TICK! ON MY SHIBA! ew..
We went hiking about a week ago, and again yesterday. This morning I was petting Kitsu (who had his rear in my face) and felt something hardish.. a tick. Sucking life out of my dog.
We use Frontline Plus, just applied it on 2/22 and 3/31. And yet this tick still lives. His [tick] legs wiggled when I touched it...
So, we applied some olive oil, let it soak and tried to tweezer it out gently like it says to do online. I got what I thought to be the whole thing, but there is still a black piece stuck in him that I CANNOT get out, presumably the head.
So now we have vaseline on the spot.
I called the e-vet, they said to reapply vaseline and try again, not an emergency, call our vet tomorrow. I called Frontline Plus's 1-800 number and they are conveniently closed on Sundays. I called my mom, a nurse, who said get antiseptic ointment and apply to the area (which is now red from me prodding at the site).
What Do I Do NOW? The head, I assume, is still in there! Any thoughts? Experience? help!!!!!
what I pulled out:
the spot (his thigh, rear leg)
ick.
We use Frontline Plus, just applied it on 2/22 and 3/31. And yet this tick still lives. His [tick] legs wiggled when I touched it...
So, we applied some olive oil, let it soak and tried to tweezer it out gently like it says to do online. I got what I thought to be the whole thing, but there is still a black piece stuck in him that I CANNOT get out, presumably the head.
So now we have vaseline on the spot.
I called the e-vet, they said to reapply vaseline and try again, not an emergency, call our vet tomorrow. I called Frontline Plus's 1-800 number and they are conveniently closed on Sundays. I called my mom, a nurse, who said get antiseptic ointment and apply to the area (which is now red from me prodding at the site).
What Do I Do NOW? The head, I assume, is still in there! Any thoughts? Experience? help!!!!!
what I pulled out:
the spot (his thigh, rear leg)
ick.
Comments
but visiting a vet as soon as possibile is a good idea because of infections and such things
Originally ticks were harmless, like mosquitos they only want your blood and then they go their own way again :)
the problem with ticks is that in many regions(dunno how it is in USA, in Austrias its for the most parts "dangerous") they are contaminated and can transfer 2 illnesses : lyme disease (borreliose) and meningitis...both are really bad!! check with your vet about them
if your dog has a tick, DONT use oil or such things..you have to get the tick out with at least as stress for it as possible... cause during his fight to live he will transfer more dangerous liquids... but letting it on your dog is also bad cause before he let go he also transfers much of this dangerous liquids..
the best thing to do is to buy a ticktweezers at the dog shop and then take the tick and turn it around against the clockwise direction ( Im not defenitly sure which direction so check with the manual of the tweezers!!!!)if you do so you can get out the tick with his head!!
you can also check out if you are living in a region where ticks are contaminated with these two disease.. for Austria I know there are some maps.. hope you can find some for USA
I live in the land of ticks so dont worry :) I had several of these little beasts and my cats too...we had also pulled them out in the wrong way and I live in a contaminated region and we all are healty :)
just visit your vet to get his head out :)
Baba,
Lisa
the informations i gave before are for Austria... It seems that there are some other kinds of ticks in North America and they should be pulled out straight not turned around.. but dunno how reliable this pages are.... ask your vet i hope he knows :)
here some pages for you...but dont panic :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick (general and many links for the USA)
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/medical/american_dog_tick.htm
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/vector/chapter_05.htm#two
or dont you live in North America? :)
for Protection i usually buy an anti-tick-collar or nowadays there is also sort of an oil which you put on your dogs neck for protecting it...I think there are also one against fleas... its something chemical but my cats didnt had any tick since putting it on :)
well. I searched him thoroughly and found another, between his 'toes' on his front paw. I can't believe we couldn't find them... they were both pretty engorged.
We took a hike today and came back and found two on Tsuki, none on Kitsune. I bought a "ticked off" tick remover (like a spoon with a slit) that works so well I can't believe it. One of Tsuki's was already attaching to her paw, the other was just crawling on her. The Ticked Off thing just scooped it right up, head and all. I heard a 'pop' sort of and I could see how I got the whole thing. So, the first one we found on Kitsu def. has his head still in there.
I cannot believe how BAD ticks are ALREADY!
