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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: geronimotwo on October 30, 2013, 09:35:36 AM

Title: tick removal
Post by: geronimotwo on October 30, 2013, 09:35:36 AM
i've been finding a tick on our dog, every week or so.  tweezers almost always leave the head behind.  is there a better way to remove ticks?
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: charby on October 30, 2013, 09:40:57 AM
I have something similar and it works good.

http://www.petfooddirect.com/product/2730/Ticked-Off-Tick-Remover-Tool-for-Pets?extcid=PLA&gclid=CL2Qyc3XvroCFYZaMgod9ykA3w
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Hawkmoon on October 30, 2013, 09:49:00 AM
Supposedly coating the tick with Vaseline causes the tick to back out and seek air -- but I think it takes awhile, and then you have to clean the Vaseline off the pooch.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: MechAg94 on October 30, 2013, 09:52:49 AM
Alcohol does the job as I understand.  We had outside hound dogs when I was kid.  I never used tweezers. 
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: RoadKingLarry on October 30, 2013, 09:53:14 AM
Det cord.



I just get ahold of them and pull them off by hand. Same as I do for the ones that get on me. Our lab's coat is so thick we can't even see the tiny ones. When the tiny ones get on me I end up hooking them with a fingernail to get them off.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Ben on October 30, 2013, 09:54:59 AM
Alcohol does the job as I understand.  We had outside hound dogs when I was kid.  I never used tweezers. 

What alcohol do hound dogs prefer?
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: bedlamite on October 30, 2013, 10:02:12 AM
Tick Twister (http://www.amazon.com/Tick-Twister-Remover/dp/B00076NT64) works excellent, but don't twist it out, just pull straight.

One thing the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html) is actually good for:
Quote
How to remove a tick

    Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin's surface as possible.
    Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don't twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers. If you are unable to remove the mouth easily with clean tweezers, leave it alone and let the skin heal.
    After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol, an iodine scrub, or soap and water.

Avoid folklore remedies such as "painting" the tick with nail polish or petroleum jelly, or using heat to make the tick detach from the skin. Your goal is to remove the tick as quickly as possible--not waiting for it to detach.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Jocassee on October 30, 2013, 10:02:34 AM
when I got them on me as a kid, dad would heat up the tip of a needle and poke them with it and that worked pretty well.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Regolith on October 30, 2013, 10:14:21 AM
The problem with non-mechanical methods is that the tick will often vomit back into your blood stream before backing out. If it's infected with something like Lyme disease, this is a good way to get it transmitted into you.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Tallpine on October 30, 2013, 10:47:34 AM
I just get ahold of them and pull them off by hand. Same as I do for the ones that get on me. Our lab's coat is so thick we can't even see the tiny ones. When the tiny ones get on me I end up hooking them with a fingernail to get them off.

Yeah, and we have to pull them off the horses too, especially in certain places.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: geronimotwo on October 30, 2013, 11:35:57 AM
Det cord.



I just get ahold of them and pull them off by hand. Same as I do for the ones that get on me. Our lab's coat is so thick we can't even see the tiny ones. When the tiny ones get on me I end up hooking them with a fingernail to get them off.

that's our problem as well.  chloe's fur is long and thick, making discovery difficult until they are latched on pretty well and bloated.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: BlueStarLizzard on October 30, 2013, 12:49:38 PM
Someone told me to use tweezers once.

I ended up with a bloody, squashed, decapitated tick.

;/

I use my nails and just pop the suckers off. It's faster and work fine if you do it right.

I spend a lot of time yanking ticks off dogs. I'll get a cap full of rubbing alcohol and just pop 'em off and stick them in the cap. It's not uncommen for me to end up with 15 or 20 ticks off one dog.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: zxcvbob on October 30, 2013, 05:15:55 PM
smear the tick with Vick's VapoRub first and give a little while (don't remember how long it takes) then pull it loose.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: geronimotwo on October 30, 2013, 07:20:47 PM
I have something similar and it works good.

http://www.petfooddirect.com/product/2730/Ticked-Off-Tick-Remover-Tool-for-Pets?extcid=PLA&gclid=CL2Qyc3XvroCFYZaMgod9ykA3w


wow, there's a few different brands out there.  i wonder which type work the best.

Someone told me to use tweezers once.

I ended up with a bloody, squashed, decapitated tick.

;/

I use my nails and just pop the suckers off. It's faster and work fine if you do it right.

I spend a lot of time yanking ticks off dogs. I'll get a cap full of rubbing alcohol and just pop 'em off and stick them in the cap. It's not uncommen for me to end up with 15 or 20 ticks off one dog.

and what is the proper nail length for tick tick removal, pray tell?
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: dm1333 on October 30, 2013, 07:42:46 PM

http://www.amazon.com/Coghlans-insect-repellent-Tick-Tweezers/dp/B00194F08S


These work pretty well.  you clamp them on close to the skin and rotate the barrel counter clockwise and it unscrews the tick.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Perd Hapley on October 30, 2013, 07:43:22 PM
i've been finding a tick on our dog, every week or so.  tweezers almost always leave the head behind.  is there a better way to remove ticks?


Use your fingers, instead. This has worked for me at least a hundred times.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: BlueStarLizzard on October 30, 2013, 08:00:49 PM
wow, there's a few different brands out there.  i wonder which type work the best.

and what is the proper nail length for tick tick removal, pray tell?

Not that long.

I keep my nails just long enough to be functional (slip under a tab on a soda can or assembly lever on a 1911A1)
but they're not long by any stretch of the imagination.

You pinch as close to the skin and pop it off, you don't grab it by the body.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: 230RN on October 31, 2013, 06:41:48 AM
We used to light a match, let it burn for a second or two, then blow it out, and hold the hot tip to the tick.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: geronimotwo on October 31, 2013, 07:22:07 AM
^^we've tried the hot match trick a few times, but it hasn't worked for us.     

