Getting rid of ticks

 

 

Hedgehogs often have ticks, these bloodsucking creatures are latched on to them in between their spines.   Cats and dogs can get them too.  It’s usually the pets who go out in long grass or in overgrown areas.   There is often one or more tick, we’ve seen dozens on one poor dog.   Cats get them in most unlikely places, round their eyes or ears sometimes.

How to get persuade this tick to leave little Buffy?   It’s no use trying to pull this vampire creature away, it won’t give up it’s feed supply without a struggle.  If you force the tick away you may leave some of it embedded in with dire consequences.   Dogs, cats and hoglets can all develop an abscess and infection from having part of a tick buried in their skin.

With pets it’s fairly easy to get rid of ticks.  You can spray with Frontline and the tick is zapped, dead as a dodo and drops off in a few minutes.   But we don’t like to spray our wild creatures with a toxic chemical so a safer method is preferred.   There’s a little gadget called a ‘Tom-Tom’ and it’s specifically designed to force the tick to part company from it’s host and leave no part behind.

You put the prongs of the tick remover at the base of the tick, twist a couple of times and that’s it – the tick gives up and withdraws it’s hooks and comes clean away.   We always spray a bit of garlic juice on the site to zap any infection.  Bear in mind also that the tick won’t be dead!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s legs and hooks are waving and it will be thinking about latching on to someone else so dispose of it right away.   Pop it straight into a dish of water or vaseline jelly so it will stay in one place while you get rid of it.   Don’t throw it outside or else it will be back on some other (or the same) host within no time.   Ticks take some killing, they are successful parasites and while we don’t like to destroy any creature, this one is so destructive and damaging that it has to go – and on the fire is best.

Thanks also to Trish who tells us that clove oil is an effective tick remover – apparently they feel the sting of it and withdraw straight away.   It’s worth a try, Trish says it never fails.   

Other tick removing remedies – such as garlic, burning them with a matchstick etc. don’t always work and sometimes do more harm than good.   You can always take your cat or dog to the vet who will remove the ticks in a few minutes.