March | 2009 | Veterinarian To The World

     Dear readers, its starting all over again, only it seems to be earlier than normal. That is, its time again for having to deal with ticks. I know, most-precious readers, that I just spoke about these little guys last fall, but I’ve got to do it again because there are still pet owners freaking out and doing all sorts of bizarre things to remove these repulsive little critters from their pets. It isn’t even May yet, and I’ve already seen an olive oil-doused tick, a nail-polished tick, and a barbeque-butted tick. This last one barbequed the poor cat as well. (The cat survived, but will be missing portions of his ears.) 

     But first—as I am prone to doing—I need to ramble a bit.
I learned a new word yesterday. While researching this article on the internet, I came across the words “Sisyphean task.” From the second I saw this phrase, I knew it had to be talking about me and my unending task of trying to save cats and dogs from the “good intentions” of their owners. The phrase takes its roots from the Greek myth of Sisyphus. In the myth, Sisyphus, a king of Corinth, was punished by Zeus by being condemned to eternally roll a heavy stone up a hill. And each time he neared the top, the stone would roll back down again forcing him to have to start all over again. A sisyphean task, therefore, relates to any endless and futile undertaking.

     But the myth of Sisyphus is also about perseverance. And that’s why I keep on trying to get this important stuff across. It seems that for every intact and living tick that a client brings in for me to remove from their cat or dog, there are another five pets brought in with the tick dead, mangled, or decapitated for me to dig it out. (Ticks, by definition, don’t have heads; they have a capitulum.) I’ve seen ticks slathered with nail polish as well as coated with nail polish remover. I’ve seen ticks with their rear-ends barbecued to well-done by a cigarette, and others that have had their butts blown-up by a burning match. I’ve seen them doused with mineral oil, olive oil, basalmic vinegar, kerosene, rubbing alcohol, vodka, flea spray, Tabasco sauce, gasoline, and yes, I’ve even seen them gobbed-up with my dastardly old friend, udder balm.

     I can hear the talk out there now. “Ah, come on, Doc! Quit pickin’ on us. We only did what we thought was best. Our mother-in-law/neighbor/website/guru/cousin from Arkansas all told us their method would work every single time.” Most-treasured readers, I don’t say this stuff to pick on you, or make fun of you, or any of that other nonsense; I do it because all of the methods I mentioned above are wrong ( actually, some are down-right stupid.) And its important to KNOW these techniques are wrong because, when it comes to ticks, there could be life or death consequences for your pets.

     By killing the tick violently with any of the above mentioned substances or techniques, you cause them to lock-up, or clamp shut, their mouth parts. This clenching-down reflex of their jaws is the reason a tick will leave it’s ‘head’ in our pet. But even more dangerous than just simply leaving their ‘head’, is what happens just before the tick dies.

     What happens is that as the tick wiggles and writhes in it’s death throes because of whatever junk you applied to it, the poor little beast will expel whatever blood it has in it’s guts into the dog or cat. Unfortunately, along with this regurgitated blood will come whatever disease organism the tick may be carrying.

     I can hear it out there now: “So Doc, what is the proper way to remove a tick? My favorite way is to part the pet’s hair away as best as possible and then grasp the tick between my thumb and forefinger as close to the point of attachment of the tick as possible, and then gently pull it straight backwards. Unless it’s a mentally-deprived tick, it will let go. A rubber or exam glove should be worn, and make sure afterwards, you wash your hands. If you are too squeamish to touch one of these little guys, you can grasp the tick as close as possible to the skin with a pair of tweezers, and gently pull straight backwards. There is a new invention out there called a Tick Twister that seems to work good as well. http://www.ticktwister.com/index.html.

     After pulling the tick out, be sure to look at it in a good light to see whether or not it has it’s pincer-like mouth parts (its ‘head’). If it don’t, or if you’re not sure, bring it, and your pet, in to you veterinarian. Thanks again.