Not the clock, the parasite.
Fifi has picked up a tick. The strange factor here is that she has not been out on the country for over two weeks, so this is an urban tick, a thing I had previously thought impossible.
What's worse, because I didn't think it could possibly be a tick I have pulled the body off and left the head under the skin. She got severe blood poisoning the last time this happened and nearly died, so I have shaved the area for ease of finding it again, and stuffed her on pet antibiotics I have a stash of, and its off to the vet on Monday for him to dig it out.
Anyway, the warning is Urban Tick! No doubt brought about by the hot dry weather down here. Dont forget ticks can get humans too, and can carry lymes disease.
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As you say Zero they can be very nasty. I hope your dog will be ok !
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Should be ok, I caught it early and I know what to do ( or what not to do - and I have done what i shouldnt do -pulled it off!)
Its the fact it was picked up round here, possibly even in the garden!
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Picked one off the cocker the other day - thanks for reminding me I'll Front Line him now !
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Yeah I knew Wales would have ticks so was going to Frontline the dog next week prior to our arrival. DOH! week or so too late!
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in the past if my dogs picked up a tick it was when we were living in the city. since living in the countryside the dogs have never had a tick. prob just luck.
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>> Anyway, the warning is Urban Tick! No doubt brought about by the hot dry weather
>> down here. Dont forget ticks can get humans too, and can carry lymes disease.
>>
www.horsellcommon.co.uk/notices.php
"Tick bites and Lyme Disease
We have been advised by the Environmental Health Officer at Woking Borough Council that a walker on the common has contracted Lyme Disease after being bitten by a Deer Tick. More information on Lyme Disease and prevention can be found on this leaflet Lyme Disease.
www.horsellcommon.co.uk/documents/lymeDisease.pdf "
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Yeah - I live about two miles away from the edge of Horsell Common. I guess some of the muntjac are foraging out my way.
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I'd keep Fifi orf the salad as well Z - just to be on the safe side.
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My son spent two weeks in hospital with Lymes disease a couple of years ago when he picked up a tick in our Summer pad. Daughter got one too but she was ok despite the blighter being stuck to her head for several days before we noticed it.
We think they dropped down from a tree while they were in the hammock. Good advice - always wear a hat.
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>>Do dogs eat snozcumbers?<<
My Ridgeback eats carrots AND celery ... I'll try him on the ole E-Coli jobbies in the week.
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Yep! ... I just lobbed him a chunk o' cumber, he was a bit apprehensive at first but (gulp!) it's gone.
Of course - it is organic :)
Last edited by: The worlds most fabulous Dog on Sat 4 Jun 11 at 14:31
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>> Of course - it is organic :)
So are the killer bosche cucumbers.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 4 Jun 11 at 14:45
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>>So are the killer bosche cucumbers<<
Don't mention the war - I did once, but I think I got away with tit.
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It was the Allied Powers' fault due to the imposition of the nonsensical Cucumber corridor....
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It all started after the night of the long cucumbers.
Cant remember tho if that was before or after Cucumber Nacht
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 4 Jun 11 at 16:20
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My sister was bitten by a tick and then felt unwell. In the three weeks that investigations took place and when antibiotics could have prevented Lyme disease developing, it did develop and can't be cured, only managed. It is certainly found in the New Forest and West Wales.
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Look out for the "Perygls" in Wales Zero - they are dangerous.
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I got a tick in my toe a couple of years ago in Oz. It hurt when my SiL gouged its head out with the special tweezers sold in all chemists down under, because I had already pulled its abdomen off in the shower. His grandmother had had a tick on her head for a while and it had caused some sort of paralysis, whether lyme disease or not I don't know.
But there are a lot of deer where we live in Sussex. Oo-er...
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Why did God create mosquitoes & ticks I wonder?
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>> Why did God create mosquitoes & ticks I wonder?
To eat the food he had provided for them...!
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>>To eat the food he had provided for them...!<<
Mmmm - I had to think about that for a minute (perish the thought!)
