Yikes! There was a tick on Colby's face!

My wife saw a dark spot on Colby's face today. When she touched it, she saw some legs on it. This was our first tick experience and it freaked us out. My wife held Colby down while I ran to get the tweezers. I was surprised how hard it was to pull the tick off of our dog. I immediately put the tick into a disposable bathroom cup filled with rubbing alcohol and let it soak for several minutes before flushing the little bugger down the toilet. I have a few questions for y'all:

1. We apply Frontline Plus to Colby every month. Isn't that supposed to prevent ticks from latching on to his skin?

2. We live in Arkansas where there is a low risk of Lyme disease. Should we be worried that Colby is now sick with that (or something else)?

3. Has anyone used the 'Tick Key'? I have heard that it works well, but I wanted to see what fellow Corgi owners use to remove ticks.

4. Any other advice?

THANKS!

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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on May 12, 2009 at 4:01am

How icky! I pulled a tick off of Bruce a couple months ago. It is incredibly hard to pull those little buggers off!

This is what the Frontline website says about ticks:
The following are warning signs that your dog or cat may have a disease that was transmitted by a tick:
• Fever • Sudden onset of pain in your pet's legs or body
• Lameness • Arthritis or swelling in your pet's joints
• Loss of appetite • Lethargy or depression
• Cough

Contact your veterinarian immediately to schedule an examination and a blood test if you believe that your pet has been bitten and infected by a tick. If you remove any ticks from your pet, save them in a bottle – your veterinarian may want to examine them in order to determine what type of ticks they were. Remove ticks with tweezers, never with your hands.

Also it says "FRONTLINE Plus kills all stages of 4 major ticks, including the one that may carry Lyme disease." SO I guess that tick would have dies, but maybe it does not act fast enough to kill them before they latch onto the dog? Eww.

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Permalink Reply by Sunni A. on May 12, 2009 at 4:27am

My first thought was: Your area's ticks may have developed an immunity to the medication. My vet said Frontline Plus kills ticks that first attach themselves, so, for example, your dog may have a tick attached on his inner thigh, and it will remain until the poison kills it, or it may crawl around to another location before dying and falling off somewhere.

He also said none of the spot-on serums actually repel fleas, just poison them and their offspring to help break the life-cycle in your home, only a tick collar will actually prevent the attachment of adults from happening.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on May 12, 2009 at 9:06am

I LOVE MY TICK KEY! Also, I believe the ticks are killed by Frontline after they latch on -- I think. I use Advantix because it is supposed to stop them from latching. But I still find ticks. Either the dogs or the ticks are immune. Typically the tick has to be latched on 24-48 hours to pass the Lyme bacteria (and you'll know they were there that long because they'll be fat with blood, so disgusting). So if you caught it while it was still small, you probably got it in time. The tick key works great, helps to make sure you get the whole head out. We get ticks ALL THE TIME (it's enough to make me want to move), so I keep the Tick Key on my car key chain!