Hello, I found 2 ticks on my dog and tried to get the entire pest out.. Unfortunately the head part stayed in and barried itself even deeper in the skin (cant even see it now) I believe it was a brown tick. I put hydrogen peroxide on it to clean and then polysporin. Is my dog in danger since the heads are still in there? Please advise. I would take her to the vet but they have to sedate her and she hates it. Is there anything else I can do?
Thank You.
s
OH and P.S. I use FrontLine Plus monthly. Does this work after the tick is attached?
Not to much info here on ticks, but is frontline plus supposed to work on ticks?
I quit using frontline plus long ago, as it didn't work for fleas, & I went to a spray, more natural, alternative.
Someone with more tick experience may answer; but if frontline plus is indicated to kill ticks, then seems that may remedy the problem;
although if that was the case, seems they would not have attached in the first place. My understanding of frontline plus is the dog does not need to be bitten, as with other spot-ons, for it to work, I thought they were killed just by coming in contact with the animal.
Unfortunately, the whole problem with ticks (besides disease) is pulling them off and leaving the head in, or the dog scratching them off and leaving the head in. This is why it is always stressed that you grab them as close to the head as possible, and twist to remove them.
But anyhow, now that the head is in there - if you won't take the dog to the vet, there is a good chance he will get an abscess. It's like any other foreign body under the skin - sometimes the system will push it out without issue, but frequently there is infection.
IMHO digging around for the tick head is likely to cause more trouble than it is worth. Phaedra is right IMO he probably will get an abcess but it will most likely be "zit-sized" and is unlikely to cause your dog serious problems, though it may take awhile for the bump to go away.
You did the right thing pulling it off, that is the main thing.
That's correct but the tick "burrows" into the skin with it's head and doesn't actually feed until it's attached. Even then it's not a fast contact kill. The tick has to ingest some of the dog's blood.
With people, and I suspect dogs, the tick has to be there for more then a day or two in order to transfer much of any disease to the host.
Example
A person bitten by a tick that carries spotted fever or Lyme's disease has a MUCH greate chance of not getting it if the tick is removed within a day or so.
Others here may be able to explain that much better them I did.
I thought Frontline Plus killed ticks upon biting. Am I totally wrong?
Last time I researched Frontline Plus vs the other spot-on treatments, it was my understanding that the Frontline Plus is not in blood stream (meaning "bite" is what kills), but that it spreads thru the hair & hair folicles, & causes nervous system killing method to pests upon their contact with treated animal.
Ticks are really hard to kill. Everything is in slow motion, like Bob said. The systemic insecticides probably have to be in pretty high concentration to get the job done( a fairly recent application). They help a lot, but it's hard to kill every single one. --also I'm not sure there's much dope in the blood, it's mainly worked thru the hair as pointed out.
I only apply FL+ when we're visiting my folks in SC. The rest of the time I try to keep him out of tall grass Spring and Summer. Now I wonder if that's smart.
Ripley has only ever had 1 tick that I know of. I pulled it off and did not get the head. He had a lump for a week or so, as Dr. Betty mentioned.
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