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>>special tweezers sold in all chemists down under
We walk a fair bit (ramble really) and I bought a pack of tick twisters a while back. Not had to use them yet. When I was a boy scout the received wisdom was to prod them with a lit cigarette, but apparently that just annoys them and makes them puke in the wound. Lovely little things.
www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/shop/index.htm
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Never thought much about Ticks but thought I should bone up on it,
I am now up to speed with O'Tom Tick Twister & Trix Tick Lasso and tweezers.
www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/shop/index.htm
At the end of their video shows binning the Tick but
www.bada-uk.org/defence/removal/indextickremoval.php
seems to give very comprehensive info
I loved the bit " Incorrect removal can result in ............and injury and stress to the tick
www.bada-uk.org/defence/removal/indextickremoval.php
lists the hygene involved but suggests bagging the Tick, logging date etc and popping it in the freezer.
They vote for the O'Tom Tick Twister.
Its dangerous out there !!!!
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>> Look out for the "Perygls" in Wales Zero - they are dangerous.
Yeah ignore the signs at your peril I hear.
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If I'm ever out in the boondocks, I wear a cat's tick-and-flea collar on each ankle/shin. Gte some strange looks from folk, but beats getting bitten by the little critters.
Also, if you discover one which has got through, a lighted cigarette applied to the body makes it drop off without leaving its mandibles behind.
Another (longer) method is to spray with aftershave or deodorant. But that stings like beggary (sic) when it hits the bitemarks!
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'Also, if you discover one which has got through, a lighted cigarette applied to the body makes it drop off without leaving its mandibles behind.'
When I got several tick bites in Canada I was told this was not a good idea. Apparently it can cause the rick to regurgitate its stomach contents into the wound thus increasing the likelihood of infection.
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>> Also, if you discover one which has got through, a lighted cigarette applied to the
>> body makes it drop off without leaving its mandibles behind.
>> Another (longer) method is to spray with aftershave or deodorant. But that stings
You should never remove a tick with a lighted cigarette or aftershave, or coating them with Vaseline. These methods cause the tick to regurgitate, with inevitable wound infection.
When going to France I purchase a Scalibor collar www.intervet.co.uk/news/2011-05-02_-_scalibor_protection.aspx for my dogs. They are a tad expensive, but I have never seen a tick on them yet.
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I would guess that it s a dog tick which is carried by dogs and foxes. Can survey for long periods in dry conditions and the increasing number of urban foxes provides a ready mode of transmission.
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It was from the hard tick family, could be one of over 15 that will feed on canine, human, sheep and deer.
They aint fussy.
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Yeah, I have seen some of the dogs you have latched onto Dave.
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No they're not fussy but in an urban/suburban environment more likely to come across a tick carrying dog or fox than a deer or sheep .
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Funnily enough, we have the lot here.
I can walk for 10 minutes and encounter a very large flock of sheep, The towpath of the basingstoke canal at the bottom of my garden acts as an urban motorway for both fallow and munjack deer, and the foxes are becoming a real pest.
Thinking about it, I have been pretty complacent in my tick risk assessment in home waters.
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when i worked on the farms the vet (then us - when we learned the right way) would remove them by gently grabbing the head in a pair of tweezers (don`t grab the body because as mentioned they regurgitate thier guts) and gently twist anti-clockwise, apparently they "lock-on" in a clockwise direction and then they come out clean.
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Ticks are horrible enough to make me think sentimentally of the leeches that used to cluster on our ankles when we went for cross-country runs at school in Sri Lanka when I was nine or ten.
They didn't hurt at all and could be made to let go with a bit of soap or a hot cigarette end. If you pulled them off the place would itch and leave a mark for a week or two. But if you let a big leech drink its fill until it became very fat and just let go, you could make a brilliant blood-splat by whacking it with a hairbrush between two sheets of paper.
Good fun for blackguard little boys, that.
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This is the worst year I have ever known for ticks here. A daily battle and that's just the cats and dog...
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I've got more into hillwalking this year - planning an assault on Snowdon again in a couple of weeks. Sounds like I need a flea collar (or at least a rubber band) around each trouser ankle :(
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Having said that, I have never heard of a case of Lyme disease here in animal or human and even the feral cats seem to survive the ticks.
