If Its Not Grass Seeds its Ticks!

[CraftySam]

Until last year when I joined COL I'd never even knew about the pitfalls of grass seeds and ticks.  We seemed to escape last year without any incidents of either, but this year is a totally different story. 

First Barney got grass seeds down his ear, which had to be removed under sedation. Now I have found two ticks on Morgan. 

I have no experience of ticks, and have only seen pics of them on here.  Last Friday Morgan jumped on my knee and I ask cuddling when all of a sudden my attention was drawn to his neck where his fur had parted. At first I couldn't make out what it was, it looked like a large sesame seed, but as I carefully cleared his fur out of the way I discovered it was definitely attached to him, so assumed that it must be a tick.  Lisa (The Moog) was with me and she was on the phone when I announced I thought Morgan had a tick, she nearly dropped the phone!    We were both in shock, neither of us had encountered them before. Fortunately, for once, being a worry wart paid dividends as I picked up a Tom o Tom last year after the tales on here.

When I got the Tom o Tom out it confirmed it was definitely a tick as it was very similar to the picture on the packaging. Lisa did the deed for me.  It was dead so I guessed the Frontline must have done its job thought it was ready for being redone. It was a smallish one I think, well we needed to use the small tool for it.

Three days later and I had bathed, dried and was grooming Morgan when I discovered another one.  This time under his ear near the opening and it was about the same size as the other.  Got OH to do this one (my hands shake so don't want to risk pulling it) and to my horror it was alive.  So don't know why one was dead and one was alive but I've re-done the Frontline now.

So I wondered if anyone can answer my questions about ticks. I do live in a village and there are sheep in some of the fields in the village. However during last week he'd had mainly lead walks apart from a couple of off lead walks on the rec, which is away from all the fields. 
So do ticks always come from animals, and will Morgan have had to come into contact with an animal to pick them up? The only animals I can think he came in contact with is dead rabbits, is that a possible source?
The bigger dogs had been through fields that will have had livestock on at one point or other, is it possible that they brought them home and they either dropped off onto the floor or were transferred onto Morgan?
Final question, the dead tick was the colour of a sesame seed and the live one was a bit greyer. In my mind I thought that if ticks were living on an animal that they looked like they were full of blood, is that right? If so does it mean the live one I found on Morgan hadn't been there that long.

Be grateful if anyone can enlighten me to the world of ticks. 

[MrsMac]

Ticks are nasty little beggars aren't they 

We were away up in North West Sutherland for a holiday to my in laws the first week of July and Melody had about 6 ticks on her over the course of the week.  The ticks I found on her this time were mostly bright red, the same colour as little red spiders    Thank doG for the O'Tom is all I can say.

As far as I know they live in grass and heather so they don't necessarily have to have come from an animal.  Also the normal colour of any ticks we've encountered so far have been a grey/brown colour.  I've seen a couple of pale coloured ones too but they were most certainly alive when we removed them.  My children get just as many ticks as Melody so we've seen a fair variety over the years.

[spanielcrazy]

Ok, but it's gross:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick

[Nicola]

He doesn't have to have been in direct contact with the sheep or any other animal to pick up ticks, they cling onto grass stalks and wait for a host to brush past so he could get them from just walking through grass. The other dogs could also bring them home. The ticks I've found on my lot are usually a greyish brown colour and I've found a variety of live and dead ones! Around the ears is a classic place to find them, they like warm, dark, moist places  

[Hurtwood Dogs]

This year is officially a 'bad year for ticks' according to my vet - or, I guess, a good year if you're a tick... 

We get mainly light beige coloured ones or grey green ones around here (Surrey Hills area). Our dog used to pick up several a year from fields or forests - or even in the garden (we live in a rural area so there are always pheasants and deer visiting the garden). Despite always removing them as soon as we spotted them, we had a bad experience with a tick and our dog, so please be vigilant, check your dogs regularly and get them out cleanly as quickly as possible - I know it's grim but get a proper tick fork and just do it quickly. Ticks can carry diseases or cause infection - the longer they are allowed to feed the more chance there is of the disease transferring to the animal it's feeding off too. 

Horrid things...   

[Beth]

Jarvis had his 1st tick this year a few days ago. Was giving him a cuddle and i felt a lump so guessed it was a grass seed. I'd already added up the vets bills so i was most relieved to realise it was one of the nasty little bugs, i'd never been so happy to see one!

[Helen]

they're horrible, there seems to be more this year, we get them often and remove them.

I think you'll just have to get over the squeamishness and remove them.  Not much else you can do except flood your dog with more chemicals which will in my mind be more harmful....

[Max X 2]

When Max was getting his (when we 1st got him)  it was a process of elimination from different areas where we walked.
We were told by experienced dog owners/vet/trainer that it wouldn't be our garden more likely to be from the woods & was asked if there's livestock nearby.  To cut a long story short they were all down to Horice the Hedgehog 
So we had a major re-furb of the garden & he went to live under next doors shed 

They start out looking like teeny spiders & it (apparently) takes them about 90 mins before they attach. (not sure if they have a timeclock  )
(This is how we discovered they were from our garden as Max hadn't been out anywhere else on this particular morning when the spider was spotted  )

Yuk, horrid horrid things     

ETA TICK LINK

[CraftySam]

Thanks for the info everyone, I've learnt a lot there.  I can now see how easy its going to be for them to pick them up round here.  

I think I'd been very complacent up till now, grass seeds and tick are things that happen to other peoples dogs. 

I've been trying my best to check each dog before I start the daily groom but my worry is that I might miss one and then pull one out inadvertently with the comb which will put the dog at risk of infection. 
 

I think you'll just have to get over the squeamishness and remove them.  Not much else you can do except flood your dog with more chemicals which will in my mind be more harmful....

I'm not at all squeamish, just shocked to find them.  In the four years of having dogs we've never had ticks, or grass seeds for that matter.
My reluctance to remove them myself is because I have involuntary spasms occur in my hands, should that happen while I'm twisting the Tom O Tom I would end up pulling the tick out, putting my dog at risk of infection.

This morning I have been told of a dog in the village who had a tick, the owner used a tick remover from PAH (don't know what type) and the dog has been ill for seven weeks as he didn't remove the tick correctly.

[lyn]

i encountered my first ever tick this year it was happily living on ellies ear. awful little blighters they are. made my stomach churn a bit when i had to get it off

[Joelf]

Both Domino & Spike have had a couple of ticks on each of them over the past week.

Revolting things; I usually remove them & then insert a sharp instrument like a pin into the tick & send it swiftly into the next world!!

The first time I found one on the labs I thought they had got a growth of some sort.