# Found a Tick on Willow-Used This Removal Tool



## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Yuck! :surprise: I found a tick on Willow just above her eye yesterday. I had not given her an application of Advantix since last year as I didn't think ticks were active yet. Quite a while ago I got a tick removal tool to use on my corgi but I've never had to use it.......until now. I tried it and it works. I think the tick had been on her for only a short while as I had given her a bath in the morning and didn't see anything then. Around lunchtime we went for a walk and she did her usual snuffling in the weeds and I think that's when she picked it up. I was fixing her topknot when I noticed this thing over her eye. I thought it was a scab but when I was parting her hair to get a better look, I could see these little legs wriggling. Ugh! uke: Anyway, here is what I used but would really appreciate hearing how others have removed ticks.

Amazon.com : The Original Ticked Off Tick Remover Three (3) Pack with Key Hole family Colors May Vary : Pet Tick Removers : Pet Supplies


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I just use my finger nails! Even with Advantix, we get a lot of ticks, between dogs, cat, horse and people. You just get used to it. My finger nails are always with me!!!


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## KarMar (Jan 14, 2016)

krandall said:


> I just use my finger nails! Even with Advantix, we get a lot of ticks, between dogs, cat, horse and people. You just get used to it. My finger nails are always with me!!!


Same with us. Being a very outdoorsy family living in Minnesota, we get lots of ticks and are pros at removing them with the tools we are born equipped with


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

How do you do it with the fingernail? Do you try and grab it an pull or do you scrape it off? We don't get a whole lot of ticks around here. When my corgi got them I took her to the vet to have them removed. Seems to me he used something to grab them with and just pulled. I've heard it's not good to have the head break off and left behind so I was a little nervous to attempt the removal myself with Willow.


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## KarMar (Jan 14, 2016)

Unless the tick has been there for awhile, the head shouldn't break off. I do grab them by the head though, and do a twisting and pulling maneuver to remove it cleanly. Never had a problem, and I've removed hundreds of ticks. Just make sure you check often; it's easiest to get them off early. This shouldn't be a problem, considering how often us Hav owners brush and comb our pooches.


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

KarMar said:


> Unless the tick has been there for awhile, the head shouldn't break off. I do grab them by the head though, and do a twisting and pulling maneuver to remove it cleanly. Never had a problem, and I've removed hundreds of ticks. Just make sure you check often; it's easiest to get them off early. This shouldn't be a problem, considering how often us Hav owners brush and comb our pooches.


Thanks. I know the ones I found on my corgi had been in a long time as the bodies were swollen. I never even saw the ticks until the bodies were so big they stuck up through her hair like a big skin tab. Ugh. Fortunately I found Willow's pretty quickly.


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## Heather's (Jun 18, 2012)

There are ticks around here all year. I check Scout and Truffles everyday because they go play on the grass at the park daily where there are lot's of deer at night. Plus we see a lot of them grazing on our plants front yard.  Scout seems to attract them. Truffles has never had one which is surprising since she is such a shorty.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Jackie from Concrete said:


> How do you do it with the fingernail? Do you try and grab it an pull or do you scrape it off? We don't get a whole lot of ticks around here. When my corgi got them I took her to the vet to have them removed. Seems to me he used something to grab them with and just pulled. I've heard it's not good to have the head break off and left behind so I was a little nervous to attempt the removal myself with Willow.


You grab it as close to the skin as possible, and just put gentle, steady tension on it. In the THOUSANDS of ticks I've removed over the years, (they can COVER a horse's legs if they go through a nest on a trail ride) I've never left a head behind. I almost think that's more a myth than anything else. I'm not even sure how you'd do it.

The only time I've taken an animal to the vet for a tick was when our cat got one RIGHT on the inside edge of her eyelid... right against her eye. I was the only one home, and there was no way this was a one-person job. That one needed to be removed with tweezers, because it was SO tiny (a seed tick) and so close to her eye. I needed to hold her down, the tech needed to roll her eyelid out away from her eye, and the vet took it out with the tweezers. 15 second operation, but a lot of hands needed!


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## HavGracie (Feb 27, 2012)

I don't think I've ever had to pull a tick off of Gracie, but I've taken them off my sisters dog, and several off of myself. What I do is take tweezers and grab the tick, then flip it on its back. Then, I give it a tug and the tick comes out with no problem. From what I understand, the ticks head goes into you like a hook, and you have to flip it to pull it out. Otherwise, if you just pull it without flipping it, the head can remain under your skin. Don't know how true this is, but it's the only way I now do it, and have never had any problems.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I've never even wirried about flipping a tick, and never had a head left behind.


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## M&J (Mar 1, 2016)

A little isopropyl alcohol will work too if you have it. It will help them release. I'm like Karen and usually just pull them off gently. Deer ticks are more prone to carry Lyme disease and are much much smaller than a normal tick. North and South Carolina are full of ticks. We have many deer ticks where we hunt near Wadesboro/Rockingham area along the Pee Dee river so we check our clothes thoroughly (even though we use repellent) when we come out of the woods especially during turkey season which starts this Saturday and during bow season for deer when the weather is still warm.


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Thanks everyone for your techniques! Hopefully now that she has had a dose of Advantix, I won't ever have to remove one again.


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