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>>you could make a brilliant blood-splat by whacking it with a hairbrush between two sheets of paper.
I recall noticing a fly on my hand and flicking it with my finger, never expecting to make contact. The thing was so full of blood it was too slow getting away. An impressive blood spray across the inside of the windscreen resulted.
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Just found one on the cat - big blighters aren't they!!
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I must have lead a sheltered life, 'cause I've never seen one.
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>> Just found one on the cat - big blighters aren't they!!
Ah if its big its been there a while slurping away.
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Just got Fifi back from the vet, the damn tick, and my stupidity has cost me 180 quid!
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b'Jaysus! - ya can get 2 dogs for that down Battersea.
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>> b'Jaysus! - ya can get 2 dogs for that down Battersea.
I could get ALL the dogs in battersea for that.
And I am sure Pat would take the moggies off my hands.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 6 Jun 11 at 17:04
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Vets bills make main dealer's service charges seem quite reasonable.
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...Just got Fifi back from the vet, the damn tick, and my stupidity has cost me 180 quid!...
Did that include a 99p tick removal tool for next time?
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Tick removal tools are £4.99
And no that was extra.
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So ... what did they actually do for 180 squids Z?
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>> So ... what did they actually do for 180 squids Z?
Light anthesia, shave the area, cut open the bite mark, flush out and clean, suture, recovery, antibiotic jab, check up on thurday and removal of sutures next week.
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Makes you wonder how all those wild animals with tick bites manage to survive.
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It was my fault. Had I left it the tick would have had its fill and fallen off. As happens in the wild. I yanked it off (because i didnt realise it was a tick - well It half crossed my mind but this one was big and pure white, normally they are black) and left the head buried under the skin.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 6 Jun 11 at 17:21
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...but this one was big and pure white, normally they are black)...
I saw a tick on one of the farm cats years ago and was told to leave it alone.
Good advice, by all accounts.
It was white.
A Google of the obvious suggests some types are white when they are full of blood, if not all the time.
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I know that now,
you are doing this on purpose.
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...you are doing this on purpose...
Not in the slightest.
I'm still not clear if all ticks turn white when they are full or just some types.
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All because of a Tick ~ amazing!
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...Tick removal tools are £4.99...
You could have got one for two quid including postage off, er, fleabay.
I couldn't, of course.
cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tick-remover-tool-2-sizes-/120733300639?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Dogs&hash=item1c1c43f79f#ht_500wt_1011
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>> ...Tick removal tools are £4.99...
>>
>> You could have got one for two quid including postage off, er, fleabay.
>>
>> I couldn't, of course.
>>
>> cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tick-remover-tool-2-sizes-/120733300639?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Dogs&hash=item1c1c43f79f#ht_500wt_1011
Yeah, those are the ones i bought for 4.99.
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Blimey hell Zero, is it not cheaper to get her put down? :)
I wouldn't know a tick if I saw one!
Another dog problem then..... :(
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 13 Jun 11 at 13:54
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Is the blood and the y still considered a sweary in this day and age?
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>>Is the blood and the y still considered a sweary in this day and age?<<
Unlike the bbc ~ ya can (almost) say the 'c' word on there, and get away with it!
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>> Unlike the bbc ~ ya can (almost) say the 'c' word on there, and get away with it!
It's alright. We haven't banned Christmas (yet)
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>> blimey Zero, is it not cheaper to get her put down? :)
Yes. Its 80 quid to put a dog to sleep and have it disposed of.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 13 Jun 11 at 13:54
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Never mind urban ticks, the other day I was walking down the pavement in very urban Kensal Rise, and an enormous rat wondered out and joined me! I warned Maria the dear old Italian lady who helps out many in the area and she nearly had a heart attack!
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I check the dogs every other day, but they still seem to appear from nowhere.
One tip though - if you have more than 1 dog, buy the frontline for bigger dogs and share it between them. I buy the 40-60kg one, and each of the 12kg dogs gets a quarter each. And the 40-60 one doesn't cost 4 times the price of the 10-20kg one.
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Beware the Tick! - Skip
