Here in Spain, as the Weather warms, the Ticks are again beginning to become a real problem. All three of the Dogs have a Treatment against Ticks
If they are not treated every month though, they will have Ticks on them all year. It seems that if we miss the monthly deadline by even a few days then the Ticks start to attack the Dogs.
Ticks are horrible little insects that suck on the blood of their host and gradually swell up with blood. Very nasty to see when full, they are not much better when small.
Over many years I have heard a lot of conflicting advice about Tick removal. Removing Dog Ticks is not a nice thing to do but most Dog owners will have to do it at some point. Try not to be too squeamish about it and if you find Ticks on your Dog you need to remove them as quickly as possible. Removing Dog Ticks is simple and with this guide about how to remove a Tick from a Dog you should have no problems. I must admit I really do not like the Ticks at all but knowing how to remove Ticks from a Dog is just one of those things we as Dog owners need to know about.
How To Remove A Tick From A Dog
As mentioned earlier I have had so much conflicting advice on how to remove Ticks from your Dogs. The main thing to bear in mind when removing Ticks from the Dogs is that you do not want to crush or squeeze the Ticks body. This could push the harmful Bacteria in the Tick in to the Dogs body.
You need to remove the Tick intact and then get rid of it.
I had always been told to either put a just extinguished match to the Tick, or cover it in Petroleum Jelly. This is supposed to make the Tick react, let go and easily be pulled off. In reality this does nothing more than make the Tick react, maybe hold on tighter, and increase the risk of its nasty Saliva getting more in to the Dogs bloodstream.
You Need To Be a Ninja Tick Eliminator
Don your Ninja Tick Eliminating gear and get your Ninja Tweezers ready.
The best way to go about removing a Tick from a Dog is the most direct approach. Removing Ticks from Dogs is best done quickly and efficiently. A pair of Tweezers is the best tool for the job.
When you find a tick on the Dog, part the Fur around the Tick and grip the Tick with the Tweezers right where it has its head in the Dog. (I know, Gross!)
DO NOT grip it by its body. You may make the problem worse or end up removing the body without the Head.
With the Tick held right by the Head simply pull away from the Dogs body. It will come out fairly easily. It is a straightforward process and not difficult at all.
Just try not to look at the Tick too much. They are one ugly insect!
Removing Ticks From Dogs
Getting rid of ticks is a very quick thing as long as they are not infested. The best way to stop Ticks from reappearing is to use a product such as Frontline
Removing Ticks from Dogs Video.
Discount Frontline for Dogs?
Dog Ticks Treatment
I have never found a source of cheap or discounted Frontline or X-Spot. I wish I could tell you that I have. It is an expensive treatment to have to give every month. I have found it cheap on ebay. But it comes from places such as Malaysia and Thailand and to be honest I am simply a bit dubious about it. Dog Ticks Treatments are an expensive business each month.
The best and most reasonable prices for cheap Frontline for Dogs seem to be from Amazon
Do you use a Dog Ticks Treatment?
Does it work?
Do you know of an alternative to Chemical Treatments? Is there low cost Frontline?
And can you tell us all where we can buy it cheaply? This would help a lot of the readers.
Removing Ticks from a Dog can be straightforward but getting some Frontline, discount or otherwise will help stop Ticks in the first place. How to remove Ticks from a Dog is, as you can see , not that difficult as long as you are not too squeamsih.
My best solution is to move to an area which doesn’t have ticks. Whenever we take our dogs up into the mountains, we have to do some serious de-ticking when we get home. One year we didn’t think of it and we had to fight the descendants for over a month. We did the tweezing thing you described.
That’s no help to you, I know.
jan’s last blog post..Cesar Millan: “Mastering Leadership” 3 DVD set—a review
As the owner and house mate of 6 Yorkies I am fairly familiar with ticks. I hate them and thank goodness for Frontline. We live in the Central US so ticks can be a serious problem for a large part of the year. My husband is a deer hunter so on occasion he has brought home a tick but I never find one on the dogs. I can’t help you out with a cheaper, safe way to purchase Frontline or X-Spot (never tried this) since I purchase mine from my vet in large quantities. It is always a major expense but since I have a tick phobia it is money well spent.