I do'nt know why they weren't dead though, since he was UTD on his Frontline Plus. THey should NOT claim to kill 100% of ticks if it doesn't really work that way..
We are going to the vet tomorrow. I don't know how long they were on Kitsu, I imagine at least 24-48hrs to be that engorged... but he hasn't had any fever, lethargy or loss of appetite so I'm staying hopeful.
Thanks again for the info. These things are nasty little bugs!
We have encountered the same issue and asked the vet as well. The comment we got, " It isn't an exact thing with the pesticide ratio and demise rate of the parasite". So putting two and two together, I took that to mean there has to be a lot of pesticide used on the dogs, so we basically decided to use more natural means. We have had the same or better results with natural means http://www.liquidfence.com/liquid-net-insect-repellent.html We use this when going hiking etc but in limited quantity (over the rump and back of the neck where the dogs can not lick it off) and groom often Shampooing with citrus based product.
http://prostores1.carrierzone.com/servlet/xavierpetproducts_com/StoreFront.
Neem oil is supposed to work but it smells pretty bad.
Snf
I have not seen any ticks yet in Wisconsin, but I guess it's time to start really looking Nemo over when we come in.
But the big fat tick surviving off my dog and NOT being killed off by the frontline I purchased and applied. I f'in hate that.
But yes, the spoon works really, really nice.
So, we're switching to advantix for next month to try it. I do'nt want to stop hiking, but I don't want to keep having engorged ticks on my dogs. Esp. since we live in an area with several tick born diseases prevalent.
And we do have fleas here, in large numbers since most dog and cat owners don't prevent or control.. and as far as I know, Frontline has worked for that, we've never had any fleas.
http://www.marvistavet.net/html/body_lyme_disease.html
I should call my mom and tell her to buy an individual one.
ETA: k9advantix is deadly to cats...so if you have a cat, I wouldn't use it.
I have been using the K9 Advantix for years with my dogs and have always had cats. The cats were fine. I know you aren't supposed to use it ON the cats, which I never would do, but I never heard to not use it if cats were in the household.
I grew up on Long Island in New York (LOTS of ticks) and my family dog, Lily, used to get ticks every once and a while (she's old now so we don't do as much hiking as we use to) but they were mostly dog ticks which are gross and annoying but never freaked us out too much. They can carry Rock Mountain Spotted Fever, but that’s not too prevalent.
Deer ticks are another story though. Lyme disease is a big concern in the North East and LI seems to be a hot spot. I think Lily got a deer tick on her once or twice which we immediately brought in to get tested.
http://www.tickbegone.com/ticks.php
this website has a description of the two different kinds
We use Frontline on both, never had any issues so far (knocking on wood). Kuma also wears the anti-mosquito collar (because of Leishmaniosis) and that says it protects against fleas and ticks too.
Like I said we have been using it for a while and the cat just gets frontline and there haven't been any problems, but it is good to know!
THanks for the link.. from what I could tell, they were all deer ticks, the two on my male were second stage engorged females (probably on there about 2-3 days), the ones on my female were new and small, I would assume nymphs? But definitely deer ticks. We hike where deer are very prevalent. Unfortunately, I guess.
We are going to have our male tested for Lymes in about a month, as the disease incubates before showing up on tests. Its unfortunate, what I know now about Frontline Plus, that it does not repel nor does it kill the tick until 24-48 hrs in the first 2-3 weeks after application, giving them the chance to still pass on disease. His TWO ticks were most definitely still alive when we pulled them off. So I can either assume the Fronline Plus doesn't work and/or ticks in this area are becoming immune.
I called Frontline, and it was a bunch of baloney. We're *definitely* switching to advantix next month (we have no cats). It's better to repel what you cannot control.
What is wrong with me?!?
They are still in that plastic bag in my garbage though... I wonder if the vet would do that? I'm gonna call!
*Lindsay, the vet tech I got on the phone said they don't know of anywhere that does that sort of testing, and it might not be accurate anyway because it transmits but doesn't carry? Which sounds, well, backwards. Does your vet do that sort of testing?
We go hiking which has a small stream through the forest so Bella's feet and belly sometimes get wet Is K9 advantix water proof?
I might have to look into those collars too and that tick remover thing looks nice I'll have to get a couple to try it out since it takes it out with head and everything.