Thursday, July 01, 2010

George's little friend

We took George to see the nurse yesterday so she could remove a tick. I'd assumed that the expensive anti-everything treatment we used on him covered ticks but it didn't.

Our vet practice has changed to Advocate because it protects against lungworm, which apparently is becoming more of a threat these days, but, unlike Frontline, it doesn't stop ticks.

However the nurse sold us this handy little gadget. I wondered what it reminded me of and then read that in French it's called a 'crochet a tiques'. Ah, yes, a crochet hook.

You have to wedge the prongs in between the tick and the dog's skin, twist it a couple of times to make the tick release its hold and then lift away. If you don't remove ticks carefully, the head will stay in and can cause infection so it's important to get it all out. Horrid little blood-suckers.

But I'm prepared now. Or at least Husband is. I can't see me gripping a tick full of blood.

I also notice that, according to the packet, the tick twister can be used on cats, horses and humans. Uuurrrgggghhhhhh!

8 comments:

jay said...

Not only nasty little bloodsuckers, but they can spread some truly nasty diseases. In this country (luckily for us) only Lyme, which is bad enough, but beware in other countries - if you take him to Europe, for example.

Those little tick lifters are great - but insect lover as I am, I am a little squeamish about ticks. I can lift them out, it's the squashing of them afterwards I find it hard to stomach.

Siani said...

Eeeeeeeewwwwww. I HATE them so much. Ticks and leeches were the bane of my life as a kid, as I lived in a rural area, and was always playing in fields, streams, etc. Glad George is OK.

Mauigirl said...

We just got one of those gadgets too because Diva got a couple of ticks up in the Adirondacks when we had forgotten to put the stuff on her back. The stuff we use is good for ticks, mosquitoes, and anything else that is buggy. And apparently it works, because this was the first time she got any ticks up there. We're lucky she has such short fur, we saw them right away.

Liz Hinds said...

The one the nurse removed yesterday was already dead she said, jay. But I don't think I'd have any problem other than squeamishness in squashing one!

Horrible little blighters, aren't they, siani?

I'm sorry but the thought of ticks up the adirondacks sets me giggling, mauigirl! Too many Carry On films watched when I was a tender age!

Katney said...

As our dogs didn't do much in the way of hiking with us, we didn't have much worry about them and the ticks. It was the children--well, one in particular--who managed to catch up with them.

A cigarette or a lit match near was supposed to convince them to back off. As we don't smoke nor were especially fond of the idea of setting her hair on fire, we had to try alcohol, which was supposed to make them come up for air and you could flick them off.

That wasn't all that successful for us either. I think we made more than one trip to the Emergency Room for tick removal assistance.

CherryPie said...

Ahh the dreaded tick, it reminds me of an incident with nephews ;-)

Gledwood said...

I heard a lit Benson & Hedges, applied to the little bugger's arse, will make it instantly let go ~ mouthparts and all...

Gledwood said...

.... and yes it MUST be Benson & Hedges. Marlboro, Silk Cut, Camel, Mayfair or Richmond simply ain't good enough ;-)