My puppy, fifteen weeks, has got a tick about two centimetres above her eye.  It's only small at the moment.  I've tried my very best to hold her still long enough to remove it - but she wriggles and squirms and even with two of us we just can't hold her still to do it.  I've removed countless ticks from all sorts of animals so it's not removal technique I'm having a problem with - just keeping her still.  I've tried putting vaseline on it but she's an active pup and it never stays on long enough to affect the tick.  Any tips? 

If the worst comes to the worst and I can't remove it is it really so bad to let time do its job and let it fall off naturally? 

we use cotton wool soaked in frontline- but be very careful near the eye! just dab it on the tick to wet the tick all over- it should kill it within 24hrs.

i once had a tick on my shoulder- tiny one! but vaseline didnt help...

I had a tick once on the underside of my arm - ugh.  I just pulled it out with tweezers, horrid things.  I'll try the frontline if no-one else can come up with anything more natural.  I try not use use chemicals where possible - but will try it if all else fails - thanks for the tip

Oooh! I don't think I would like to use such a strong chemical anywhere near the eye of a wriggly pup.  I once got mosquito repellent in my eye and had to have it irrigated out in Nairobi! and it still burned the cornea which took about 2 weeks to heal and threatened to leave a permanent scar although luckily it didn't.  If you really can't hold her steady enough to remove it I think I would take her to the vets who have some strong arm tactics up their sleeves for holding little animals still otherwise I think the just leave it to get on with option will have to be it.

My younger dog had a tick in a similar place last year. I treated her (not the tick) with Frontline and applied vaseline regularly. It didn't grow any bigger and did eventually fall off, but it took quite a while - there were no problems :)

Daisy

how long is quite a while Daisy?  Am I going to watch it bulge for weeks?

Tick hooks are great IMO

Yes, they are, but squirmy little pups dpn't hold still long enough for me to position it - unsuprisingly everytime I loom towards her eye she wriggles

Have you tried hooking the little blighter out when pup is fast asleep ?

Donna

Won't that give her nightmares?

Sadly she wakes up no matter how quietly I sneak in

What i do is get them on my lap and get them to sleep then with tick picker,
(cleverly concealed beforehand ) and gently take up my position and whip it out,
when dog wakes with a start just rub them in the spot and say its all right boy/girl,
they usualy go back to sleep :-) But if you think it would give your pup nightmares,
dont do it. you know your own dog alternatively carry on dabbing vasoline on it'
as much as possible.

Donna

Iwould think that applying frontline to the back of the neck as normal is likely to kill it within 24-48 hours. You can leave it in, but be aware that the longer it stays in feeding the more likely it is to transmit lymes disease. It will just keep gorging on blood for a few days until its had enough and just drops off! ugh. Personally i would either use frontline or take pup to the vets to do it. I would be wary of using anything other than a tick hook as it the mouthparts are left in so close to the eye it could be very difficult to remove them.

Don't quote me on this, but as far as I can remember when I was a kid my neighbour used to put nail varnish over the tick.  This stops the tick being able to breathe, and they very quickly die and fall off.  Like I say, this was a LONG time ago, so may be my memory doesn't serve me right :-)

That works on the same principle as the vaseline trick.  I hook them out with a tick remover but my Mum always snips the body (not off but just a snip) with a pair of scissors and it dies and drops off.

Debs

These are all good ideas - but not sure about moving towards a wriggling puppy'e eye with a pair of scissors or a wand of nail varnish.  I will keep trying to wrestle her still and let you know if I succeed or how long natura takes to run its course!

If extreme measures are necessary, and sometimes they are ;), wrap the puppy tightly in a large towel and hold her firmly (not enough to stop her breathing!:rolleyes:) like bagpipes, under your arm.

:D
Once you've got the tick out, try giving little squeezes and see if you can get a more musical groan out of it than a bagpipes................................NO! NO! That's cruel :D

that is cruel! But funny :D :D

Bagpipes make a drone, not a groan, don't they?  :D

Giving it a different name doesn't make it any prettier :D

I was listening to some pretty pipes last night!! :D

Well, the tick is gone - thanks to everyone for their suggestions.  I put frontline on the back of her neck last night and today the tick is gone.  I just hope it died and dropped off, rather than decided to sit somewhere waiting for me to walk past:rolleyes:

thats why i warned to be careful- but when we do it- we do it so there isnt any drips-excess, but hey its gone now- yeah!

eh?  how do you mean 'any drips excess'?  I was worried that the tick had dropped off not the frontline.  I'm confused now!

no- dont worry i was replying to someone else- isabel, as she said- she would not use chemicals anywhere near the eye- sorry for confusing ya!

Surgical spirit. the tick will then go hard ,twist and pull out always works for me.

Sheila.