Ticked-off at the BBC Options

[Simon Kirby]

Bit on the Beeb's web site about ticks. Must be a quiet news day with the commons on holiday. Anyhoo, if you're familiar with these little arachnids (and if you walk a dog around Newbury you're likely to be familiar enough with ticks) you'll know they can be a nuisance, but are relatively easy to control.

So I'm ticked off with the BBC's article, because this is how it describes removing a tick:

And for those unsure how to remove a tick? Use fine tipped tweezers, or a tick-removal tool, to grasp the tick by the head as close to the skin as possible. Pull firmly and steadily, without twisting, as this could increase the risk of infection by prompting the tick to regurgitate saliva into the bite wound.

That's terrible advice. If you squeeze the tick in tweezers that's sure as anything to inject it's contents into the bite, and that's a very bad idea. And you won't get the bugger out by pulling, so don't try, because it's body will come away and leave its mouthparts behind and that can get quite nasty.

They unwind anti-clockwise, and if you get one of the little tick-twiddlers from the vets it's a cinch, just a couple of turns and off it comes.

And I think it could have mentioned Frontline and Advantage which virtually immunize dogs and cats against ticks - very effective.

Ticks are nasty and carry some unpleasant diseases, but they're pretty simple to control and not something to start a panic over.

[Biker1]

Glad to see you correctly referred to them as arachnids.
So many, including so called "experts", mistake them as insects.

[Andy Capp]

Reading the title I thought the thread was going to be about Clarkson!

[pbonnay]

My last dog used to get a lot of ticks and I never just pulled them out because, as Simon mentions, it can leave the head embedded and lead to infection.

I used to put meths, lighter fuel or even gin on first (that's a drop on the tick, not pouring it over the dog!) and then after a minute or two they come out a lot more easily.

[Biker1]

I was told that smothering them in petroleum jelly suffocates them and they release.
Does that work?

[Simon Kirby]

I was told that smothering them in petroleum jelly suffocates them and they release.
Does that work?

Twisting them out with the twiddler is so effective it's not something I'd try any more, and I can't remember it being very effective either.

[Brewmaster]

Twisting them out with the twiddler is so effective it's not something I'd try any more, and I can't remember it being very effective either.

Que?

[pbonnay]

Que?

I think Simon meant the twiddler is so effective that the alternative (suffocation with petroleum jelly) is not something he would do anymore.

[Biker1]

Twisting them out with the twiddler is so effective it's not something I'd try any more, and I can't remember it being very effective either.

I'll have to find another use for my petroleum jelly then!

[Biker1]

Anyone been walking at The Chase lately?
Had one on the dog AND ONE ON ME after walking there yesterday!!!

[Simon Kirby]

Anyone been walking at The Chase lately?
Had one on the dog AND ONE ON ME after walking there yesterday!!!

I've been back there once since the National Trust did what they did there - it's far from dog-friendly now. But the ticks are about, found two, but Frontline usually kills them quite effectively.