Ticks....question

[Guest Anonymous]

Okay first let me start by saying...this is only the second time in 3 years of fostering I've had a dog with ticks come in. Well the first one I found before we actually got the dog into the house.

I've been "babysitting" this little husky mix since Tuesday. She hsa not been the most agreeable little girl and it took a lot to gain her trust and to make her understand I run this house! Of all things that seem to have changed it a BATH! Go figure.

Well during the bath I found one tick and dropped it down the drain. The other one I found while getting myself together to take her back to her owner and again dropped it down the drain. God only knows if she had any more before now. The second tick I found was already dislodged and blood filled.

She has been in my yard but has only had contact with two of my dogs.

How worried about my dogs should I be? Should I do anything other than the Frontline my dogs get to make sure they don't get ticks.

There are only three things in the dog world that really give me the creeps...magots, wolfs (as in the fly larve) and TICKS! (The ticks adversion came after picking off over 200 ticks off of a DALMATIAN! Can you imagine the HOURS spent doing that!)

[sarahmyjoy]

I wouldnt be to worried. I would treat them with the Frontline and check them over sence you dont have a regular tick problem I would think it would be just fine. :lol:

There are only three things in the dog world that really give me the creeps...magots, wolfs (as in the fly larve) and TICKS! (The ticks adversion came after picking off over 200 ticks off of a DALMATIAN! Can you imagine the HOURS spent doing that!)

Yuck! I so dont blame you for having the creeps by these I do too! especially after I found that "wolf" larve on that kitten....yuck :-? the others I dont like either. hubby just laughs at me when I find a tick I hold it out at arms length thill I get to where Im ganna get rid of it at. LOL

[mouseatthebusstop]

I would not worry The frontline will take care of your dogs

[imported_Kat]

frontline or alcohol!

[courtnek]

I would go with the frontline, alchohol can work, but if the dog has sensitive skin it will burn and frighten it.

I cant use rubbing alcohol on my skin. even if it's not broken it still burns some

[imported_Cassie]

She has been in my yard but has only had contact with two of my dogs. How worried about my dogs should I be? Should I do anything other than the Frontline my dogs get to make sure they don't get ticks.

I myself wouldn't be too concerned about my dogs "catching" ticks from another dog. The only concern I would have is if a fully engorged female tick fell off and laid eggs in my house...now that would bother me. I have only heard of this happening to one person in my life. A client who has a long coated dog and did not know the dog was infested with ticks...I will give her the benefit of the doubt as it was a long coated breed. The first time she knew the dog had ticks was when she took it to the vet and they removed about 10...then she brought the dog to us to be groomed and we found about 5 fully engorged adult ticks...Yuk. Any way it turned out the lady had a tick infestation in her home and had to have her home fumagated.
You can avoid tick infestations on your dogs by keeping them out of grasses and woods....this helps to reduce their exposure to ticks.
But any animal outside can quite easily have a tick crawl on board. The once monthly topical treatment such as frontline would probably be a good idea to use on your dogs for prevention.

As for removing ticks, you are killing them before putting them down the drain arent you??? I always put ticks I remove from dogs in a bottle full of alcohol to kill them before flushing them down the tolit. I want to make sure those suckers are dead :wink: flushing them down the tolit or letting them go down a drain is not going to kill them.
we also use a little spoon like device called a "tick off" spoon to remove ticks. This ensures that we do not squeeze the little suckers bodies. Its very important not to squeeze their bodies as you don't want to force harmful bacteria into the dogs blood stream. the tick off spoon also ensures that you pull the tick out without jerking and it comes our steadily and directly outward...this also ensures that the tick is not accidently twisted out
Another common mistake people make when removing ticks is by using methods such as applying petroleum jelly, a hot match, or alcohol...these methods will NOT cause the tick to 'back out.' In fact, these irritants may cause the tick to deposit more disease-carrying saliva in the wound.
And always clean the bite wound with a disinfectant. If you want to, apply a small amount of a triple antibiotic ointment.

If you remove alot of ticks, which it sounds as though you do, it might be a good idea to get one of these tick off spoons. I'll find out from my boss where she got them. It makes tick removal so much easier...and in my job where we come across ticks ALOT it makes our work so much quicker and easier. :wink:

I have to agree with not liking maggots, ticks and other slimy creatures which think our dogs look quite scrumptious. :lol:

[Guest Anonymous]

Thank you all. I just hope another tick didn't fall off. I have some fela and tick house spray from PestStop here so I'll use that. I backed it out using tweezers (which is what I used at the vet clinic) and checked it to make sure it's head was still there. I am pretty sure it was. I dropped it right down the drain under running water so I hope it's long gone by now.

I don't deal with ticks now (unless they end up on my own dogs) thankfully.

Thank you all for the suggestions. The dogs just got frontline on the 1st so I hope they are still covered.