We have a little plastic crowbar-like tool that we’ve found to work very well for removing ticks. They’re pretty much endemic on the hillside here and we end up having to remove at least two or three from Trixie every summer.
Dennis the Vizsla’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: Barrier Frustration
Jan, now that is a drastic solution!
Carlars Cuties, It is a major expense but you are right, it is well worth the money. I just wish it wasn’t quite so much.
Dennis, seems like you are in a similar situation to us. I hate the things.
The biggest thing about removing ticks is just to make sure you get the head out. Leaving the head in can result in sickness.
We use to live out in the country before I moved to the inner city 🙁 and our dogs would get ticks all the time. We also gave them medicine to fight any illnesses.
Black Labradors’s last blog post..How to teach your Labrador Retriever to roll over
Though we are in Texas where ticks are quite common, I don’t treat the dogs for ticks. This is because I can only think of one occasion where one of my dogs got a tick, and this was after we took them to a relative’s ranch and let the dogs romp in the thick underbrush.
After that one tick, I decided to treat the dogs with Frontline the day before a planned excursion to the ranch. That did the trick, and since we rarely go out to the ranch, I almost never use Frontline.
Now, as for the flea treatment, which is Sentinel (a heartworm/flea combo pill)… that is insanely expensive and it makes me nervous to think that my dog is ingesting pesticide. But it’s unavoidable, effective, and I have found no cheaper alternatives.
Jennifer’s last blog post..I cooked it, ate it, and did not die
Black Labradors, good point. The head usually does come out fine as long as you pull from next to the Dogs body.
Jennifer, I am amazed they don’t get Ticks. I wish I could say the same.
I agree about the Chemicals, it just doesn’t seem right, but I don’t know an effective alternative.
I don’t think twezzers are helpful in removing the ticks. You are required to take extreme care while using tweezers instead why not to use tick twister tools
Today we found a massive tick on our dog! All I used was rubbing alcohol to numb the tick and tweezers. Pretty simple removed the whole tick and my dog was happy once it was gone as was myself was happy.. I called the vet to see what else should be done and was told nothing even if the head was left behind the dogs immue would fight it all off..
The video above is of the O’Tom/Tick Twister
There is an updated and improved version called
the Tick Twister Pro – One tool for both small
and large ticks. The Pro version can also be
carried everywhere you go on a key ring making for…
A better way to get rid of an embedded tick.
The Tick Twister Pro is by far the easiest, fastest, safest and cleanest way to remove those nasty little critters that have attached themselves to family members, ourselves or our beloved pets.
It does not twist like the name implies, it spins the ENTIRE tick at once.
It can also be used on commercial livestock, (Not pets, but animals that are taken care and loved just as if they were.), horses, goats, sheep, pigs, etc…
The Tick Twister Pro can be found on the web at many places but the lowest (total) price we have found so far is from us at Twist-It-Out.com.
Visit the web site and take a look at the tool, it really is quite unique.
The “Vee” shape “business” end of the tool MAY actually cut off the flow of fluids(not confirmed) out of the tick.
We truly hope that this info helps anyone that needs a tick removal tool regardless of where you may end up purchasing it/them from.©
Thanks for reading,
Diane & Don
Twist-It-Out.com
I just found a tick on one of my big dogs and I put honey on it and I guess that made it come up for air because I was able to lift the entire tick out by putting tweezers “pinched under the tick” around the skin area where the tick was embedded. It just lifted right out! Also, I have used honey on one of my other dogs that got a patch of ringworm and it did not spread and hair grew back within 2 weeks. I just kept putting honey on 3 times a day!
Our Lilly is 1 1/2 years old, we live in the woods in NH and she has already got 3 ticks, we just found the 3rd tick today and was suprised as the snow is still on the ground in the woods, we thought it had to be warmer. We have used the good old tweezers to pull them out, we have been successful so far getting the entire tick, Lilly is part rottie and pitbull so has short hair which has made it easier for removal. Once removed she runs around and around chasing her tail, her way of saying gee Thanks!
