Ticks and their removal!

[Paul_B]

Talking ticks. What do I need to know about removal and what that looks like. Not for myself but our dog. I assume it's the same as humans since we're all mammals.

In used a large otom tick remover, twisted and removed. Later on the updated instructions say twist 2 to 3 times then pull. I bought mine 10 or more years ago so my instructions are different. We got our first two ticks out of our dog, never having had any contact with them before. They looked intact but both sites have a swelling, small scab and what looked like a bit of bare skin. Could this swelling be due to the same as insect bites or the rostrum is still in there. I'm short sighted so can see detail close up. I could not see anything in the sound. It was difficult with a squirming dog running out of treats to occupy her attention.

What are the best tick removers and their optimum method of use? For human and let use would be good. I'm sure I'm not the only pet owner with tick issues. BTW our dog has regular vet provided flea and tick treatment so really shouldn't be getting them. We dosed her early after the weekend.

BTW, why do pets have treatment for ticks prevention but humans don't? I'm areas at high risk, why not allow for people to buy tick treatment medicine? One thing to use repellent, which in some cases gives me an allergic response in the form of urticaria (hives), but another to take tablets like hayfever.

 

[Lithril]

I'm quite prone to getting ticks, the best tick remover I've found so far is the Tick Lasso, I think I've got about 4 of them scattered in various first aid kids and around the hours. The main benefit of these is they can accomodate any size tick and once it's out you it keeps hold of it so you can make sure the heads out (easier than checking the entry point) and if you needed to keep it for testing that's possible as well.

I think humans react differently to the chemical used in pet treatments but I've not researched this much so someone else might know better. I've also heard rumours of an implant that is meant to do a similar thing. I'll do some digging.

 

[santaman2000]

I use my fingers most of the time and tweezers if it’s a difficult one. That said the best way for the dogs, like humans, is prevention so I give the dogs a flea & tick medication (Bravecta = a pill which lasts for 12 weeks and reply’s fleas & ticks) I wish there was a suitable similar medication for human use.

 

[LukeR]

I'd guess that if you took the medication meant for dogs it would probably work. It's probably just that the enormous cost of licencing a drug for human use, a very small market to recoup that cost, and some potentially toxic side effects would be massively outweighed by the ease of wearing appropriate clothing. Not so easy to put trousers on your dog.

Obviously don't do this. I hope that doesn't need saying, but you should never take medication not meant for human use.

 

[Paul_B]

Goes without saying that your don't take medication outside of the instructions on the packet or without medical instruction, especially if not licensed for your species!!!

I was more thinking of a drug developed for humans. Ticks are increasingly carrying bugs that cause serious harm for humans but not the tick. There's a new one that seriously affects the brain brain causing damage. Lyme disease is becoming more common too.

Makes me glad I'm a midge magnet and tick repellant naturally!! A half serious theory of mine developed at a time I was involved in a hiking group. Everyone in the group seemed to be split into one group who was plagued by midges but never got ticks and the other group who often got ticks but could part a cloud of midges easily.

Tweezers could make the tick spew its guts into the host with potential illness or reaction. That's what I've been reading.

The otom hook remover held the tick in its hook quite well. It allowed us to inspect it. They looked intact but didn't have much out front. Little more than the body and legs. They had a good feed though. One lost it's body when the dog ate its breakfast. What was left came out easily.

It looked like there was a tick with small body and a separate, kind of balloon with it. We weren't sure it was a tick at first seeing only a type of black, pus filled sack. That came off and then we caught the dog and removed a tick. We then found the balloon bit in her food bowl.

Right now she has both sites of the ticks that have lumps where the scab is. Is that normal? It's like when I have a midge bite that has caused a reaction.

One more point, the dog has regular vet prescribed flea and tick treatments as directed. The vet advised the latest drug that has a proven efficacy. Only vet prescribed too. It didnt stop the ticks. We have since given her another dose a little early.

 

[Riven]

We use Seresto collars which cover for ticks and fleas for up to 8 months. I have seen ticks drop off my dogs so they are very effective.

