Hi

Does anybody know anything about ticks?  Our pup was playing with a long haired dog at a training class last night and after the other dog had left, there were ticks the size of a 5p piece where it had been sitting.  What should I do?  Should I treat my pup for ticks, he's 5 months old.  I've checked him over but can't find anything.  What colour are they?  Do they lay eggs?  If so, when will they hatch?  And can humans catch them?  Am completely in the dark about this and would appreciate some advice, thanks.

Hi Charly, it sounds to me as if the ticks you saw were very well fed, if they were that sort of size. So they probably wouldn't be a threat to your dog.They come onto a new host when they need a top up of blood. However it would do no harm to give your dog a treatment with Frontline or similar, just to be sure. Hungry ticks are smaller than a grape pip, and sort of greyish in colour. When they are full of blood they swell up and you can tell by the colour that they're full of blood.

Dawn R.

On the odd occasion my dog gets ticks, I get rid of them by either putting vaseline or surgical spirit on the tick, as the tick breathes threw its skin it suffocates drops off and dies, then it gets sucked up by my hoover. But if your worried use frontline.

Ticks are tiny arachnids - I would find it highly unlikely a dog would have a number of ticks drop off him the size of a 5p piece (way too big)  Even a fully fed tick, you are talking the size of a pea really.  If you have checked your pup over and seen nothing then fine, however if ticks are present you will have to take action as, yes, not only can they harm our pets but they do attach to and feed from humans and can carry disease.
Sarah

Thanks for all your replies.  4 days have gone by and no sign of any, so hopefully we got away with it!