I have discovered a tick near Molly's eye.  I've swabbed it with Frontline and instructed my OH to buy a pair of tweezers so we can try to remove it later.  I've never done this before, though, and am worried that I might make it worse.   Normally I would take her to the vet's but she is so traumatised whenever we take her due to a bad experience she had last year.  She is normally embarassingly friendly, but last time we went to the vet's she got so upset that she bared her teeth at him and growled when he tried to come near her with a stethoscope.  So I would rather remove the tick myself if possible.  Does anyone have a tried and tested method?  Is it possible that an amateur like myself could make things worse?

Ps.  I think it's a tick - it's brown, round and flat (can't see any legs) and about the size of a very small pea.  And I couldn't remove it with my fingers.
pps.  If anyone has any tips for vet-hating dogs, that would also be much appreciated.  I think we are going to have to muzzle her next time.  It is really horrible to see such a happy, friendly dog turn into such a nervous, agressive wreck.

Thank you!

Nothing much to suggest about the vet problem other than take her there and back again without having anything done so she gets used to it.

The tick bit is easier.  Buy a tick remover from the pet shop.  They consist of a wire loop you place over the tick and slide it off.  It works very effectively.  Until you can get one, cover the tick in vaseline as this stops it breathing I believe!

Whatever you do, don't pull it off.  You need to remove the jaws that are firmly attached to the skin, rather than snap the body away from the head, leaving it attached to the skin.

Best Wishes
Jacky

Go to your vet and buy one of those special tick removers, you two different sizes for baby ones and big fat, blood filled ones :D

Its like a little hook, place the tick in between the two 'arms' and twist, tick and mouth part come off then I take them outside and squish them in a piece of kitchen paper!

Yukky, horrid little beasts.......but the tick remover is an excellent thing to have in the dog drawer(our dogs have their own cupboard and 2 drawers in the kitchen!!)

They cost about £5, probably can get them from PAH too.

Happy tick removing :D

Emily

I got one of those at 3 counties, what a brilliant device :)

Hi
Latest thinking is NOT to smother the tick with alcohol or vaseline or any other substance.  Yes, this will suffocate them and encourage them to drop off, BUT it will also encourage them (prior to death) to vomit and regurgitate their contents directly into the hosts body.  In other words, if they are carrying the Lyme bacteria, this is a sure way to get it injected into the host.   Vet and/or tick remover tool if you are adept at using it is the preferred method.

Good luck.

how do you kill it once its out ? is it not more difficult to get out alive?

sounds minging to me, I hate the horrid things waving their little legs about :(

On this subject, does anyone know how to get them out without leaving a mark in the dogs fur ?  Alfies breeder didnt look too impressed at the state of his head from where I had pulled the ticks out, apparantly she can do it without leaving a mark (so ive been told ;) )

Somehow that doesn't surprise me Gunner, dirty little devils :(
ClaireyS I boil a kettle while I am removing it (I use the surprise anticlockwise twist method :) lay it down on the path outside and pour boiling water on it.  I'm always frightening if I just crush it with my foot that the head fit is armoured enough to survive and maybe regrow a body but maybe I just have a vivid imagination :)  Also I can see them emerging from the sewage farm if you flush them away :o

Lol - maybe a little bit of a vivid imagination but those little critters do appear indestructable :(

I find that the 'long fingernails and take em by surprise' method works best.

I just couldn't get on with a tick remover.  The one I had was a metal scoop shape, with a graduated split in it.  I found the ticks went straight through the gap.

If you keep touching them they lock on even harder.  I always dab the spot with some antiseptic.

Usually I can spot them crawling on Molly before they latch on which makes life easier.

the plastic hook removers are excellent, they are the best ive ever tried :)

Thanks everyone - I bought that green plastic tick remover from the vets (you slide the tick into the grove between a fork-like thing and twist).  The little blighter came out really easily, with legs and head attached. 
I'm amazed at how much less squeamish I've become since owning a dog.  Something like that would have sent me running for the hills a couple of years ago! 
Re. disposal - decided the best bet was flushing down the toilet. 
Thanks for all your tips.

Is anyone else's skin crawling whilst reading this thread??

Definately get the green "tick o tom" removers. They are removed alive with just a hook and a twist and the whole thing comes out and just needs to be disposed of. No need for smothering it in anything.  Its what the vets themselves would use. Funny thing though, you can usually see the legs moving whislt it is attached, so i would just check its not a skin tag.

After such good reccommendations, I have just ordered the O'tom tick hook thingy!.

I hope I won't have to use it too often,  I have just managed to pick two ticks off molly that were crawling on her back.  Lucky she 's such a pale colour!

My girlie had a tick near her lower eye lid last night.  I wont risk pulling it out because of where it is so I dabbed it with frontline and left it.  This afternoon it was very dead but still attached so I carefully removed it with the tweezers getting it all out.
:)

Easiest way to get a tick out is to hold it's body and gently twist it anti-clockwise. This "unscrews" it from the dog's skin and gets it out whole so there's no danger of leaving the head in where it might cause infection.