We looked after a friend's cat that had a huge 'bloater' of a tick on its head, almost like the cat had a small haggis growing there. When the cat turned up one day without it, we all had the heeby jeebies imagining that thing crawling around in our house looking to find a fresh source of blood!
Seriously though (sorry), the longer they're on you the greater the risk of Lyme disease transmission.Originally Posted by The Master
Result!
Me and eldest daughter caught them last year and had a competition to see who could grow theirs the biggest, they were like pets
I know you are meant to carefully remove them.
But last year i was in a meeting at work, left to go for a piss, looked down and saw this bugger attached to my left testicle, absolutely shat myself and just yanked the bugger out there and then, luckily I pulled him out still intact, could barely concentrate for the rest of the meeting, but decided the other academics didn't need to know about my troubles..:-)
Anyway true its very early, we've had loads of frosts recently shouldn't that keep them at bay?
And yes the risk of infection increases with time.
Not surprised, did the tick come off with it?
I kind of have a vision stuck my mind now of you staggering back into the meeting with your trousers still not fully done up and with a bloodied hand holding the tic above your head, shouting and screaming in a very girly way
My pet dog picked up a tic behind the ear a few years back. Not realising what it was I accidently squashed it before pulling it from our dog's ear.
A few months later, our dog was covered in scabs and her fur began to fall out. It wasn't long before it got to the stage were we had no alternative put to have her put down.
Having since read up on tics, the worst thing I could have done was to squash the bloody thing! We learn by our mistakes hey!!
For possible future reference what is the best course of action?
I've got a useful little tick removing tool that I got from a vet on Islay but you can do it by hand by pinching the tick as close to the skin as possible between thumbnail and a fingernail and twisting anticlockwise at the same time as pulling upwards firmly. It's important not to squeeze too hard or the tick may burst. It's quite easy once you've done it a few times.
I've also read that if you smother the tick in vaseline it will eventually let go because it can't breathe but I've never tried that.
Yes vaseline or alcohol.
No don't smother it, it regurgitates. I also don't think you haveto turn anti clockwise, with the tool you twist as the twisting motion povides leverage, but with tweezers you pull straight up.
http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/...ck_removal.htm
http://www.lyme.org/ticks/removal.html
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