 

[santaman2000]

......It looked like there was a tick with small body and a separate, kind of balloon with it. We weren't sure it was a tick at first seeing only a type of black, pus filled sack......

Hence the old saying: “fat as a tick.”

 

[santaman2000]

......The otom hook remover held the tick in its hook quite well. It allowed us to inspect it. They looked intact but didn't have much out front. Little more than the body and legs........Right now she has both sites of the ticks that have lumps where the scab is. Is that normal? It's like when I have a midge bite that has caused a reaction.........

It sounds like the tick’s body pulled away and left it’s head under the dog’s skin.

 

[Dogoak]

'It sounds like the tick’s body pulled away and left it’s head under the dog’s skin'

Could be, check with a magnifier or loupe, but I've seen that quite often, there's no mouth parts left and it heals up fine.

The other week my dog had an area around a bite inflamed, he must have knocked the tick body off but the mouth parts were still in, got that out and sprayed it with Leucillin, (t's an antiseptic skincare, great on cuts, etc) and it cleared up fine.
I've ben using the Leucillian on doggie for a bout a year now, it's my go to treatment, I wouldn't hesitate to recommended it, no affiliation.

I've tried collars and other treatments, some work better than others but none have them been mega affective, living in tick central is a factor! I spotted 3 on him after this mornings walk, a least he's got a light coat, easier to see. If there's time when I get back from walks I brush him down outside to get the little blighter's off before they attach.

I'm an Othom fan, 100% success rate and I've not left any heads/mouth parts in, me or the dog.
Can't say I would fancy ingesting a pesticide! I dont get that many bites my self, and one was by a Lyme infected tick, I'did a post on here about it in the dim and distant past.
I've wondered if it's because I'm a big garlic eater that I very rarely get bitten

 

[santaman2000]

.........I'm an Othom fan, 100% success rate and I've not left any heads/mouth parts in, me or the dog.
Can't say I would fancy ingesting a pesticide! I dont get that many bites my self, and one was by a Lyme infected tick, I'did a post on here about it in the dim and distant past.......

I was fortunate to get the Lyme vaccine before they discontinued it.

 

[richy3333]

We have thousands of ticks on the Croft. We use a tick twister to remove them off the dogs but they are on medication that is excellent. The ticks die on biting the dog and then just fall off the pet. The only downside is you can’t use it if you have cats as it is harmful to them. Can’t recall what it’s called.

 

[Robson Valley]

The mouth part, the rostrum, on a tick is covered with barbs like fish hooks.
Twist the tick to take it out. That twists the barbs so they don't get caught in your, the dog's flesh.

Never push on it or squeeze it. You gotta get under the rostrum and get it all.
The tick is loaded with arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses)that we have no names for yet.
You don't want to do anything to cause the tick to puke/throw up/vomit arboviruses.
I'm sure that you can all spell Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Probably worse things elsewhere.

The Chesapeakes picked up ticks on their faces, chests and front legs , predominately.
I trained them to lie down with their heads in my lap every night after supper to clean them off.
The ticks all went for a ride in the wood stove, like popcorn.

 

[Paul_B]

I really can't see anything in the skin just the scab. If the rostrum is there it's under the skin and the scab. If it isn't possible to remove it then I guess infection is possible but also it's going to be dealt with by the side p dogs immune system / body.

Or should I get them checked out by vet? I really cannot see anything even with kids magnifying microscope thingy (can't find my magnifying glass used for geology at university so all I had to hand).

I have never known anyone in my family to get a tick, ever!!! Friends have but I've never seen a tick attached. I've seen one pre feed, as in very, very small body, when I brought it home on my clothes. I watched it walk down my arm from my t-shirt sleeve then off my hand to the chair I was sat on. I then picked it up to get a closer look and realised it was a tick. Squish! No longer a tick!!!!!! I'm seriously not considered lunch by ticks. I'm a tick repellant but midge magnet. Walk with me through a cloud of midges and you won't get bitten but I will. One time a mate had no midges near me but I had a 5+ m high cloud following me. However, I have a mate who almost always gets ticks. He's got a very understanding tick remover in his wife. There's places nobody but your mother or understanding partner might go!!!!

