I heard if you smothered them in alcohol it makes it easier to get them out whole.

thanx for the advice, nite x

My dad used to burn them off me with a cigarette! (We lived on Dartmoor, the place was swarming with them and I used to roll in the grass a lot!)!

Bit difficult with dogs though. The 'tick remover' sounds the best bet.
Next time ask the vet for a different treatment - obviously the local ticks are becoming immune to it!

I heard you smother them with vaseline. This stops them breathing so they suffocate, die and drop off. Never tried this myself, though...

There was something on tv recently about this and the usual recommended method, ie. vaseline, cigarettes etc etc were said to be dangerous and not a good idea, but for the life of me I can't remember what they said to do, and what programme it was.

Have you googled at all as there might be some info there.

Lizx

Purple Liz....you are right there was a programme recently and they did say not to use vaseline, alchohol or human tweezers etc but YES to use these tick tweezers!! which are easy to use, If they don't work get the vey to do it:o))

jude

We have them in a lot of areas here in Australia and I believe the best way to draw them out is to put kerosene on them (not too much or it will burn his skin) but right on the tick - makes them draw out.

You need to go over him daily, otherwise, if you miss one, it can burrow in and can kill the dog in a few days.

I have a 9 mth old black lab
Every morning we go for an early walk through the dunes,after which we walk back along the shore so that he can go in and out of the sea.
I dont know really what a tick looks like...or how big.Are there any vunerable places to look on the dog?
Kay

Morning YP

I found the following online and it looks like sound advice to me.

I went away on holiday and when I came back my cat was covered in ticks. Some of the lotions that you put on the back of their necks does work, it kills the ticks, but they still stay attached. I agree that tweezers are the best way of getting them off. Your cat or dog won't like it and it will be quite painful, but ticks suck their blood, so you must get them off. .

Removing ticks with tweezers: Don't EVER!!

Sorry to disagree, but you should NEVER try to remove a tick using tweezers. Absolutely disgusting things, and I can fully understand why you wouldn't want to actually touch one; however, here's the reality:

Ticks are a species of parasitic spider {commonly found in long grass or heather in areas where you find deer, cattle, rabbits, and sheep}, and they attach themselves to anything - animals or humans - which happen to brush against them.

They then burrow into the skin and feed - as already stated - on blood, leaving only the body visible: the part you need to grab to remove them.

This looks like a small brownish skin-coloured nodule or wart, around twice the size of this letter: O

The biggest danger while trying to remove them is if you exert too much pressure and "burst" them - which can force poison into the victims' bloodstream causing septicaemia, or "blood poisoning".

The problem with using tweezers is that you don't have any degree of tactile feedback, meaning that it's almost impossible to tell if you're squeezing too hard or not.

By far the best method {in my humble opinion} is to sit your pet - or yourself, if you've been really unlucky! - over a couple of sheets of newspaper and then, wearing surgical-type disposable rubber gloves, do the following:

1} Gripping the body very lightly as close to the skin as possible, pinch and twist in an anti-clockwise direction while pulling outwards very gently.

2} Chances are you won't get it out first time, so repeat the above using a little more pressure. Do it quickly and confidently - just don't apply too much pressure at first.

The objective is to "pinch" as close to the skin as possible, and release the ticks' grip by twisting and pulling - but without squeezing too hard and releasing toxins into the wound.

3} When you do manage to pull the tick out, there are two things you need to do next:

i} Dispose of the tick by either crushing it inside the newspaper {bit fiddly, and anyway - yukk!}, or by putting it down the sink or toilet, and covering it with bleach.

ii} Clean and disinfect the wound by smearing it with Germolene or Dettol antiseptic cream - you'll find it has left a raised "welt" at the puncture site, but this should clear up very quickly within 12 hours or so.

Several friends {who have picked up ticks while hillwalking} have recommended holding a lit cigarette close to {but not touching} the body until it drops out, but although I've tried this myself, I can't honestly recommend it for removing ticks from pets because of their fur.

The first time I found one on our labrador, I cut a small hole in a piece of cardboard, and "popped" the body through the hole, hoping that the cardboard would protect the hair around it from singeing.

Bottom line: it didn't work. I held a glowing cigarette about a centimetre away from the tick, then gradually moved it closer in small increments; however the end result was simply a carbonised tick - it didn't "fall out" as suggested.

In short, removing ticks is a lot like your first experience of sex: scares the hell out of you just even thinking about it, you definitely won't get it right the first time, but once you've done it once - no problem! :-)

Seriously though: in the UK at least, ticks used to be a seasonal problem between April and October. With global warming though, it seems that they're now prevalent virtually all year round, and they can be found at any time of year except in severely cold, frosty weather.

/2

/2


Some tips which might help:

Allegedly {never tried this myself}, putting a couple of drops of vinegar or garlic into your pets' drinking water will help to repel ticks - it makes the animals' sweat acidic and unattractive.

How anyone would know this is anyone's guess, but seemingly dogs in particular love garlic! {I've yet to find a food substance which dogs don't like, except maybe bananas}.

Secondly, you can buy tick-repelling collars, and small bottles of repellant liquid to rub into your pets' shoulder blade area which it's claimed will keep ticks at bay.

Problem: we have two labradors, and the youngest one {aged two} just LOVES tick collars and tick drops! She literally ate the tick collar we put on our older dog, and licked constantly at the tick drops - obviously very tasty stuff..........

Perhaps not a problem for owners of just one dog, but I also read that tick collars/drops can be harmful or even fatal to cats if ingested - no word on the clinical effects on any small children you might happen to have.

To conclude: this time last year {2005} I didn't even know what a tick looked like, but having removed around a dozen from our two labradors, I now consider myself an expert - two minutes, and they're history.

But tweezers? I honestly wouldn't risk it. If you manage to pull the body out but leave the head, you could end up with a very hefty vet's bill, not to mention an extremely sick pet.


Be cautious about giving garlic to dogs. It's true that some dogs may be fine with small amounts of garlic and dogs do love the taste, but garlic and onions can be fatal to some dogs. This is kind of controversial- It comes down to being your choice and knowing your dog, but I choose to be on the safe side and avoid giving garlic to my dog.

Unless you have a problem using chemicals, you should treat your dog with Frontline or something similar to keep fleas and ticks away.


This was very helpful advice, and I did manage my first attempted tick removal successfully. Surgical type gloves not only made the task less unpleasant, but served the purpose of keeping my hard, sharp fingernails off the tick, so it came out whole. Additional tips - if you can, find someone to hold dog still before you start; even with the essential twisting movement, you still need to pull steadily; and mind you are not trying to pull out dog hair at the same time!


Rubbing the Tick with Savlon cream the tick will fall off after a while.



Good Luck!



Lindy xx

Light a match blow it out and quickly touch the tick, it should retract its head that is imbedded in the skin.

Anyone else scratching now??

Sorry I dont have anything useful to add except I hope you get your dog sorted.

They used to be a problem when we baled hay, I remember my Uncle getting a few but nowadays everything is done by machine. My Aunt used to 'burn' them off with a cigarette; not good with furry animals tho!

love T.x

hi everyone, please dont think im daft, but this problem has really got to me. ive even shed afew tears today , i feel really paranoid. still finding them bought a spray today. used it on my friend and his clean bed and my carpets! i wouldnt be any use lliving as mother nature intended, maybe its because im a towny. thanx all for your advice. nite x

thanx T, for taking an interest in my yucky problem. x