Tick and dog?

Question

Okay, so I found a tick on my dog and I have removed many before this one so I knew what to do. But this time the head broke off. Now I have heard many opinions of what of to do in this case. But I wanted to make sure once again what's best to do in this situation. Is it best to leave the head in and wait for it to fall off by itself? I know that if I try to get it out myself I will make it worse so I have not touched it.

Any opinions or suggestions?

Now I have preserved the tick in a little container, but a strange thing is happening, the tick is still moving its legs even though it does not have a head. It has been around day since I removed it from my dog. Is this normal, that it's still moving?

Answer 1

There's no reason I can think of to preserve the tick.
Obviously you didn't add water to it or it would finally have drowned.

Usually my ticks come out with some skin in their mouths. Maybe that's what you have in the jar. A tick with a mouthful of flesh.

You can put some iodine on the site you pulled the tick from. That's a good bacterial killer. Then let it heal. You shouldn't have much to worry about. It should be fine.

Answer 2

Pulling a tick away from your dogs skin can leave the ticks head embedded in the dogs skin. You should try to avoid pulling a tick away from a dogs skin but instead using forceps dig into the ticks head and pull it away and dispose of it by placing it in a small bowl with boiling hot water. When the tick is dead flush it down the toilet. Clean your forceps with alcohol as ticks do carry disease. BTW, leaving a ticks head in the skin can cause cysts to develop which can cause a nasty infection. Tick heads don't always fall out. There's also autoimmune diseases which are diseases which destruct blood cells in the dogs bone marrow. Best advice is "Prevention is better than cure" Buy Frontline Plus or Advantix. Both excellent for anti flea and tick prevention.

Answer 3

It will be FINE. Happens all the time. If the head is stuck, it will work it's way out. Dog will not die, it will not get all infected. It will be fine.