Ticks

[Corinne]

Quote "...he also said that ticks are endemic this year He also gave us free some little plastic crowbars that remove ticks the tick screws itself in clockwise so to remove them you place the crowbar under its head and screw anticlockwise and the tick comes out alive to flush down the loo"

...and if you eat crusts you will get curly hair     Sorry don't mean that to be sarcastic but ticks, and feel free to get your magnifying glass out, don't have a head the shape of a screw direction clockwise or any other'wise.  So being specific about which direction you twist the little blighter is really not needed.

Lastly, I don't actually have any proof (little difficult to get) but have read plenty of info that says that flushing a live tick down the loo does not actually kill it.  At least it will probebly be the last time 'your' dog gets to feed it though

[pattsie]

well Corinne I only put the info to help others and the info was from the qualified vet but it seems that you know more than the vet so who am I to argue and there was I trying to help

[Corinne]

I have no problem with you quoting information just as I am glad you don't mind me giving mine.  Heaven forbid that a vet may not know everything about everything.

Any reason why my name apprears to be linked to a Webcrawler search on back spasms in your reply?

[pattsie]

I was trying to be sarcastic but its not something I am good at with not very much practice what I was trying to say is that the qualified vet knows a lot more than you and the info I was giving was meant to be a help to people not to be ridiculed Im not going to say anything else on this post and i will try to head my own advice in and keep on smiling and not be put off posting as for the rest of what you were saying Im afraid its all goblegook to me so I can not comment

[Corinne]

Was well aware of your sarcasm so don't worry about how good you are at it.  And like I said, I have no problem with you quoting information but I would expect you to do the same.  I never intended it as a ridicule of you personally it was that it just stuck me as funny and that I found difficult to not comment on.  I am quite aware it came from a vet but I am sure that not even every vets would agree on every vet query,  just check the vet sites on the web to see that and I would never expect them to either. And the 'gobbledegook' explained...you copied and pasted by name into your previous post which has turned it into a link to a search engine.  Would appreciate it if you would edit your post and remove it and just type in the name instead.

[Corinne]

Well, would you adam and eve it, just finished watching a TV program all about ticks.  How's that for timing   It included a Dr (sombody) who is a Biologist and who specialises in and studies ticks.

Basicly they showed a lovely zoom in of how ticks attatch and latch on.  It showed the ticks 'cutting/biting' it's way through the skin and not 'screwing' in.  They did say the best was it to remove it is to pull it straight out (not turning at all) as this method has the least possibility of leaving the head in.  If the head does stay in then not to worry to much as it will drop out after about 3 days.  Once the body is removed the chance of any/further infection being 'up-chucked' by the tick, is removed.

Now I am in no way able to say if the tick expert Biologist on TV knows what he is actually talking about any more that a local vet but I can only quote what I was told.

 

For those interested the program is Welt der Wunder on RTL II  but I am sorry but, as you may have guessed, it is in German.

Link to TV program site (you may have to copy and paste it as it could be too long to link)

http://weltderwunder.rtl2.de/archiv/2005/07/wdw/Mensch/Gesundheit/Zeckengefahr/1_Ueberlebenskuenstler/index.html

[Chocolate]

Well Bless me! I am not the most peculiar alien type upon the planet. Have been rivitted to this whole topic as am so amazed that people have the courage to 'come out' about their nasty little visitors. I had been hiding my secret shame for the last 4 weeks; seriously.

We have been in our house for just 8 weeks and already I have had 3 ticks. Didn't know what the small black flappy thing was attached halfway round my back, but eventually, very bravely, I pulled. You know the rest if you have been a fellow sufferer! They clearly like fresh English blood. I ended up using a freshly lit match. Yes I did burn myself-don't try it folks! Every time I tried to go up into the long grass(!) to help OH strim and cut, I have had a nasty visitor. Went up yesterday in wellingtons, socks, trousers tucked in, longsleeved shirt, collar up etc. Bingo! It worked as there was no little black monster, but boy was I hot! Not the gear when the thermometer shows 32 degrees in the shade.

