Hi everyone,

My cocker has picked up a tick on the inside of her ear, for the first time ever. Other than feeling revolted, I'm completely confused as to how to remove it. Googling hasn't helped, as there are so many different opinions as to the best method of removing it. Ideas please?

Don't put anything on it whatever u read   .but either get a piece of stiff card or old credit card cut small.v and slip that round the tick and holding ear gentle taught quickly pull. Up and out.some  people use tweezers but care not to squeeze just get under it and pull quickly. After that buy yourself a tick tool or pop to vet to show u how to remove and buy the tool as well. Tick tools or tick keys can be bought in amazon or ebay as well as vets for about £3. I use my finger nails and havnt lost one yet but unless u are Confident I wouldn't suggest that.you want to get the whole thing out including legs .after removal pop a little bit of alcohol on the site and don't worry if a small lump appears it will go down in a few days

Thank you! I don't want to touch it at all - it's revolting! Think this might be a job for the Mr...

I do it slightly differently. I use a damp cotton bud which I use to turn the tick around and around (I go anti clockwise) till it drops off. Then I take great pleasure in squishing the nasty little critter.

PS I would place a piece of cotton wool into the ear incase the tick falls inside!

Nursey, thank you! My dog is now freaking out and not letting us anywhere near her ear. Must admit, I'm not keen to go anywhere near it myself! Spiders and other bugs, I'm fine with this. But this thing is disgusting!

When you do get it off, really kill it!! (Take out all your grossness on it!) don't bin or flush it, burn it or chop it up!

Do you have any frontline. Spray or spot on. If you have you could put some on the tick. It will be there for a day or two perhaps but at least it will be dead straight away. If you dont deal with it, it will get much much bigger as it fills up with your dogs blood before it drops off. So be strong and deal now and be firm with the dog, it's got  to be sorted out. :)

Hahahaha!

I will. I will kill it till it be DEAD.

But how do I kill it if not by burning, flushing, or chopping? Husband says it's going through next doors' letter box.*

*Just kidding. 
** Well...maybe. I really can't stand my neighbours.

We have frontline! Deploying now.....

Good job! 

Hahaha I know that feeling, my neighbor has 8 cats! :O

You'll have to take a long drive and dump it somewhere. They are like cockroaches and survive most death penalties XD

It's had its big fat bloated butt doused in frontline. If it's not dead now, it will be soon...

R.I.P tick

I have always used tweezers - and run the hot water in a sink until it's REALLY HOT and remove the thing down there.

Destroying them is easy
Squish underfoot  until obliterated if u are concerned wash down the area u squished it on. So far this year I think we have had 3 of the blighters but there is plenty of time yet for more.

Ticks are really bad this year due to the mild winters we've been having. It might be worth paying your vet a visit to get a method of tick prevention that really works, there are several depending what you prefer. The over the counter frontline drops are not as effective as they used to be, so vet medication may well be the best way to go. I use a Seresto collar on my dog which lasts up to 8 months, a bit expensive but effective. I occasionally find a tiny crawler wandering around her (she's a light coloured dog so easy to spot). To kill them I drop it into the sink and squish it with a back of a spoon, it's amazing how difficult it is to kill them even at that pinhead size, a lot of force is needed.
I once found a huge bloated tick on a dog when we having a BBQ and after getting the tick off the dog I chucked it into the BBQ. About a minute later there was a sudden bang as it exploded! Made us all jump but a satisfying end to a nasty insect.

just dont forget to weigh up the  risks associated with the chemicals that you will be putting in and on your dog against the risks of tick borne disease which in the uk is mainly lymes. For me I will stick with removing the odd tick

I use Nurseys method of cotton bud (soak in soapy water) and turning around..unscrews the head and mouth parts. If you pull it straight out you risk leaving them inside.

Thanks all. I'm taking her to the vets to be shown how to remove it properly. Then I can do it with confidence if she gets another. I don't want to try it myself ,and then stuff it up, leaving its head stil in her. I don't know how long frontline takes to kill them, but I've seen a flea on her too, so I'm glad I did her. She's nearly five and she's never had a tick before, but we're just back off holiday and they're obviously more prevalent there than here.

Loving all the suggestions for how to kill these things...though still think it might like a new home next door.*

*Joke.

