Tick Off

Grasp ticks with fine-tipped tweezers as close to your pet’s skin as possible, and pull upward with steady, even pressure. COURTESY PHOTO

If you’re anything like me, the thought of removing a tick from your dog or cat is high-key alarming. But not removing it puts your pet at risk for Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and other tick-borne diseases.

Never fear. Parasitologist Kathryn Reif, MSPH, Ph.D., associate professor at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine, is here to offer tips on safe and successful tick removal.

Step one? Stay calm.

Next, check to see if the tick is dead or alive. With some tick-control products, such as isoxazolines, the tick must actually bite the skin before the drug takes effect and kills it.

“Because that drug is systemically distributed, sometimes what we may see is a tick that has died, but it’s still stuck to that pet because it hasn’t quite flaked off yet. And that dead tick poses zero risk to the pet,” Reif says.

How do you tell the difference? Poke the tick with tweezers. “If they wiggle a lot of leg, they’re alive, and if they don’t, they’re dead,” Reif says.

Ticks with longer mouth parts such as black-legged ticks or Lone Star ticks have more attachment points, so dead ones may take longer to drop off the pet, she adds.

If you’ve determined that the tick is alive, the next step is removal. Ticks are easily removed with pointy tweezers, grabbing the tick as close to the skin as possible and pulling back with steady, even pressure. You can find specific tick-removal devices in pet supply stores or online, but none are really necessary, Reif says. “Tweezers work just fine.”

You can follow-up by disinfecting the area with soap and water or rubbing alcohol. It’s a good idea to disinfect the tweezers, too, but there’s no need for pets to have their own pair.

Avoid old-time remedies such as putting the burnt end of a match to the tick or trying to smother it with petroleum jelly. They are ineffective and can injure your pet.

Even if your pet is on a tick-preventive product, it’s always a good idea to do a tick check if the two of you have been in “ticky” areas such as woods or grassy, brushy spaces. Ticks can transmit disease in as little as 24 to

48 hours if not found and removed.

Run your hands over the body and feel for little bumps. That’s how

I unexpectedly found a tick on my dog Harper after a hike. For heavily coated pets, part the fur so you can see the skin, and look for the blood-sucking arachnids, which — depending on their life stage, sex or how recently they’ve fed — can be as tiny as a poppy-seed or as large as a small grape. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends looking in the following areas: in and around the ears, around the tail, between the front and back legs, between the toes, around the eyelids and beneath the collar.

Most tick bites occur between March and September, according to the CDC’s Tick Bite Tracker, and most veterinarians now recommend use of tick preventives year-round. Ticks don’t die off in winter, and they can and will be out on cold but sunny days.

You may think you and your pet are safe from ticks if you live in an urban or suburban area, but ticks are on the move and can be found in city parks and other urban areas. Expect to encounter disease-spreading ticks across the country: the Pacific Coast, Rocky Mountain states and the southeastern, southcentral and eastern United States.

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