My First Tick!

[TobyLicious]

Aaarggh! I'm a 50 year old woman and have just found a tick on my ankle🤢
I had just got out of the bath so it survived a near drowning, it was still wriggling when I knocked it off! Little bastard has now been disposed of.
I've been walking Ddog in local parks and the grass is quite long. Back to socks and trainers and not flip flops I think.
Freaked me out tbh
Will I die? Do I need to do anything?
Yes i know I'm a wuss🤣

Our dpuppy got one last year. Nearly puked!!
No more bushes for her!!
I rang the vet and they charged £25 for removal!!
Dh got the little fucker with tweezers!!

You probably won't die. Obviously if you start to feel ill or get a bullseye (nb: most with Lymes don't) then get thee on the phone to the GP pronto.

But you will itch. Boy will you itch.

You can send your tick off to interested people if you saved it. www.gov.uk/guidance/tick-surveillance-scheme#tick-surveillance-scheme

Blow a match out and burn end. Will drop off

You shouldn't just "knock it off", it's important that the head comes out too, so they should ideally be removed with tweezers or the special tick removal tool that you can get for dogs.

We're on holiday at the moment and the dog had six ticks in two days. We've stopped taking him on walks now (it's too hot anyway, so he just goes swimming instead) as there's a high incidence of Lyme's Disease in the ticks in this area.

Just finished a course of antibiotics for Lyme Disease after being bitten by a tick and developing a bull’s eye rash.

So keep an eye out for the rash and also any aches/chills in the next month or so. If they develop contact your doctor.

You might want to call your GP anyway, in advance of a rash, some will give antibiotics quickly as time counts with Lyme Disease, especially if you are in a high Lyme Disease area. You can check that on this map

Apparently it is the really tiny ones the size of a full stop that are most likely to infect you. But just because the one you saw was bigger doesn’t mean you haven’t been bitten by a littler one too and not noticed.

If you still have the tick in the bin or something, you can keep it for testing.

Glad to hear I won't perish!
We are newish dog owners (2 years) so haven't come across one before. Ddog has a tick collar and has monthly flea/worm and tick tablets.
Maybe I should get myself a tick collar 😂
It doesn't itch tho! Here's a photo ofvthe little bugger.....

Did you twist it out rather than pull? It looks like you've got all of it at least.

DO NOT burn it off or put anything (e.g. Vaseline) over it. This makes it more likely to transmit any disease it may be carrying into your blood stream.

Get a tick remover (more likely to find one in a pet shop than a pharmacy in the UK I have found), or use a pair of tweezers. Gently grasp the body with the tweezers and twist until it pops out. This should remove the body and the legs.

Contrary to myth, it doesn't matter which direction you twist it in.

Ah, you've got it all already - well done!!

I've just had to leg it to a pet shop to buy a tick removal tool. After much googling, you can remove the tick with tweezers but there is more chance of squashing it and not removing it properly which leaves its jaws in the dog which can cause infection (ick).
Might be worth buying one in case you pick up another. Hope you will be OK now it has gone

The tick removal tool for dogs is really good and would work on humans. It's very easy to get the buggers out safely with that. I'd recommend everyone have one if they walk in the countryside, whether they have a dog or not.

I sort of knocked it off before I realised what it was, the photo is actual size. Does it look complete?
Ddog is black so I'm guessing it will be hard to find them in him?
Thanks everyone by the way!

On amazon ordering tick removal tool....

I get bitten every year, earlier this year I removed three, over three weeks. All from our own garden, the tiny little buggers, like grains of sand. I only know I have them as I react really quickly and get a red mark and itch like mad. I suspect most people don't even notice.

I got antibiotics a couple of years ago, because I picked one off by mistake, and left some head in my leg...... ugh.

But honestly, now I don't bother, I would be on antibiotics all summer, and they are really nasty, heavy duty jobs, and you can't go in the sun with them either.

DH had Lyme a couple of year ago, it was awful, took him a year to recover, so not to be taken lightly, he didn't get the rash, but did get ill very quickly.

@StrawberryPuff I'm on a 'high' area on that map😮

I’m in a high risk area tooso the local out of hours medical service was very knowledgeable (developed the rash at the weekend]]. They sent a guy round with the first packet of antibiotics within a couple of hours.

Here’s about the kind of rash to keep a lookout for. Or if you feel at all unwell.

The removal with the proper tool is very satisfying.
Only had to do the dog so far

Thank you @StrawberryPuff

I live very close to a high risk forest where my partner walks his dog....the dog used to get loads and i often found them on my partner too...horrible things.

Once they’re full they do fall off. That’s a sign that it’s been on a fairly long time. I’d call your doc.

I’m in New England and have cats and a dog, and a garden full of deer, so these things are the bane of my life. This year I’ve been paying someone to spray the garden for ticks and it has helped, but we all still pick them up elsewhere.

We’ve always just removed them with tweezers. I probably pull several a week off the animals even though we give them all the preventatives.

I hate ticks. They give me the heebie jeebies shudders
I've had one on my leg but didn't realise what it was and knocked it off. My dog had her first one right above her eye! That was fun to removed. She's also had one on her side, but I think that's been it so far in 9 years. Jinxed it now and she'll be covered in the things.
We have a O Tom tick twister tool, well it's two as it's in two sizes.
We've even had to remove one from feisty cats chin! That was a nerve wracking moment helped by a few glasses of wine before hand. The adrenaline was high afterwards.

Dog and Cat ticks are revolting - they get REALLY big and when you take them off they literally "pop". Bleuch.

I have sheep so I deal with these far too much! Get yourself a tick remover for the future, no knocking, burning, vaseline if you get them in the future. I have one that's card shaped to keep in my pocket and a few at home too. Keep an eye on any symptoms or bullseye markings and go to doctors if you have them. Also you can get tick socks, I have these danishendurance.com/products/merino-anti-tick-outdoor-socks

Pants tucked into socks, t-shirt into pants and always check yourself down when you come in, as the quicker you remove them the better

@TobyLicious

Give your dog a nose to tail stroke check every day for the next few days. What with all the fur, any ticks probably won't be big enough for you to spot for a day or two - they engorge as they feed so get bigger and easier to find. They tend to change colour as they engorge too, to a browny beige colour, so will be easier to spot.

If you do find one, keep an eye out for the symptoms here in case of Lyme disease - you won't be able to spot a rash on a dog.

You'll probably both be fine though, so don't freak out. My DH is a tick magnet (we don't talk about the time I found one on his bits), and has never had any complications.