An ashamed chat with a fellow Brit up the hill who lives here for half of each year revealed that she too has had them. 11 in one year was her record.

Checking quietly it seems that neither of our OH's suffer, neither does a local farmer or his wife, nor does the lovely French chap who has cut our grass and hedges in the past for a previous owner. Is it a certain type of blood? Perhaps we are blue-blooded - these parasites know a thing or two obviously that we don't.

Now. What to do? I don't fancy Frontline on me. (Do use it 4 weekly for our 2 indoor cats and always have done). Nor the collar as I have such sensitive skin. Will a normal crotchet hook remove the blighters? The local pharmacie swore blind that none of them have ever experienced a tick (liars) and that I should visit the doctor. Yes I have read the info on disease posted above, and as we have both deer and wild boar each evening I suppose it is possible.

Just off to wash all bedding including that of our 2 Bengal cats!

[Corinne]

11 in one year...oh My!!!!

Been lucky not to have had one but then I have a big long haired dog who (unselfishly) I let walk ahead of me.  She basicly cleans the way for me.  The most I have taken off her after one walk was 32.  The dog didn't mind as she gets a treat for each tick removed.  I just got to retch for each one

Funny that you said about having one half way round your back as that is where my neighbours was.  She got hers from her cat sleeping on her bed.  They went to bed with it on the cat and woke up with it on her.....Mmm nice

After the day I get my first I am not going out without one of those all-in-one plastic suites....at least it might help me loose a bit of weight in this weather.

[Teamedup]

Chocolate, watch out for symptoms and your general health if you have had a tick. There's been a few posts about them recently.

[Athene]

[quote]11 in one year...oh My!!!! Been lucky not to have had one but then I have a big long haired dog who (unselfishly) I let walk ahead of me. She basicly cleans the way for me. The most I have taken of...[/quote]

'Those plastic suits' ? Do you mean the incontinence pants that Billy Conolly made famous in that wonderful piece about the guy who goes to the disco and they fill up. I think if I was going to get ticks everytime I walked through long grass, I might need a pair of these too! LOL!

[Corinne]

  Forgotten all about that Athene, good one

 

I was thinking more of those used for cleaning up toxic spills...then that is still probebly the same thing

[Darren, Vicky and Amelia]

Hello. We have lived here for just over 3 years. Our dog (a King Charles) has had more ticks than I can remember.....YES, before anyone shouts he has regular doses of Frontline...but he also still gets fleas!! He was so ill last year, we took him to the vet who confirmed that the dog had Tick fever!!! Poor little thing was ill for a few weeks., but luckily as he is young and a small dog made a full recovery.

We always use neat alcohol, and tweezers,the alcohol then sterlizes the bite.

A friend rescued a cat, and pulled 'something' off the cat, I confirmed for them that it was a tick, they said but ticks are small........Yes, I replied they are but not when they have been sucking blood for ever....it was bigger than a thumb nail....VILE!!!!

 

Bye..hope no  one is munching breakfast with all this tick talk!!

Vicky

[Robbie34]

This year, for the first time, I used a tick collar on my dog and he hasn't had one tick.  Normally, I use Frontline, and although he had picked up ticks they were all dead.

I think it was on here that someone recommended the University of Liverpool Veterinary Department website.  I visited there and they recommended the use of a collar called Scalibur.  I had to order one from the new pharmacy next to Intermarche in Gourdon - it was 16.50 Euros - and it has done the trick.  It is effective for six months so was a good buy.

[Athene]

[quote]This year, for the first time, I used a tick collar on my dog and he hasn't had one tick. Normally, I use Frontline, and although he had picked up ticks they were all dead. I think it was on here th...[/quote]

Wonder if they do these collars in different colours? I think I should be planning to wear one all the summer!