P.A.W.S.S

For the first time in 5 years my dog and a few dog friends have been treated for ticks....they make me feel sick just looking at them. Aparently due to the humid, wet weather we are having, any walk in long grass or near bushes seem to contain more ticks than ever. How can you treat them? if you are sqeamish its best to call the vet and get them to do it, or prevent by giving your dog and I guess your cat (if outdoors) a spot on treatment again available from vets.

I haven't seen too many cases of dog fleas, however, ever cat I have taken in recently has been riddled with fleas. I also no off a few housholds were cats are just swarming with them and the owners are struggling to get rid. I heard the flea bomb are good. I tend to boil wash bedding and clothes, shampoo carpets etc.

Have you had to treat your pet?

How are you coping?

for removal of ticks you can get a small plastic device from the vets or if like myself you are too queezy then get the vet to do it cause if you just pull it off then part of the tick stays inside the cat/dog and will cause an infection . 

i have always used frontline for removal of fleas and so far its always worked for me 

I have noticed so far that this year is a bad year for ticks, my dogs have had more than ever.  A green tick hook obtainable from the vets is the quickest and easiest method to remove them (it's called OTom tick hook I think).  all you need to do is slide the hook over the tick's head and twist a few times then the tick will come away easily. 

Once tick has been removed I give the wound a wash in warm salty water to clean it.

Mikki also do a set of tick tweezers but I would not recommend them, I have found that they squeeze the tick quite hard which causes the tick to regurgitate some of the blood it has eaten plus its saliva back into the animals wound, this increases the risk of the wounds becoming infected.  Causing any form of stress such as attempting to burn or suffocate it will do the same.

Another note is that mites also seem to be ripe this year.  One of my ferrets is having problems with them.  Speak to your vet if you are unsure what treatment to use for ferrets or rodents.  Typical symptoms are small off-white bugs (like pencil dots) in the coat, excessive scratching and small sores or scabs on the skin resulting from the scratching.  There may also be thinning or missing patches of fur.

Oooer...its make me go al odd at the thought of removing ticks.. I do tend to just go to the vet for it . Mites on rodents can be a pain, we have seen rats with lots of mites, though Nykohla would be mor able to say what she uses on that...

What products if any have worked?

Whenever my dog chao have a problem with ticks I always bring her to the vet then just maintain your pet with a proper grooming

pawss-rescue at 05:41AM on Sep 01, 2009

Oooer...its make me go al odd at the thought of removing ticks.. I do tend to just go to the vet for it . Mites on rodents can be a pain, we have seen rats with lots of mites, though Nykohla would be mor able to say what she uses on that...

What products if any have worked?

My rats have been bad for mites and my thoughts are that it's down to the bedding. I have found that woodshavings which I use for the hamsters often carry mites which then transfer to the rats. In fact my last bag of woodshavings contained biting lice! This I only discovered when I took one of my rats (Silent Bob) to the vet last week to schedule a mammary lump removal and whilst his chest was being checked we spotted the crawlies on his coat! My rats are on BedXcel which is huge bales of cardboard cut into small squares and I can't think that this would contain bugs.

I get a spot on treatment called Xeno 50 for my rats, usually from the vets. It contains Ivermectin and there are similar brands available in shops or online possibly cheaper than from the vets.  When the ferrets had mites I used Xeno 450 and it cleaned them right up. I have issues with fully removing mites in some of my rats as their immune systems are impaired, which does make mites more difficult to control. For example, Archie has a massive inoperable tumour on his neck, the stuff I gave him didn't clear the mites and the stuff the vet gave him has worked a little but there are still mites on him (she gave me a further dose for him to give 2 weeks later). But then again, Archie will only be around until the tumour severely affects his quality of life. He is still happy and getting around fine. I at least want to make sure he is comfortable during his last couple of weeks.

Also, I find it necessary to treat the cage as well and of course all bedding and hammocks need to come out and fabric items boiled before putting through the wash. A cage spray is available in the pet shops for mites. I can't remember the brand name of it (it's in a yellow spray bottle). Also the same one do a mite treatment spray for animals, I don't know what the active ingrediant is in this one but it was good for my tiny Roborovski hamsters. All you do is spray a small amount onto a comb and brush it into their coats (easier said than done as they are tiny and wriggly!). I think the brand is Johnson?

It hurts to see my dog scratching the skin due to ticks.. Cleanlyness is important in this respect.. Initially when my dog was facing the prob i tried to remove them by pulling off ...then I  realised that its a very difficult job..now I visit vet and get it clear. I think frontline is best .