Updated**Tick Removal Info is False***

[CorgiMum]

This information was sent to me by a friend & I thought that I would share. If anyone has any further info regarding this method, please let us know.

Subject: Tick Removal

A School Nurse wrote the info below.

I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great , because it works in those places where it's sometimes difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc. Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover
the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20), the tick will come out on it's own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time I've used it, and it's much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me. Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's wife call me for
advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say, "It worked!"


Wish I had heard about this a few years ago. When we were camping Gary got a tick on his chest. The next day, we were home again, and found out that poor little Montrose had one just her eye. Off the Vets we went of course.

[CorgiMum]

Sorry everyone, this information is false! Here is the Snopes link to prove it. Thanks for that Anna.

http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/tick.asp

Rather than just delete my thread I thought that I'd leave it here, in case there are others that have heard of this method too.

[MrsGrace]

I think some of those old wives tales do work for sure. But I think the concern is when the tick is backing out or dies from the method of removal when backing out, that it can release it's body toxins in it's panic, which can lead to illness. So better to if nothing else, remove the body and head if you can, but if not, get the body off asap, leave the head and let a professional take that off, but at least the infection and nasties in the body are no longer a concern. (and always keep the tick just in case Dr's want to test it for disease)

I just knock on wood that I don't have to deal with them!! *shudder*

This is a great thread! Good eye opener and just in time for summer hiking and walks! Just don't even show me a picture of the buggers! :TONGUE: Ick ick!

[corgimom]

http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hblyme.htm

The above link is regarding lyme disease from ticks.

My sister in law went to the walk in clinic last week as she had one embedded in her head:EEK: My MIL has tons of ticks by her house - she lives out in a heavily wooded area - when I visit, I don't sit on the sofas(in the summertime) as the dogs bring in ticks from outside and then they drop on the sofa if they are not checked right away. My SIL has one in her behind one year after being there.:EEK: The link above says to put it in a vial of rubbing alcohol if you want to have it identified.

Thanks for bringing this up Barbara, I have no magic suggestions for removing them.

[Dillydoodle]

linda... all i have to say is : :ARG: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I really hate ticks! gross

Emilie

[LaRositaMonita]

Working at a nature camp for the past two summers in PA has given me lots of knowledge about ticks...and as many precautions as we all took, EVERY summer some staff member of that camp comes down with Lyme. Luckily, if you know what to look for and catch it early, early on, Lyme is very treatable with antibiotics and won't cause a problem. Just the same, your best bet if you are in a tick-infested area and venture anywhere ticks might be (the woods, for example), do a tick check at minimum once every 12 hours or so during the time you would possibly be in contact with ticks. It takes about 24 hours for the tick to infect you with any disease it carries...so just checking frequently is playing it safe.

Luckily, I've done morning and evening checks every day in the summer for the past two years...not to mention a bunch of shorter checks every day while at the camp.

Nasty little buggers.

[sutulu]

I got my first tick bite last years. The first thing my MD asked was "did you bring the tick?". They can test the tick if you removed it to see if it carried the disease.

I got the tetracycline prescrition and follow up blood tests just to be safe.

I had the ring form around the bite almost immediatley.

[MVons]

With the thick corgi coat, do the ticks just burrow in? How do you check for ticks in their thick comb, or do you use a flea comb? We only have ticks in the high brush, forest areas, but I'd like to be prepared if my dog ever ventures out there.

It is like mosquitoes, I only saw one on Peppers nose area - probably because they were headed to the easy bite of me. So I wondered if dogs get bites through their thick hair. I wonder if a dog itches like we do after one of those bites. Pepper look humbled when I swatted her nose and killed the mosquito. She was quite happy to head into the house after that.

Merrie

[MrsGrace]

Not sure how others do it, but with my GSD/Akita mix and his thick thick fur, we just used fingers through the undercoat to find them. *shudder*

Usually found them on his belly or in his inner leg/groin area.

:ARG: I HATE ticks!!!

[bunnybutts]

I haven't seen any ticks so far this year - we put down flea/tick killer in yard that last 3 mths...and haven't taken The Girls into the Woods yet.

but I just ordered some wrist bands that are supposed to repel fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, gnats. They use organic Geranium oil. they said two can be linked together to make a dog collar too... will let you know if they work on people and corgis

[Fluffypants]

I usually find them trying to make their way through Jackie's considerable coat. That slows them down enough for me to find them and grab them . . . after I do my "freak-out" dance . . . :LAUGH:

OMG! OMG! OMG! There's a tick on the dog! YUK!!!!

[ColColt]

I've read that if you have a relatively heavy infestation of ticks in your yard, the safest insecticide to spray with is Permethrin. A trick to see how bad they may be is to drag a 3x3 white sheet across brushy areas and the ticks will attach themselves to the sheet making them easy to see. Of course, that exposes you to them as well!!

With flea problems you can cut up a flea collar and put it in you vacuum cleaner bag and if any are on your carpet, the collar will see to it you don't provide a motel for them....$50 bucks please.:COOL:

[CorgiMum]

With flea problems you can cut up a flea collar and put it in you vacuum cleaner bag and if any are on your carpet, the collar will see to it you don't provide a motel for them....$50 bucks please.:COOL:

Wow! Great tip David. If Iuse it, I'll send you the $50 bucks, in Canadian funds.:WINK:

We've never had fleas, thank goodness, so I just put a cotton ball with perfume into my vacuum.

[MVons]

I just put a cotton ball with perfume into my vacuum.Oh my word I wish I knew about this one 18 years ago at the to-be in-laws and the vacuum stored in the room I was in, smelled of the basset hound! Because of that experience I only bought bagless vacuums. I'll pass this on to my mom who has an Orick because it is the lightest weight vacuum which is what her health requires.

Merrie