I have a silky terrier (think a yorkie but slightly larger) and his hair was very matted...my fault, i know...anyways i shaved a good amount of his hair off today and noticed what appears to be a tick on the top of his head-ALMOST near his eye...it's gotten considerely larger (i noticed a little bump there a while back but didn't think much of it)
My question is...
How do you sucessfully remove a tick? Should I even attempt? Do those flea/TICK baths really make a difference? Or do you recommend a trip to the vet?
2007-10-31 18:31:34 · 7 answers · asked by an_american_trilogy2003 1 in Pets ➔ Dogs
Yes remove the tick. Take a pair of sterile tweezers. Grip the tick by the head as close to the skin as your can. Pull it out with a good yank. check to make sure you got all of the tick out. Any pieces of the head left in the skin will cause an infection. Keep the tick and make your dog a vet appointment. The vet can run a test to see if the tick was a carrier for Lyme. If it was your dog will need to be tested. Lyme disease is treated in dogs with a 2 week course of pills. It really is essential that your dog get looked at a.s.a.p. because if your dog has Lyme you want it treated before it causes any problems.
P.S. Do not try to suffucate the tick with vasiline or any other substance. Ticks do not breathe often enough for this method to work.
The flea part of the shampoo works but not the tick. If you do use flea shampoo get the one with the growth regulator in it. This will kill fleas of every age and kill the eggs.
2007-10-31 18:42:20 · answer #1 · answered by decembre luciole 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, those flea/tick baths do NOT work. They might wash fleas off, but they don't prevent them so fleas will be back before the day is out. And they do absolutely nothing for ticks.
You don't have to actually take the dog to a vet unless you want them to remove the tick for you - you can get Frontline without having to take the dog in. This kills and prevent fleas and ticks - if you use the spot-on the tick will fall off within 24 hours, if you use the spray directly on the tick it will plop off within a couple of hours.
You could remove the tick if you want - just make sure you twist as you pull, this is how to avoid leaving the mouth parts, not that leaving mouth parts in causes problems anywhere near as often as people think.
Chalice
2007-11-01 18:16:27 · answer #2 · answered by Chalice 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to the book "The First Aid Companion for Dogs and Cats" By Amy D Shojai:
Do not use your fingers to remove the tick. Use a blunt tipped tweezers or hemostat. Wear disposible medical gloves and be very careful not to crush the tick's body as you remove it. ( Often your fingers have tiny cuts or abrasions that you can't see and if you crucsh the tick's body some of the infected tick parts could transmit diseases to you)
Grasp the body very close to the pets skin and the ticks mouth parts and pull it straight out, slowly and gently, in the opposite direction from the mouth end. That will allow the mouthparts to slide back out most easily instead of dragging the buried head through your pet's flesh. The tick will almost always come away with a tiny pinch of the skin. Don't worry if the head comes off and stays buried in the flesh that almost never happens, but if it does, it won't cause problems for most pets. The pet's body will either absorb the material or eject it in a few days.
Or you could always use clear nail polish to coat the tick with and wait for it to back out because it can't breathe. You have to coat it really heavy though. And I don't know if I'd want to do this around your dogs eye.
2007-11-01 01:48:26 · answer #3 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Before you take any advise to use tweezers...
It is possible that the tick is not far in your dogs skin , although being in your dogs skin for so long this might not be the case.
You must be extremely careful because if you leave any part of the tick in your dogs skin they can get severely ill and even die. They can get Lyme disease.
If the Tick is getting larger it is because it is sucking your dogs blood and skin.
when I was young I lived in Texas where Tick were common.
The old fashioned way is to take a match (fire) hold the heat as close to the tick as possible, their natural instinct is to back out.
You should really take your dog to the Vet to make sure infection hasn't already started.
2007-11-01 03:55:11 · answer #4 · answered by Dr Safe Pet 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can use a pair of tweezers to remove the ticks from your dog. I usually use a glass jar filled with rubbing alcohol and dispose the bodies into the jar, regardless of the ticks are alive or dead. After certain period of time, you can dispose the rubbing alcohol into the toilet and flush it off. The most important thing is make sure your dog is on monthly applications such as Frontline or Advantix. You don't really need to use flea/tick shampoos. Good luck.
2007-11-01 01:40:30 · answer #5 · answered by Wild Ginger 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
remove the tick with hemostats or blunt end tweezers. Use frontline or advantix to control the ticks and fleas. The baths only work for the immediate time and no prevention.
2007-11-01 01:55:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Just get some tweezers or just put on a glove, and just grad it off,
But really take her to the vet, because if you just yank it off it might leave a piece of the tick inside your dog and it wake her eye swollen!
2007-11-01 01:38:55 · answer #7 · answered by ♥I'm not Bob♥ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