My cat goes outside and sometimes comes back with ticks. It's easy to remove 1mm size ticks, but bigger ones around 3mm bite onto the skin firmly and won't come off. Is there a good way to pry them off? I've tried skin drops on the neck, drugs you use on blankets and the body, and a collar - he tore it off in a few hours while he was outside. Please give me advice.
Removing a tick from your dog, or worse — ticks — may not be pleasant, but it’s important to do it promptly and correctly. Once you know how to remove a tick, it will be a fairly easy process.
Because they can carry infectious organisms, every year ticks infect thousands of animals and people with illnesses like Lyme disease, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis, among others. Pathogen transmission can occur as quickly as three to six hours after a bite occurs, so the sooner you remove the tick the less chance there is that your dog will get sick.
Using a pair of tweezers is the most common and effective way to remove a tick. But not just any tweezers will work. Most household tweezers have large, blunt tips. You should use fine-point tweezers, to avoid tearing the tick and spreading possible infections into the bite area.
Spread your dog’s fur, then grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible. Very gently, pull straight upward, in a slow, steady motion. This will prevent the tick’s mouth from breaking off and remaining embedded in the skin. People often believe it’s the head of the tick that embeds in the skin. But ticks don’t have heads, in the conventional sense, so what gets inserted into your dog is known as “mouth parts.”
After you’ve removed the tick, make sure to wash your hands thoroughly, clean the bite site with rubbing alcohol, and rinse the tweezers or tool with disinfectant.