I keep an old jam-jar on the side, and when I find a tick, I boil the kettle, take the tick off (I use a tick hook) and drop it into the jam-jar, and pour boiling water on it.  Guaranteed instant death, and no acquired immunity.  Also nicer than squashing them if they are already a bit bloated.   If I see them before they've attached when we're out and about, I squash them between my thumb nails - takes more pressure than you'd think. 

My two (same breed as yours) had a Bravecto tablet for the first time this year, and I've only found one tick on one of them, and that had died - it looked like almost immediately after biting - and fallen out into his fur before any real damage was done.

I posted on another tick thread in May that I was using herbs in the food and a herbal spray. At that point this was working, 3 months on and to date I haven't had even one tick latch on! I was very sceptical I must admit but this is the first year in many, that I haven't used my tick remover! Bad tick year and Exmoor, amazing! I am so pleased as after adverse reactions to chemicals this seems to be the way forward.

> I use a Seresto collar on my dog which lasts up to 8 months,

Me too.   But I'm not sure the Beaphar flea/tick collars aren't just as effective - don't last as long but perhaps not NEEDED to be worn for as long?    And I would say after a couple of months, my Basset was quite red under his chin, so I had to take the Seresto collar off!!  Kind-of defeated the object eh.

Woah re an exploding tick!!!

I have taken the bull by the horns - or the tick by its disgusting bloaty ass - and have pulled it out! It was already dead from the Frontline, but still revolting. I had an appointment in about an hour to go to the vets, but I'm pushed for time so I just thought, go for it. It looks intact, and I couldn't even find the place where it had been afterwards. I'm going to give her a good bath, and then comb her ears through.

Thanks for all the advice. Mr Tick is now sat on a piece of kitchen roll in the living room, waiting for the rest of the family to come home to have a look at.

Best dogs, can I please ask which herbs you use?

Holistic Hounds Southampton they have website and are on Facebook.HTH

> waiting for the rest of the family to come home to have a look at.

ROFLMAO!

Use a tick remover, turn anti clockwise and then squash the little shit, works every time.

Agreed Lynne.  I spent money on useless crap until I found my green plastic thingy.  Most successful tool ever!  And yes, one of the most important things I would tell a novice - for chrissake please don't pull it straight out.  And I put them in the sink, boil the kettle and say goodbye.

I use a tick remover attached to my keys, I never leave home without it! (Only used it on my dogs about 3 times, but I have a lot of requests to use it on other people's dogs.

The green tick removers are brilliant, do the job and are very cheap. I find my dogs thick coat does deter them, usually find them on her head or looking for the way off as the Seresto collar repels as well as kills any that latch on. The places I have found them attached this year (only two) have been down the shafts of her whiskers which seems to be the only place they can get onto her skin.
My last retriever had a hairless strip from a crusciate opereation and that was where the ticks attached onto her. Found three once all in a row along the scar.

If anyone's interested, ticks can be sent away for identification/recording by Public Health England https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tick-surveillance-scheme.  Probably most do-able if you capture several of the critters alive.

Follow the link to find more information about ticks than you thought possible!

Tick surveillance scheme! This has conjured up a series of amusing images! Hahaha. I dare not follow the link...already probably going to have nightmares about that hideous creature. <shudders>

picked up a tick on the inside of her ear, for the first time ever

I use a tick twister if my dog gets one, but, I dont know about inside the ear, maybe I would go to the vet if I found one there, I certainly don't feel comfortable about removing one from inside the ear......the vid below is what I use & it is a good clear vid of tick removal, but, not inside the ear though........

Using a tick twister
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IIpE4gqGCI
.

Hethspaw,

Thanks for your input. It was on the underside of her ear (she's a cocker) rather than in the ear canal.

I use a tick remover but when my GR had one on his top eyelid I whimped out and took him to my vet to have it removed. It was right on the part where the eyelashes grow and I couldn't find a way to hold him still, hold his eyelid still and get the tick remover onto the tick. I did try but his eyelid kept moving outwards when I started to pull the tick remover (the looped metal type) and I was worried about causing him damage.

I drop them into a jar of water when I take them off - horrible critters they are.

Ticks are very common where we are in Oz. we use tweezers and flush them down the sink!