tick time

tootsmazza · Enlightened One

tick time

Jennifer · Master

Did you dab it first with surgical spirit? If you just pulled out with tweezers the head will still be inside

tootsmazza · Enlightened One

Jennifer wrote:

Did you dab it first with surgical spirit? If you just pulled out with tweezers the head will still be inside

It was very bloated with blood - apparently means they are full and not so tightly bedded in - and Macy bled when it came out so I'm told that means its all out. I used antiseptic afterwards, not before tho cry

Jennifer · Master

hmmm not sure, maybe someone else will know. I just remember when i was younger, the family dog had a tick and i mind being told we had to dab it first as could cause infection if the head was left inside. Poor Mason, hope he recovers from his wee "visitor" soon

Dawn · Guru

Poor Mason....ticks are horrible.
There is a posting under Health Issues- Tick Alert - Valerie has written about her experience last year and has also put a link which will help.
Hope its Masons first and last of the year. cry

Lorna · Old Hand

Harley has had two (one on his ear and one his neck) in the last month!

I have a special tick removing tool which I bought from the pet shop. You twist it round and the tick comes out without pulling the head off.

I have some to sell in the shop now - they are £1.50 - if anyone wants one just let me know.

I will be adding them to the shop web site shortly - they're very handy to have.

Lorna

-- Edited by Lorna at 19:18, 2007-05-21

Valerie · Guru

Marie
Biscuit beat Mason on this one!! Biscuit had his first tick on 1st May !! I was a bit gobsmacked it was so early in the year, but apparently it's global warming as well!!
I can well recommend the tick hook which Lorna has mentioned, as this is what most vets use. There is a danger with tweezers that the head will remain. With the hook you slide it under and twist to lift clean away, and then I dabbed with tea tree.
I heard a story from my friend today (owns a sheltie) and her neighbour sent her daughter in to borrow the tick hook, then had to ask my friend to come thru, and help cos her Lhasa was squealing the place down. When my friend got there, she had to tell her neighbour her dog was screaming cos she was trying to remove his nipple!! Poor wee Chico. ashamed

Also remember cos there are more ticks, there are even more biting humans and they carry Lyme disease, so take precautions for dog and self hmm

Isla · Enlightened One

Disgusting little brutes! I hate em!!! furious

Mine have been Frontlined and will be due the next dose very shortly. I too have the hooky thing for pulling them out. It's great - very easy to use (on people too).

I've had the hook on standby and the frontline close to hand since I lifted a couple off the dogs in April. The little blighters were strolling across their backs trying to find a place to dig in.

Poor wee dog - no wonder it was howling the place down! hmm

tootsmazza · Enlightened One

Valerie wrote:

When my friend got there, she had to tell her neighbour her dog was screaming cos she was trying to remove his nipple!! Poor wee Chico.

Poor thing, that was my biggest fear Valerie - that it was a skin tag and not a tick. Macy's booked into vet on Friday for a weigh-in (just to see how fat he is wink ) and Frontline dose and I'll see if I can get one of those hooks at the same time.

Thanks all

Marie

Valerie · Guru

Might be worth getting a magnifying glass, as I need to do with my failing eyesight!! But if you look close enough you can see it's back legs waving from out of the skin it has penetrated! They are truly disgusting bleh

FAJ · Enlightened One

I know someone who had a tick at the very top of his thigh, and was only saved from further trauma by the elastic on his underpants.................. ashamed

Jennifer · Master

Valerie wrote:
When my friend got there, she had to tell her neighbour her dog was screaming cos she was trying to remove his nipple!! Poor wee Chico.

PML

Shame for the dog but very funny

feldandjack · Guru

I dont use surgical spirit, I got a bottle of bowfin perfume from one of my aunties one Christmas. One dab of this evil smelling poison has the tick leaping off pronto wink

I used it on a tick on next doors greyhound, while they were away on holiday, when they returned it took them a while to pluck up the nerve to ask me what the smell was on their dog ashamed

.
It's going to be a bad year for the wee horrors, I hope my aunt can remember where she got the stinking stuff from biggrin

LauraMax · Old Hand

Hi there,

There have been a few pieces on the BBC about this recently.

The experts they spoke to said not to put any form of spirit on the tick, or to burn them with a match.

If you're eating - stop now!

Apparently it startles the tick, which then spits the contents of its stomach back into the host's bloodstream, leading to a worse chance of infection. bleh

They recommended tweezers or a special tick removal gadget you can buy in the pet shop for a couple of quid.

Anyway - hope that's not put you all off your tea!

Isla · Enlightened One

Yeah, I've heard that somewhere too. bleh

In fact, I think our local paper ran an article about ticks earlier in the year that said something similar. Pity I lost it! hmm

I must admit, that green hooky thing that I got from the vet's was a godsend.

weeewelamb · Old Hand

I live in an area highly infested with tick and pull them off my dogs every month of the year now that the climate has warmed up. About 3 weeks ago I put Frontline on my dogs as I normally do in spring and it made no difference whatsoever. I was still taking tick off them every other day. They didn't even get a couple of weeks respite from the wee parasites!

It would be interesting to know if anyone else has experienced this.

Katie · Master

weeewelamb wrote:

I live in an area highly infested with tick and pull them off my dogs every month of the year now that the climate has warmed up. About 3 weeks ago I put Frontline on my dogs as I normally do in spring and it made no difference whatsoever. I was still taking tick off them every other day. They didn't even get a couple of weeks respite from the wee parasites!

It would be interesting to know if anyone else has experienced this.

We put frontline on Dust and Sally last year when we were going on a camping trip, it didn't appear to work, I was still hard at work with the tweezers.

Horrible little blighters.

Isla · Enlightened One

Where I stay is bad for them too - especially where we walk as there are a lot of deer around.

I must admit, I have noticed ticks becoming more evident out of the summer months. I always have a quick check after walking to see if I can see any strolling around because, even with the frontline on, they still have a walk round and try to get a hold. furious

Valerie · Guru

Isla - I think like every other type of parasite they survive for centuries because they adapt to survive all the things designed to kill them off, so become stronger. Like they say only ****roaches will survive a nuclear holocaust - so will the ticks! Your local ticks are obviously drinking off the Frontline so their followers become stronger furious