Not that long.

I keep my nails just long enough to be functional (slip under a tab on a soda can or assembly lever on a 1911A1)
but they're not long by any stretch of the imagination.

You pinch as close to the skin and pop it off, you don't grab it by the body.

i had a gf once with nails that extended about an inch past her fingertips.   maybe i should give her a call?
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: MechAg94 on October 31, 2013, 09:43:42 AM
You don't need long nails.  Some small amount of nail does help get the tick without pulling out too much of the dogs fur with it. 

When I got them on me as a kid and with the dogs, some bit of skin does come off with the tick, but not much and it almost always healed fast.  Tick bits itch anyway.  The dogs always seemed to appreciate it once the tick was gone and they saw/smelled what you pulled off.  Not sure about other people's dogs though.  :)

I used to get them biting me as a kid when we visited my grandparents.  After we moved out there, we rarely got bitten, but sometimes found them crawling on us.  My Mother said there were some home remedies out there that said eating local honey and or maybe other stuff would keep them off you.  It has been a while. 
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Sergeant Bob on October 31, 2013, 10:34:09 AM
My Mother said there were some home remedies out there that said eating local honey and or maybe other stuff would keep them off you.  It has been a while. 

Don't know for sure if eating honey would repel them but, if it does, it could possibly be due to the Botulinum toxin contained in the honey. Just guessing here.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Tallpine on October 31, 2013, 02:59:28 PM
I removed all the ticks from my clock, and now it just goes "-tock, -tock, -tock, -tock, -tock ..."

 :lol:
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: MechAg94 on October 31, 2013, 04:03:16 PM
Don't know for sure if eating honey would repel them but, if it does, it could possibly be due to the Botulinum toxin contained in the honey. Just guessing here.
I know there are some supposed benefits of eating local honey.  Maybe that isn't one of them.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: BlueStarLizzard on October 31, 2013, 04:09:09 PM
You don't need long nails.  Some small amount of nail does help get the tick without pulling out too much of the dogs fur with it. 

When I got them on me as a kid and with the dogs, some bit of skin does come off with the tick, but not much and it almost always healed fast.  Tick bits itch anyway.  The dogs always seemed to appreciate it once the tick was gone and they saw/smelled what you pulled off.  Not sure about other people's dogs though.  :)

I used to get them biting me as a kid when we visited my grandparents.  After we moved out there, we rarely got bitten, but sometimes found them crawling on us.  My Mother said there were some home remedies out there that said eating local honey and or maybe other stuff would keep them off you.  It has been a while. 

This is it.

Can you meet the nail edge of your idex finger to the nail edge of the thumb without pressing to hard on anything in the middle?

You slide the nail edge along the skin, pinching the tick as close to the skin as possible and yank.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Sergeant Bob on October 31, 2013, 04:51:47 PM
I know there are some supposed benefits of eating local honey.  Maybe that isn't one of them.

The toxin is harmless to most people. The only ones it seems to affect are children under the age of one. My stepson and his wife (not knowing about the toxin and it's affects on babies) gave honey to their infant daughter and she spent a few weeks in the hospital with botulism. They had a heck of a time figuring out what it was and she was suffering from paralysis. She was on a ventilator for a while and we almost lost her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism#Signs_and_symptoms
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: TommyGunn on October 31, 2013, 07:16:23 PM
I removed all the ticks from my clock, and now it just goes "-tock, -tock, -tock, -tock, -tock ..."

 :lol:
:facepalm:
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: RoadKingLarry on October 31, 2013, 10:26:06 PM
Quote
My Mother said there were some home remedies out there that said eating local honey and or maybe other stuff would keep them off you


While I'm a big fan and advocate for eating locally produced honey* (mostly becasue it's good but my experience shows it to have health perks as well) my personal experience has shown no repellant effect against the ticks in my local



* somewhere between 20 to 25 lbs a year
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: zxcvbob on October 31, 2013, 10:42:23 PM

somewhere between 20 to 25 lbs a year

Honey?  Or ticks?   =D
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: RoadKingLarry on November 01, 2013, 08:16:06 AM


It would take a bunch of ticks to make a 20# herd. I've had years where I might have come close to that but not recently
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Sawdust on November 01, 2013, 10:22:01 AM
I removed all the ticks from my clock, and now it just goes "-tock, -tock, -tock, -tock, -tock ..."

 :lol:

Did *not* read that as 'clock' the first time through...   :O

Sawdust
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Harold Tuttle on November 01, 2013, 10:50:04 AM
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgooglepixel.com%2Fimages%2Fspoon-ticked-off.jpg&hash=ae7d48024af8166266ca9c69dac0405c15b1a755)
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: MechAg94 on November 01, 2013, 11:35:37 AM
SPOOOONNNN!!!!   

I loved those cartoons.   =D
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: Lee on November 01, 2013, 08:28:16 PM
"Yeah, and we have to pull them off the horses too, especially in certain places."
I've just thought of a new saying, "fatter than a tick on a horses balls".  They'd be fallen off on their own if it was me.
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: 230RN on November 09, 2013, 02:55:41 PM
Vitamin B(12?) is supposed to discourage insect bites.  Or so I heard. 
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: zxcvbob on November 09, 2013, 03:50:22 PM
Vitamin B(12?) is supposed to discourage insect bites.  Or so I heard. 

It's either niacin or thiamine -- I think thiamine (whichever is that nasty medicinal smell in a fresh bottle of multivitamins)
Title: Re: tick removal
Post by: geronimotwo on November 10, 2013, 11:31:52 AM
if there's any truth to that, I may have to find some doggy vitamins......