# Ticks



## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

So what is the consensus on here for the best way to remove a tick from a dog?

I ask as I have just made a small mess of taking one out of becka. 

The second part to my question is 

What is the best way forward for having made a mess out of taking a tick out of the dog?

I think there may be part of the head left inside of her. I am just wondering if this is a vet job or weather there is something that I can do?

Thanks


----------



## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Honestly we just pull them out with tweezers. Then flush it down the toilet LOL

A lot of people are overly concerned about leaving the head behind but in reality the head will work itself out if it's left behind after removing a tick. 

How did you try and remove the tick?


----------



## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

We have sooooo many ticks here and I actually just grab them with my fingers and yank them out and flush them away. They have little tick remover tools (I saw one at the pet store the other day for $.89) that you slip under the tick and pry it out with. That might work better if you want to try it.

I will say that since we treated the yard and the dogs on the same day, I have not seen a tick in two weeks!! I was seeing about ten a week until that point. We just used a spray that you attach to the hose from Home Depot for the yard and Advantix on the dogs. 

And I agree with Nat, I have several bumps on me right now where I yanked the tick out and left the head behind. It goes away after awhile. I've had ticks on me and the dogs for the 25 years I've lived here and we haven't gotten sick yet. Now these are the bigger brown dog ticks, not the tiny deer ticks. Those kind you might have to worry about more, but we don't generally get those here.


----------



## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

The tick I found on my girl was either not fully embedded, too young to embed or I got damn lucky. I saw that tick and was angry at it for touching my dog! I went at it with my fingernail, scraping at it until it came out. I then took it to the kitchen sink and drowned it. (Seriously, I ran the water for 15 minutes to make sure it was good and drowned or at least washed down never to return.)

Anyway, about the head, this is what I found on netwellness:

"_The tick head has reverse harpoon-like barbs that attach the tick firmly and the mouth has secreted a cement-like substance to hold the mouth parts in place. This accounts for why it is so difficult to remove completely. The head parts really will not get into your body, thankfully._"


I have heard that some tweezers and alcohol do the trick....tweezers to pull it out...not sure what the alcohol is for, disinfecting I think, but I did read that on some site I was looking at when reading up on ticks. Unless they meant alcohol to drink in which case I completely agree. But yah, just keep disinfecting and cleaning the area and it'll soon be all better.


----------



## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! So glad I don't have ticks where I live, hate little bugs!


----------



## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I can't believe I forgot this but, when I use to train horses we had a student who was going to WWU and she wanted to bring her green horse over from Eastern WA, he arrived skinny with a long coat, turns out he was covered in ticks. I removed those fat blood full ticks by lighting a match then blowing it out and putting the head of the match to the body of the tick and it would back itself out.

Also when my dad would go dove hunting in Eastern Wa, they sometimes would come home with ticks and this is how they also got them out.


----------



## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

we have so many, fortunately Tobi and ticks aren't matching in color so they are fairly easy to spot, we use a set of tweezers and pull them out, I cut them in half with a knife and toss em in the trash. Almost forgot to add, don't "jerk" them out, just grasp them with the tweezers and pull a little bit so that the skin of the dog is pulled out a bit, keep that tension for a little while and then increase very gradually they will eventually just let go.


----------



## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

What did I try, more like what did I not try 

Went for soap, went for alcohol, went for hot needle

ended up pulling out at the little git with tweezers by grabbing as close to the dogs body as possible then gentle positive pressure until it came loose.

I was thinking that they really can't be as bad as some try to make out, I have put some alcohol on the open wound to stop infection setting in, and I will keep an eye on it to see if a cyst develops.

Becka was a little star through all of my fumbling about with her though so she has been in for lots of treats )


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

when we lived in philly and georgia, i used hemostats and alcohol....

then i burned the tick and danced on its grave...G'd i hate them.


----------



## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

What I do is I grab the head of the tick as far in as I can with my nails and pry it out, with a little constant pressure, not yanking the tick cause, it tends to break that way lol.
It usually comes out whole, but sometimes the head is so stuck you'd have to add something else to soften it out.


----------



## FL Cracker (May 4, 2011)

SerenityFL said:


> I have heard that some tweezers and alcohol do the trick....tweezers to pull it out...not sure what the alcohol is for, disinfecting I think, but I did read that on some site I was looking at when reading up on ticks. Unless they meant alcohol to drink in which case I completely agree. But yah, just keep disinfecting and cleaning the area and it'll soon be all better.


SerenitynotinFLanymore has "hit the nail on the head".
FYI...the alcohol is for stopping the ticks ability to breath...as they breathe out their butt's. 
The alcohol stops this enough for the tick to start backing out/releasing it's bite...so when you get your tweezers out and pull the tick out...no part is left in your animal...person...to get an infection.
I'm sure the alcohol also helps clean the site after to some extent. I used to pull ticks out of my Beagles all the time when I was with the Monroe/Toledo Beagle club years ago...and using the aforementioned technique...never had a problem.


----------



## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

FL Cracker said:


> SerenitynotinFLanymore has "hit the nail on the head".
> FYI...the alcohol is for stopping the ticks ability to breath...as they breathe out their butt's.
> The alcohol stops this enough for the tick to start backing out/releasing it's bite...so when you get your tweezers out and pull the tick out...no part is left in your animal...person...to get an infection.
> I'm sure the alcohol also helps clean the site after to some extent. I used to pull ticks out of my Beagles all the time when I was with the Monroe/Toledo Beagle club years ago...and using the aforementioned technique...never had a problem.


I think Serenity is right, the alcohol is to drink once you've found two or three ticks on yourself......:becky: Enough Bailey's and you don't care if you have ticks anymore!


----------

