Has anyone used the 'Tick removal' tools I've seen advertised lately. They look a bit like a comb. I've used surgical spirit up to now, but someone out there may have better suggestions?

I saw it used on Animal Hospital recently - a little fork like device. You pull it over the tick, a bit like a hammer claw over a nail, and then twist it around and around until it dislodges the tick and pulls it all out - head n all. Very effective.

hth

Pam n the boys

I live near the New Forest & in the summertime their are plenty of ticks
to be picked up by my hounds. I use the green plastic tick hook.
It's very good - total removal of whole tick. Place hook under the tick
and twist around three or four times so the tick lets go.

Also Nuvan Top spray has been taken of the market.

My Kiera has had frontline ok but reacted badly to the chemicals in
the 'spot on' Stronghold. Kiera skin was red and scabby around her
shoulders/wither area.

Pam
Hampshire

To be honest Dave, I'm always a little bit nervous of using anything that means you have to physically remove a tick by hand. I have found that if I 'frontline' my dogs during the season it does help greatly, but on the odd occassion that they do pick one up ... I Nuvan-Top it. It then dies and drops off. Works well for me and you don't have to worry about leaving bits behind :-)

same treatments used here too :)
Sara

I must say I agree with Leigh. I use Frontline and if anything appears then surgical spirit. The risk of heads left in worries me too much to risk "Removal Tools". I know they say "Foolproof" But maybe I'm more of a fool than average!

John

Leigh, that's what I was thinking. It's all well and good saying a tool removes everything, but you're never too sure, are you. I'll have a look down Petsmart, or whatever it's called these days, but may use Nuvan instead. You know it works great with flys in the house, don't you?

I know that it kills Gold Fish :rolleyes:

The Flower never swims in my fish pond so thats not a problem to me! Now if only I could think of some cure for next door's cat fishing my fish would be safe!

John

I've never found that frontline works, whether it's because the dogs love water and wash it off. I smother the ticks with vaseline, that kills them and they drop off. Ingrid

My vet said that the tick part of frontline only works for a month while the flea bit lasts three, but said in addition to regular treatment, to spray it directly on the tick and the tick will let go. So that's what I've done this past year.

Wendy

If Nuvan-Top has been withdrawn and replaced with Program, which will be totally useless for what we need, then I suppose I will have to see if a quick spray with Frontline does the job. :-)

Dave, the people who made Nuvan also make Fly Sprays ;-)

After we learned that the tick protection in Frontline only worked for one month we went back to using programme for fleas as the spot-ons tend to mess wtih my allergies. The vets said there is no contra-indication in using the frontline with the programme, so we have a small bottle of Frontline for the times they get ticks.

Wendy

To be honeat with you Wendy, I am lucky that we don't have a tick problem in my area. Any ticks my dogs collect are acquired when working them in other area's, so really I am happy with the protection that Frontline gives, only needing to find the occasional backup for times when they do bring them home. :-)

I use front line once a month. TH doesn't seem to be attractive to ticks, but they just love the grumpy collie. I numb them with surgical spirit (I never found vaseline works) and then twist them off with a tick remover. Only had a problem once and that was with one that burst.

Kate - yuck! more information than I needed - lol

Pam n the boys

Thanks for that Kate. Reading this has helped me stick to my diet - somehow my lunch doesn't appeal anymore :D

Fiona