We realised that we were due another flea / tick dose for the dog so that's why she got them. We miscalculated when it was due. Normally we're better at that hence she's had no ticks before this.

 

[santaman2000]

@Paul_B It’s possible what your dog has is nothing more than a sore spot left from the bite as you first though. It’s also possible that the head is still there (if so it would be under the skin/scab as you mentioned) If the latter is true the normal reaction is just as you described: an infection and the dog’s immune system will cause it to fester and expel the head. Unless the tick was carrying some disease that’ll be the end of it. That threat of a carried disease is the problem though. A trip to the vet may not be necessary but it wouldn’t hurt either.

 

[baggins]

We always use the tick card from smidge. Has 2 removers, small and large and a magnifying glass. It's the size of a credit card, so fits nicely in my wallet.

 

[Paul_B]

Talking of ticks the dog was behaving fairly normal this time of night, pestering me for attention.n used the normal tricks of making a fuss, treats, walk to be a grassy patch for a wee, etc. They looked like it has worked but then she started whining, looking at me then looking over her shoulder to a point in the floor. I went looking for a toy but nothing there.

Then I spotted what looked like a dead woodlouse. I hate bugs so was about to get the little vacuum but took a look. So I picked it up, a big deal for a bug phobic. Looked like a grey, slightly shrivelled bean shape with black dots. Turned it over and tiny almost hair like legs and small black head that was flat against the bean and a tiny pointy thing. Being dead and unmoving I used my short-sightedness to study it up close. I now know what a tick looks like? Had a good feed since it was a centimeter long.

The interesting thing was that she was pointing it out for me. That and looking back she was enjoying the stroking session she got 15 minutes before a lot more than normal.

The bad thing is third tick in a week and it had a good feed. The good thing was that it died after feeding which means the recently administered tick drug is in the system and working.

With it being twice the size of the others I assume it had been attached some time. Previous ticks we thought had been on two days after a walk in a certain location near us. This one was a day after a trip there but was bigger. Also, after that last walk we checked our dog over many times. About 10 checks after the walk all evening. I guess it could have been very small and hungry when we checked but overnight and through the day had a really big feed. How can you find a tick on a dog with a double coat like a border terrier? We missed that last one.

Anyway, I've left it on a windowsill for my partner to take a good look at. It's worth familiarising ourselves with the anatomy of the tick so we can be sure we get the head out in future.

Just worried that tick was actually on one of us humans. I doubt it because the feed killed it and I doubt our blood would do that. Our dosed up dog's blood would or we should get our money back from the vet!

 

[Wildgoose]

My dogs get them every time we visit the Highlands. We check them every evening removing any we find.
we brush them, we check again yet we still find dead ones fully engorged weeks after we get home.
thankfully never had a lasting issue. We do sometimes get a small lump left after removal you described earlier, again no issues

 

[santaman2000]

@ Paul_B That’s a big tick by any standards. I’ve never seen one that big.

 

[Robson Valley]

As rude as it might sound, you had better buy a hand mirror.
You have got to inspect yourselves, all the dark, moist nether places.
Every day after you have been out.

Worst for me was a wild turkey hunt in the Kettle River valley.
Maybe 6-10 ticks every day. The district has hundreds and hundreds of deer.
I suppose that's why so many in the spring (end of April).
Shot a big tom. Suppers for 8 people.

 

[Paul_B]

Never had a tick bite. They simply don't bite me for some reason. People in our walking group would get 3 or 4 ticks on a walk but I'd never get one. Nearest was bringing a hungry and unfed one in my clothes but it never bit me even when walking down my arm.


One guy had 3 ticks in a very warm and moist place that he couldn't hope to get out by himself.
On fours with a headtorch being pointed where even the sun doesn't shine!!!!!!

Mind you, we were sitting on a lakes hillside watching a leech heading towards me. Together with midges I have enough blood suckers interested in me without ticks..