Ticks - Advice please!

2newffamily

2newffamily

Active member
After dinner tonight, I happened to notice something just above Misha's right
eye. I thought it was just a burr-like seed kind of thing, but when I went to
pull it out, it didn't pull out easily and kind of "squished". Then I thought
OMG, a tick. I have never had any experience with ticks and the girls have
never until today had a tick or ticks. So now I'm kind of freaking a bit. I've
cleaned the area as best I could with alcohol swabs and, since I have Ottomax on
hand, I lightly rubbed a liberal amount on the area. Please, if anyone has any
advice, suggestions, whatever, please let me know. Thanks.
 
2newffamily

2newffamily

Active member
BlackLightning said:
Hey Tina, I sent you an email!
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Yup, got it. Thanks Kaila. I have the culprit in an old pill container and still intend to have the vet have a look see. I have been reassured and all, but for our own peace of mind, we'll have her checked out and hopefully be better prepared if we should find another one on any of the pooches.
 
S

SarahZ

New member
I hope she's ok! They are really hard to pull out, especially in a sensitive area. Moe just had a tick right above his eye too. Oh it was hideous! I can't believe I didn't see it sooner, either that or it was really hungry! It looked like a kernel of corn growing out of his eyebrow. I have never seen an engorged tick, only a few before they actually start eating.
I called the vet to find out if they could test it or him, but they said they can't for a few months. I also found out that the lyme vaccine that the vet gives is the Vanguard one that is supposed to help give immunity to 5 of the 8 (?) tick illnesses.
I actually had the vet-tech remove it so they could see what kind of tick it is. It turned out to be a dog-tick, not a deer-tick, and it was on the day Moe was due for his monthly frontline and heartguard, so she said we may want to give the frontline every 3 weeks now that we're in tick season.
I used to use a natural herb spray on Moe's coat before walks, especially in the woods, for extra protection, but I can't find it anymore.
Does anyone know any recipes for that? I think it had lemon balm in it.
 
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Angela

Angela

Super Moderator
I use this spoon the vet gave me. It works very well to remove the whole tick.




Ticked off ™ tick spoon:
A little plastic spoon with an impressively well-crafted notch at the end. The idea is to slide the notch under the tick and then lever it off.
 
2newffamily

2newffamily

Active member
I had Misha to the vet this afternoon, just as a precaution and also to educate myself. While there, the vet had this tick remover called a tick twister (www.GandBMarketing.com). Since I had the nasty little bugger with me, Allyson (the vet) put it under the scope and confirmed that the head was still on it. Good news. So, for the next several days I will be cleaning the spot twice a day with alcohol swabs and then putting polysporin on it. We will be going back in 6 to 8 weeks to do the usual heart worm and lyme testing. Lyme so far isn't a big problem in this area - very few cases reported. But we will not be taking any chances.
 
NessaM

NessaM

New member
Oh man! Welcome to my world. Just frontlined the entire menagerie. One tick on a cat, and two on the newfs. Gah. We test twice yearly for Lymes.
 
Sound Bay Newfs

Sound Bay Newfs

Active member
Snowden said:
If you can find a tick key http://www.tickkey.com/. They help with pulling ticks out..super easy.

Sarah - Natures Farmacy has a great oil that you can dilute with h20 and make into a spray. http://www.naturesfarmacy.com/store/results.php?category=24
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I use the Flea Free oil as mentioned above and I have very good luck with it! I dilute it in a spray bottle and spray it on the dogs and I also put a teaspoon of it in their shampoo. The oil is very light and not greasy at all and makes the coat smooth an shiny.
 
pabusinesswoman

pabusinesswoman

New member
Down here, ticks are prevelent. We have the Lymes vaccine.

They do get so bad down here we use advantix along with the flee free. The combination seems to work well. I also do extra grooming sessions over the summer with a fine tooth comb to try to find any ticks... extra hard on the black dogs. Normally I strive for every other day. Supposedly, it takes the tick being on the dog 48 hrs. to infect them. So with this regiment, we hope to be safe.

Another option... was one called preventick. It is a tick collar primarily used on field dogs. My Chow was allergic to the topicals but could use the collar. Thus, how I came across it. You could rub and extra piece of the collar on the tick and they would back out on their own. Though I am not fond of chemicals on their neck, Lymes is worse. I would find 1-2 max. on Kayra when the ticks were at their worst for the season.. mostly on her ears. I would find 4-5 on Sadie with the topical regiment. Sadie is kept on the topicals due to the therapy work she does.

I have never used the fancy removers. A set of tweezers and some triple antibiotic ointment (on places they cant reach)/ Watkins salve works wonders. You just need to make sure you have a head on it when you pull the tick out. I then alcohol/ flame the tip of the tweezers when finished to make sure they are sterilized afterwords.
 
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