The tool remover for ticks works okay but I have found the tweezers work best.
i just ordered a 6 month supply for 0-22 pound dogs, for $15.75 with free shipping and no sales tax. the vial actually says US EPA and gives the EPA# (so i know it’s genuine). the seller is on eBay, from the U.S., and has a high customer rating. basically he’s selling a 1 month supply for 89-132 pound dogs, plus a glass vile (to hold product for future use) plus a 1cc syringe for application on a small dog and full instructions. this is very ingenious on his part, a great idea and just saved me a ton of money. seems to me that anyone could do this on their own, i just don’t want to bother finding my own vial and 1cc syringe. so, in Spain, just buy Frontline for the biggest dog available and determine how many cc’s your dog needs and voila – cheap Frontline. hope this helps and thanks for your clear and funny tick removal info.
tweezers are the worst. With a squirmy pet and only two hands, and little ticks, it is nearly impossible to get the tick out. I have no idea if I am getting the entire tick or not.
I found a video online that showed a person simply rotating the tick clockwise by using their finger and rubbing the tick around gently in a circle. I just used it now on a bigger tick. The tick was still relatively small, but not as small as a seed tick. It worked like a champ. It might be hard to do on a smaller tick but I plan to try it out.
I also plan to go get something to keep the ticks off. My vet gave us Comfortis, which works like a champ on the fleas, but doesn’t work for ticks. I’m so mad about this. THEY know I live in “Deep East Texas” and rural doesn’t even begin to describe this area!!! :/
I cover attached ticks with vaseline…as ticks breathe through their skin. It does seem to make them easier to remove. I live on a Greek island, we have millions of them at this time of year!!! Frontline always !!!
Hi everyone, I just read through all these posts. People with 3 ticks on their dog!!! Lucky people.
I went out on the hill near me (in Andalucia) by a goat farm. I forgot about the ticks. I spent best part of an hour de-ticking my big dog and the next day, had a dozen more yesterday and 4 more today. The little 4 month old terrier only had 2 on her but one has left a nasty bump behind. I am keeping an eye on that. (and antiseptic/antibiotic cream) Back in the UK I used garlic for my 3 large, very fluffy dogs to keep fleas at bay. One clove once a week at first and eventually, once a month and then not at all. For some reason they just stopped getting fleas. Much cheaper than frontline. I am going to try it for ticks. I gave the larger dog a clove the other day. It obviously hasn’t worked too well but I will try again.
Happy Easter.
Canada and Australia sell flea and tick meds a lot less! You just have to find the webs
Removing ticks by pinching or with tweezers or forceps can cause fluids to be pushed back into the animals skin. Also when ticks are jerked out, mouth parts are left behind in the skin. TICK TWISTERS are the smartest tools ever invented for tick removal. Our five short haired dogs in northern GA have ticks imbedded almost every day in the warm season. The Otom tick twister device is the original design, made in France. There are two sizes of tick twisters as ticks can be very small. It is so simple to use, we have not ever found a better way in sixty years to pluck ticks from the dogs… and us!
I wish the dates on the posted comments showed the year as well because they have different twist tools on the market now (look on Amazon) that remove ticks and the above posters don’t seem to know about these tools. I just ordered one so will see if the tool works (people say they do).
I have been removing ticks from my three dogs with tweezers. Now, if one is going to use tweezers to remove a tick, you can’t use the flat kind, you have to use the ones that when you look at the tweezer from the top it just goes from the handle straight into a point. The tip that you grab the tick with is very narrow. You have to push the tweezer sides as far down on the ticks head as you can (don’t squeeze its body), squeeze the tweezer firmly and with a SLOW steady movement pull the tick straight up. I have no problem getting the head out and all with this method. What people sometimes do is when they have a hold of the tick with the tweezer, they jerk the tweezer up fast and the head of the tick usually just breaks off and winds up not coming out. Pulling up slowly induces the tick to sort of loosen up his grip or maybe it loosens his “glue”, but whatever happens, going slower seems to work!