Yes I know there was some debate about this subject only the other week however new job and everything means I just about get time to log on.

Sunday night after feeding my three I was playing with Fry the Lab when she gave a small yelp as I touched her ear. I checked her over and found in the the inside of her ear the Biggest Tic (beleive me this Bu**ar) could of been on steriods) in the inside of her ear. Fortnately she was booked in the vets on Monday am for boosters so rather than mess with it I left it. Vet was fascinated at not only the size of it but also that it was one of the first he had come accross still live. Obviously they removed it straight away even though they say it will eventually drop off concern was it wall fall into the ear canal. Fry had showed no signs of anything untoward and if it hadn't been for the fact she whimpered when I scratched her ear we would of been none the wiser. Since then however certain people have told me I wasted my money getting the vet to remove it. As they don't know my vet I thought this rather comical as we weren't even charged an examination fee, yet I have been told just a pair of tweezers and a swab of disinfectant should do it.

My query is,
a. I don't feel comfortable removing them myself as I know you can leave the head in so I would rather take a trip to the vets (only 1/2 mile away) and get them to do it for me, however could there be a danger in leaving it. Normal appointments can be booked the same day.

b. Apart from the normal walks she has been down to the horses yard with me and walked in the fields (horses graze their only) and at the local X country grounds (sheep and cattle graze there out of season) both her and the afghan have both now been treated with fronline (another reason for the appointment along with worming tabs as Afghan always needs to be weighed) however they could not give me anything for the westie as they said the drugs would be too powerful, so what can I use on him.

c. Anymore info on these little blighters would be appreciated and is it really better if I learn to remove them myself rather than wait for later in the day or overnight in this case for the vet to do it.
Fry is the other halfs pretend gun dog :) and he is the most squirmish person I know (walks off in disgust when the horse poos) so we also had the added dilemma of not only his baby being "eaten alive" we also had to face the torture of the vet bringing out said cannibal on a peice of Kitchen roll to show him how it was still crawling around :)

Yes Lisa the sooner you get them off the better.Learn to do it yourself. The diseases tics pass on can sometimes take up to 48hrs after them biting the animal so thats why you need to spot them & get them off asap.

In my area, near the New Forest, dogs frequently pick up ticks.
Tea Tree oil is a good repellent. I suggest you buy a tick hook.
Available from your vet. A couple of twists and they come of whole.

Pam

Hudson had a tick last week ...we have been using Advantage for fleas as the Vet wouldnt let us have Frontline when we asked (he said H was too young at the time ..he was 12 weeks). We got some Frontline spot on and applied it ...after 2 days the tic came out with the aid of a quick flick of the comb ...they are disgusting things! We have a lot of hedgehogs near us so I assume that is why there are tics ...? Anyway ..ALL the tic came out and we bathed the bit where it had been on H's ear ..all seems well and at least I now know he has the frontline on him

*shudder*

That is really strange about your vet saying H was toom young. My frontline Spray says it is suitable for pups from 8 weeks old!

My vet is strange ....period

:(

Or maybe he knows something we don't :-(

My Vet gave me Frontline Spray for storm when he was 12 weeks, It says you can spray puppies every 4 weeks because they grow so quicky.
My vet never said anything about being too young. :)
Jane :)

But then you *know* the problems I had with my vet Jane

:)

Ticks breathe through their bodies, so you can get them to let go and fall off by putting a good lump of vaseline over their bodies. I have heard of other things used in similar ways but this worked well. I agree with the person who said they should be removed asap. I had a dog which got a tick bite, I didn't notice the tick until it was too late. She got a massive infection on her neck and had to have an operation at the Vet College to clear it all out. It left her with a huge scar which ran from under her chin to the lower part of her chest front.

I have had alot of dealing with tics, in South Africa (where I used to live) there are hundereds of them and I had to check the dogs every day. There are 3 types, grey - red and red/yellow.

The grey ones are not dangerous but still need to be removed asap - use either a tic hook or (this is disgusting) your nails (if they are quite long), get the hook / nail under the head of the tick and twist then pull it off (their heads have anchor type hooks which latch in). When you have removed the tic, either burn it or pour alcohol on it to kill it.

The red and red/yellow ones are deadly - I don't know if you get them here - they are very small, they don't blow up like the grey ones but they cause tic bite fever which can kill a person let alone a dog. These are extremely difficult to remove so should be done by a vet.

Tea tree is very effective for a repellent, not the pure oil. I used to bath my dogs in tea tree shampoo and use frontline which is very good.

I read in a paper that some dogs are coming back from Europe with tick borne diseases. Would you tell us what symptoms we might look for, as this may become a problem here. I did wonder how the pets passport might affect dogs, and if we are going to bring in tick borne diseases which our dogs are not sufficiently protected against it might be handy for us to now what to look for. I have often found that vets in practice are not always the first to know about updates in the eye testing scheme for example, and so can be taken by surprise if a dog is sick with a tick borne disease.

Hi Polly, firstly the dogs over here(or anywhere) are not protected against it & nor are the humans, you can only protect against the tick. I have first hand experience of Babesia which is transmitted to dogs by ONE specific tick. The symptoms to look out for are lethagy, loss of apetite & high temp. The urine progresses from normal to tinged with orange to very orange & finally muddy browny orange. That happened over two days. It is NOT contagious either to humans or animals, it is ONLY transmited by one specific tick.It is confirmed by a blood test, but you are right the vet needs to have some knowledge of these diseases & you are wise to at least have some of idea of the symptoms. I know about Leishmania but that is caused by the sand fly.Oh & the incubation for Babesia is 7/14 days if I remember correctly.
Christine

Tic bite fever is transmitted by the bite of a red tick - symptoms are lethagy and high temperature. The dog has to have been bitten by the tic and this is, as you state, not contagious. Humans can also get tic bite fever. If detected early - the vet administers an injection of antibiotics. As tics are such a problem over there - the vets offer a 3 monthly antibiotic injection to prevent tic bite fever. red tics are sometimes very difficult to detect, especially if they go into the ears.
Donna