Ticks

[SecrectFarleysNibbler]

We live in a rural area and there are deer around. My friend found a tick crawling on her daughters ler today - it came in off the dog - my dog used to get them regularly despite flea and tick treatment. Just wondered if anyone has any advice?

Would spraying exposed skin with insect repellent work, do you think?

Get a 'Tick Twister'. Just in case they cling. I have a labrador who got one on her nose the other day. Waited until I could grab it with the smaller twister of the two and twisted it our painlessly and destroyed it. Best thing on the market to remove em. I have put anti tick stuff on her but it obviously hasn't worked. I think I paid about a fiver from a local pet shop but look on Amazon.

Please just keep an eye on the spot where the tick was for a little while- there's a possibilty of serious infection with tick bites- if it gets a red ring around the site she might need antibiotics quickly.

Loads around here too. If they're stuck on then just remove them with tweezers making sure you get hold of them very close to the skin and pull steadily & firmly. Check you've got it all then as flussymummy says keep an eye on the site of the tick in case of Lyme's disease or infection (which can happen if you don't get it all out).

In terms of prevention you can't really do much to keep them off dogs. For people you can minimise the chances of getting them by keeping legs well covered when out in longer grass/bracken. They can get everywhere mind; I found four or five on me last year after I'd cleared a patch of nettles.

Thanks - its such a tricky one - you just can t stop the dogs from picking them up.

We have them endlessly where i live on dog, cat and children. I have frontlined the dog and cat which definitely helps a bit as they do seem to get them much less (i.e. not I am removing one or two a week from the animals whereas before it was about one or two a day). The children - I usually spot them in the bath if they have them. A tick twister is invaluable, you can pick them up at most vets (but I use it on the children too), it is much much better to use a tick twister than tweezers as it is so easy to leave the head in if you use tweezers to remove (which can then get infected), whereas the head always comes out with a tick twister.

Watch the site for circular skin rash and look out for flu like symptoms (which are the early lymes symptoms)

If it was crawling on her leg, then hopefully it hadn't bitten her - DS picked one up walking through long grass, it must have fallen inside his sleeve. I found it when he was in the bath, its head buried in his little arm (he was only just 3) and we had to tweeze the fecker out. It was TINY, and we didn't have a tick twister. Looked completely clean but the wound cysted up for about a month afterwards, then disappeared. No infection, no temp, no rash, no flu-like symptoms and I took him to the doc for something else anyway, she checked it and said it was fine (and he's been fine since).

It was thought that there was no Lyme disease in Australia but there are more and more cases of it over here now, so I keep a very close eye on DS whenever we've been out walking in the bush, just in case.

I have got a tick twister - my spaniel had them all the time - will get one for my friend too.

I second keeping a close eye for any bite-like areas. There is a local girl with Lymes who has been very ill and is often in a wheelchair, it can be very serious indeed, and hard to spot, as not all Lymes bites will have a red ring.

I picked one off dd2's leg last week, urgh. It had its head burrowed right in. Used tweezers and pulled slowly and gently, so as not to break the head off. Then put tick in plastic bag in bin, so it couldnt get out again. Washed the area afterwards. It was v small, so I know it had been on less than 24 hours (size = how much they've sucked out), which means chance of infection or lymes is remote. Loads of good info on US sites, much more aware over there (so I found after a panic google last week!).

They like moist areas - DH has had them in his belly button (he has quite a cavity there!) and in his armpits. Also one just under his eyelid, literally 1mm below the eyelashes - nasty. So they were probably crawling up the leg to the groin area, although they can get peckish en route.

There are new products available for dogs that are supposed to repel ticks rather than just killing the ones that attach. Ask your vet, I think Advantix is one and possibly Certifect? Might reduce the chances of children picking them up from the dog though I think they're more likely to pick them up from the environment.