Ticks

[MsMustDoBetter]

We have a darling new puppy who has come from the garden with four ticks on ears and face.

Doe's she need to see a vet? How do we identify where they are coming from?

I'm so worried that she's going to catch something nasty.

Ticks are very common depending on where you live. I have pulled ticks of me when I have been clearing lots of bushes from my garden.

You can get tick twizzlers which help you remove the ticks without squeezing them and potentially transmitting disease. In the uk the risk is from ticks carrying lymes disease especially if you are in an affected area.

Some people prefer the simple thing of removing with special tick removers. The aim is to remove them without squeezing their contents back into the dog.

My dog gets them all the time and we are in a high risk lymes disease area so I prefer to treat with chemicals. You can get seresto collars from your vets for ticks which last up to 8 months but I use nexgard spectra which is a monthly tablet for ticks, fleas and worms and it kills the ticks within 24 hours of them attaching.

Maybe speak to your vet to discover how much of a lymes disease area you are in and what methods you are happy with to deal with them.

Thank you Bitey, I'll phone the vet tomorrow and see what we can do.

They are easy to pull out with tweezers. Just get a firm grasp and pull straight back out, no twisting or the head might be left behind. Sounds gruesome but it’s a straightforward process .

If you do use tweezers as PP mentioned look up the things not to do. You do not want to compress the body or leave parts of it in them. The tick twizzlers type thing is cheap and is designed to minimise this. You can pick them up from pet shops.

Also depending on where they are it might be difficult to remove them depending on how much your puppy struggles. Mine gets them all around his eyes and lids and there is no way we could remove easily without causing him a great deal of distress.

For my cats I use a tick removal tool (pet shop for a few quid). Dead easy to use and less risk of leaving the mouth parts in than with tweezers.

One of my cats is also a tick magnet.

I get him a monthly tick and flea treatment and that helps prevent them because he really hates having them pulled off.

The tick twisters are really good though.

I used a seresto collar for my dog when we lived in a tick area. It should stop them biting all together. The tick tools are easy to use you just hook where the tick goes into the skin and gently twist around until the head comes out.

You want one of these
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/otom-tick-twister-remover?utmsource=google&utmmmedium=cpc&utmcampaign=googleeshopping&cmmmc=GoogleeCPCPC--%20googleeshopping--googleeshopping&ita=1976&ito=googleshopping&&cmmmmc=&ito=GAG65294890965&itc=GAC332801043726&itkw=nil&itaexid=&itawnw=search&itawmt=&itadvc=m&gclid=CjwKCAjw1dzkBRBWEiwAROVDLBSdft43MlH1s4hZC8AecTjsOMi294x6V1XNjjROWZgtLQAqYmwIUBoCL5UQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I've ordered the tool and we are going to launch into a spring garden tidy up.

Does anyone know where the little shits like to live? Any particular plants?

They like to live on top to grass waiting for a host.