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Tick pickers


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I've read that fingertip squeeze and remove can cause the tick to regurgitate whatever nasties it's carrying into the animal (including humans), so not a wise choice.

 

I love my Tick Key. http://www.tickkey.com/ Easy to use and because I keep it on my key ring, it's always handy wherever I happen to be when I find a tick.

 

I also like the little plastic Ticked Off. http://tickedoff.com/ One of the reasons I like it is because you really don't have to handle the tick for removal. It just comes off in the little bowl. This is what I use most often at home.

 

Small pointed tweezers are better than fingertip removal.

 

But for portability, the Tick Key's a fantastic tool to have.

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I love my Tick Key. http://www.tickkey.com/ Easy to use and because I keep it on my key ring, it's always handy wherever I happen to be when I find a tick.

 

I also like the little plastic Ticked Off. http://tickedoff.com/ One of the reasons I like it is because you really don't have to handle the tick for removal. It just comes off in the little bowl. This is what I use most often at home.

 

Those two links didn't work for me. If it's the same for others, use these:

www.tickkey.com

www.tickedoff.com

 

Are these better than fingertip squeeze and removal?

 

Downside of squeezing has already been mentioned. But I never find squeezing necessary. Just pull easy and gradual. Tick always comes off whole, with just a tiny bit of skin he's attached to (curious, do the linked devices pull a bit of skin?). Of course yeah there's the concern of handling the tick with bare hands. I'd avoid it if cuts and abrasions are on your fingers.

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I don't understand why the links didn't work. Sorry. I copied and pasted right from the URL bar, which has always worked before.

 

You'll like the Ticked Off thingie. Theoretically you could also put one on your key ring as well. It'd be a little bulkier and I'm a minimalist when it comes to keys. I have my car key (and I hate how bulky the new ones are), my house key and my tick key on my main key ring, then another one for other keys I need less often that I use only when I need those keys.

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The links have some spurious characters at the end. They looked like this for me: http://tickedoff.com/%C2%A0 -- just delete everything after the slash character and all is good.

 

BTW: I just use my finger nails and don't squish them until they are off my dog. This year is in the sign of the tick -- just horrible and never ending.

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I saw a very positive review (by people I know of in the sheepdog world) of the Tick Twister and ordered a package (each has two sizes, one for seed ticks and one for larger ticks) for each of the kids' families. The evaluation by the daughter who lives in tick territory is that they work very well. They come in a small zippy bag and would be easy to slip in a pocket or purse, and are very reasonably priced. I got five sets for less than $30 including shipping to me.

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I haven't tried the tick twister, but I think it would work well. The other products never seemed to work well for me unless the tick was rather large. So I just use fingers or tweezers/forceps. I do try to avoid squeezing because of the regurgitation concerns, but some of those ticks attach so throughly that one needs to nearly tear them apart to get them off. Disgusting.

 

J.

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I've read a few times that it's not a good idea to twist ticks.

 

From the CDC: "Don't twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers." (http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html)

 

So if I'm going to have to go back and remove the mouth-parts with tweezers, I'd rather use another method that'll get the whole thing out in the first place.

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I've had pretty good luck with even the very small ticks using the Tick Key and the Ticked Off. The V works well to get both the bigger ticks and the tiny ones.

 

Even the bigger ticks tend to slide snugly down into the smaller part of the V where their mouth parts are next to the skin. I find I have to do less finagling with these tools than with tweezers, which will tend to slip for me, especially if the dog happens to move a bit just as I'm starting to pull. And I'm less likely to loose the tick once removed as it stays in the tool, which suits me just fine, too. The less I have to handle those sucker, the better. They creep me out, even though I know they can't dig in that fast. ;)

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In terms of twisting, it may be more *how* you twist than just whether or not you twist. I've watched video of the Tick Twister and read FB friends' opinions, and it looks positive for me in terms of removing the entire tick, mouthparts and all. Perhaps it is due to the device being right next to the skin when it is done?

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Tick removers work pretty well for me, but the key is to be slow and gentle with the pull so that you do not pull off the body and leave the head imbedded in the dog (or you). Even so, at least 25% of the tie the head gets left behind. I have never found anything that works all the time on all ticks, and I have dealt with a LOT of ticks in my life. If the head is left behind it is not the end of the world but it's not what you want.

 

One thing I learned: do not allow your dog to come into your home with even one tick on his or her body if you can possibly avoid it. You can end up with a tick infestation in your home and that can be very hard to get rid of. I had a three year battle with a tick infestation that followed me through two house moves and finally required the application of heavy toxic chemicals to end.

 

By the way, once I had ticks in some bedding, I washed the sheets in hot water with boiling water added to the machine, a great deal of bleach, and let them soak before starting the washing machine. Then dried on high in a dryer. When the sheets came out of the dryer there were live ticks on them. Seriously hard to get rid of, those buggers. When I am queen of the universe, ticks will be the first thing to go. <_<

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When I am queen of the universe, ticks will be the first thing to go. <_<

I hope that happens soon as I sure would love to get rid of all ticks.

 

I occasionally come across a tick that literally digs into the skin so far that most of the body is below skin level. [Most ticks just lie on top of the skin surface and are not that hard to feel (once engorged) when running my hand over the dog's body.] This type is really hard to remove. I can never get them out in one piece.

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I tick pick nightly or even more. I can hardly pet any dog without tick picking.

Long ago my kids got lice. I nit picked them till almost adulthood.

It is like an obession for me. Can't stand the little buggers.

I've gotten good enough that I can pick one handed while driving without looking! Lol but those damn little ones that bury their bodies to take eyes and sometimes a tweezer.

If I get a tick on me it will leave a welt for a couple weeks.

The lgd is as obsessed as I am, she comes over ro me and directs my hand to where she needs picking.

YUCK! I HATE TICKS!

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I occasionally come across a tick that literally digs into the skin so far that most of the body is below skin level. [Most ticks just lie on top of the skin surface and are not that hard to feel (once engorged) when running my hand over the dog's body.] This type is really hard to remove. I can never get them out in one piece.

 

I run into these a lot. Very frustrating, and I never feel as if I've gotten the entire tick.

 

J..

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SO SO SO glad we don't have tick problems where I live. In the 9 years we've been here I've pulled exactly 0 ticks off the dogs at home. One here and there if we camp, but none at home.

 

You should have seen the meltdown that ensued when I got a tick.

 

I'm gonna go squirm for a couple hours.

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