Tick removal

[urge to herd]

I read a tip, maybe on Facebook, that suggests putting some dish soap on a cotton ball and rubbing the dish soap on the tick for a couple minutes. The supposed result is that the tick dies and is able to be removed gently from the dog.

 

I was going to try this, but then read something that said never to smother a tick to remove it. Drowning it in dish soap is a type of smothering, don't you think?

 

So what say my knowledgeable BC Boards friends? I'm currently using one of those tiny spoons w/a wedge cut out of it. Works okay, and doesn't bother Gibbs nearly as much. I think that's because no matter how hard I try when removing one w/my fingers, I always manage to pull a few hairs.

 

Ruth and Gibbs

[gcv-border]

Following.

 

I get so grossed out by a tick on my dog that I IMMEDIATELY want to remove it so grab it with my fingers and yank. I know that is probably not the best and need to learn patience and a better method.

[waffles]

I follow what the CDC says to do:

 

http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html

 

I am not one who thinks sound information comes from FB. People just post and re-share whatever without fact checking.

[Beach BCs]

I've read that smothering ticks causes them to regurgitate. Ick. I use a tick key or a pair of tweezers if they're really tiny. It's quick and easy.

[urge to herd]

Thanks for the answers - especially the CDC link. I'm not one to blindly follow tips of any kind, and I thought maybe this parTICKular one needed some follow-up.

 

I'll be buying some tweezers tomorrow. The thingy I described earlier does a good job, but it doesn't work in folded skin areas, like the edges of the ears.

 

Ruth and Gibbs

[Sekah]

I have a tick key that I've had the 'pleasure' of using a few times on my dog and it worked well (squeezes the head as recommended). I consider myself very fortunate that they're not common where I live. Eww.

[LauraV]

There are some really cool and efficient tick remover tools on the market.

[Riika]

I just grab them with my fingers and pull.

 

Our dogs get so many ticks that it would take a long time to start swabbing them with dish soap. I pull probably at least ten a day, off each dog, depending on the terrain they've been in that day.

 

Once in a while a head gets left in, but it just gets a scab over it, and when the scab's ready to come off, the head has been pushed out of the body, and comes off with the scab.

[kingfisher7151]

Ticks just make me want to hurl. Thank god I live in CO, where they're quite uncommon.

 

I've heard that physical removal is better than smothering, as people have said.

[urge to herd]

We're having an extended rainy season here in Coastal Northern CA, and of course the little pestiferous arachnids love it. I was driving along the Russian River, today, which has some pretty wide flood plains. Looking at all that greenery, all I could think was, "I bet there are about a billion ticks out there right now, looking for a meal". Left myself w/the shivers.

 

Ruth and Gibbs

[gcv-border]

Ticks are just a fact of life here too - very high concentration. They are dangerous because of the possibility of TBD transmission (although I have heard that only about 10-15 % of ticks actually carry lyme or ehrlichiosis.). Beyond that, their bite, if they attach, isn't too bad - i.e. not too itchy.

 

The little buggers I really HATE are chiggers. I have not heard that they can carry any disease, but their bite is horrendous. They can be so small as to be mistaken for dust particles that do not come off in the shower - ask me how I know. The bite site gets very inflamed and itchy. It seems that when one walks through an area with chiggers, multiple chiggers will attach so one has to deal with multiple bites (20, 30 or 50) in one area. One particularly painful incident for me was a patch of chigger bites (I lost track after counting over 40) on my ankle that was inflamed and beyond itchy. It even hurts to have your clothes touch the spot.

[urge to herd]

When I was about 9 I played for an afternoon in a field w/weeds taller than my head - this was in Central TX, summertime. The next day I woke up head to toe covered w/chigger bites. I totally agree - a couple ticks here and there are way better than chiggers.

 

Ruth and Gibbs

[D'Elle]

In my experience, dish soap doesn't work, nor does anything else except pulling them out. If you have the time and patience for it, the tick pullers work fine, except when they don't. That is, sometimes the head breaks off and is left inside anyway. I have had ticks by the hundreds on me and on my dogs in the past, and when you have that many you just pull them out as fast as you can and forget about the heads.

Fortunately, I no longer have a tick problem.

 

My greatest piece of advice, however, is do not allow a tick ever to get into your home if you can possibly help it. They will go into cracks in your house and deep into furniture and rugs or carpets and multiply until you have a major infestation that nothing short of heavy applications of toxic chemicals will stop. Get all the ticks off the dogs and yourself outside the house.

And, by the way, when I am appointed Queen Of The Universe, the very first thing that I am going to do is abolish ticks.

[Gideon's girl]

We're having an extended rainy season here in Coastal Northern CA, and of course the little pestiferous arachnids love it. I was driving along the Russian River, today, which has some pretty wide flood plains. Looking at all that greenery, all I could think was, "I bet there are about a billion ticks out there right now, looking for a meal". Left myself w/the shivers.

 

Ruth and Gibbs

*Shudder* I'm glad my memories of the Russian River are so much better than that. We used to Kayak down the Russian when I was a kid.

 

I know it's not the current CDC recommendation, but I grasp them gently and twist them counter clockwise until they twist out. They turn clockwise as they bury their head, so IME they come out easier this way, and I've never had a head left behind.

[GentleLake]

I just grab them with my fingers and pull.

 

The danger of this method is that the tiniest fingers are too large to get down in between the tick's head and the dog's (or human's) skin and you can force the infected blood right into the skin when you grab the tick.

 

I have one of the little plastic spoons with a notch in it and it has worked fine, but my favorite is the Tick Key. One real advantage is being able to carry it on your key ring, which means it's usually readily available.

[urge to herd]

D'Elle, when you and I share the "Queen of the Universe" role, (or Empress, I kinda like that one a lot) tick abolishment shall be the Law of Reality. My law is that every single document ever produced, no exceptions at all, will have a date clearly displayed in the upper right hand corner. Ignore or try to circumvent this law at your peril.

 

I spend a fair amount of time looking at/sorting/filing paperwork, as you possibly do in your business. Finding the date is frequently a challenge.

 

Gideon's Girl, I have marvelous memories of the River, and will probably have more. Just, not right now.

 

Ruth and Gibbs