[CorkyMax]

I just got this info in an email from my sister:

Tick removal, From unknown sender

Spring will be here soon and the ticks will soon be showing their heads. Here is a good way to get them off you, your children, or your pets. Give it a try.


Please forward to anyone with children... or hunters or dogs, or anyone who even steps outside in summer!!


A School Nurse has written the info below -- good enough to share -- And it really works!


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 some times 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 its own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently, 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!"


Please pass on Everyone needs this helpful hint.

[AnmialLover]

I have had to take 12 ticks off my puppy over the past three weeks I have just been using tweeser grabbing them and pulling them out. The vet said this is okay. The ticks we get around here are Brown Legged Dog ticks. Am I doing the wrong thing then?

[CorkyMax]

It depends how you use the tweezers--You have to get a hold of the head--not the body!! Check out this link for some good details:
How to Remove a Tick: Safely Removing Ticks from Dogs, Cats and other Pets

Personally if the above 1st post I did works the way it says--Why not do it that way--You would not ever leave the head embedded like it could easily happen when using the tweezers!

[JayBee]

Liquid soap is a great suggestion. A lot better than using a hot match head.

[CorkyMax]

Just came across this good bit of info: (If you are concerned and want to make sure your dog will be okay)-- After removing an engorged tick, place it in a jar of alcohol to kill it, put the dead tick in a tightly sealed Ziplock bag and write the date on the bag. Take the tick to a vet to have it analyzed at a lab for Lyme disease or any other tick-borne diseases.

[vernahll4]

Liquid soap? That's new to me. Nevertheless, I guess disinfecting the area with betadine after removal of the tick shouldn't be overlooked.

[kentz27]

You should treat your dog with a natural flea and tick control. Because it is safe and very effective.. I found some good products from wondercide. Check out my signature for more information.

[piratekitty]

My youngest son is in the army and while trainning with his men in the eastern part of our state ( Washington) in january he felt a bump on his hip. He took off his shirt and their was a tick just starting to burry is head in his skin. They took a match to burn its butt, but it never backed out. But it did kill it, and they were able to pick it off in tack. This was not in the summmer but in our cold months. It must have hitched a ride on him when they were trainning in the sage brush and when he got back in his Striker where it was warmer it became active. So you need to watch for these pest year round. He was back over again trainning this August. This time he put a dog flea collar around his ankels over his socks, and no ticks.