I found the first ever tick on ellie today, horrible thing. It was quite large, red (which is unusual, i've only ever seen grey ones) with very noticeable black legs. She is frontlined, but that was just a month ago, so it has probably stopped working on ticks. I didn't have a tick remover, so i smothered it in vaseline hoping it would suffocate. Then mum decided to pull it off with tweezers and of course... the head is still attached and the body separated, exactly what i didn't want to happen. What do i do now? I sprayed it with antiseptic spray, but the legs/mouthpiece (whatever it is its creepy) are still visible. Should i get some antibiotics from work tommorrow? Is there anything else i can do now? Ticks aer one thing i really don't like. ugh!!

When this happened to us we just kept applying antiseptic cream liberaaly.

The head withered and fell out.

If the area swells at all check with your vet.

Please, please never squash a tick.  The nasty little bug that causes Lymes disease in humans and dogs is then released if it's the right sort of tick.    Gives flu-like symptoms and a bull's-eye rash in humans, and can kill dogs.

Not all ticks carry it, thank goodness, but it's getting more prevalent.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

sorry to hear that you found a tick on your dog yes they are nasty ugly looking things,this may seem to strange to you and you may not of ever heard of this tick my son had when it burrowed into the back of his head how i noticed it was when i was washing his hair he is a true blonde so this thing stood out i tried to pull it but it wouldnt come of it just moved further on in so i decided after 5 attempts to remove it to take him to hospital he was taken straight through to be seen when they saw it they knew straight away what it was it was from the tick family but not from here it was from south america and the name they gave it was a jigger it took half an hour to remove once removed it was sent of to the labs for testing my son was put on to antibiotics he is ok now but you never know what is lerking in the grass

I always thought alcohol was used to remove ticks?

alcohol/kerosene/vaseline with anaesthetise/suffocate a tick it will not remove them.

They will drop off if suffocated eventually, you can burn them off with a cigarette end, obviously do NOT pre douse with kerosene, or get a special tick remover.

Lyme disease can mimic other problems and is difficult to diagnose; I know of one dog that died from it and one human who was very ill with it for some time.

Hi yes i agree lymes disease is no joke.... my OH had it twice (works in forestry) the first time the dr misdiagnosed and he was very ill for a fortnight, the second time it happened i knew what it was so managed to get the right antibiotics.... and was ok within the week :-)
Thankfully non of my previous dogs had any problems with ticks, i just hope our Kai will be the same. i shall certainly be checking him everytime we have been out :-)