Dog Community

TICK!!!!

Posted : 4/19/2006 12:13:32 PM

again - I HATE TICKS
and they are bad this year as the winter wasn't cold enough to help kill them off.
Why don't they make a Frontline for people?
As I was showering this morning I noticed a slightly sore spot located on my pelvic region (more than that and it'll be too much info). Didn't seem right so upon further examination I discovered the source of the discomfort and it was a FREAK'IN EMBEDDED TICK.
Immediate reaction was a panic attack.
I had to finish rinsing my hair before starting my quest for tweezers, which of course were in the kitchen at the other end of the house.
I donned my bathrobe (my son was still home getting ready to leave for school) and ran to the kitchen dripping water all the way. Found the tweezers and raced back to the bathroom - my prized tweezers held aloft and for some reason I was limping.
I got back into the bathroom and quickly removed the offending parasite and tossed it and the tweezers toward the toilet - only to miss (which isn't unusual).
After I had swabbed the area with peroxide I was going to flush the creature down the toilet - only it wasn't in the toilet.
Wasn't on me [8D], wasn't on the floor. I couldn't find the little goatlicker bloodsucking parasite anywhere.
I spotted the tweezers and I had grabbed the tick so hard I flattened it in the tweezers.
I have remained in a state of borderlin insanity all day. Every little movement of my hair sends me checking my neck for ticks. I think I have developed a tick.

griffinej5

Posted : 4/19/2006 12:16:38 PM

Oh how gross! I found one on myself Monday, and I just couldn't wait to get home and wash myself. Not like it would really help, but I felt better.

Kara

Posted : 4/19/2006 1:55:37 PM

*faints*

ugh.. ticks are the utter WORST! I have nightmares about them. Most disgusting bug ever. I'd console myself with a few margaritas.

Julie Byers

Posted : 4/19/2006 2:29:14 PM

If that were me, it would take a whole pitcher of maggies to sooth my nerves. I think for that I would take up smoking for a day. ICK
Jules

marlania

Posted : 4/19/2006 2:30:39 PM

AHHHH!! I would have freaked. Man, ticks are nasty.

angelamarie

Posted : 4/19/2006 4:04:06 PM

I am with you, Mary, ticks are nasty (although I think I hate centipedes worse. They have been horrible in New England all winter long.

I work at a farm that raises great danes and we have been picking ticks all through the winter. We had a dog get diagnosed with Lyme Disease in February. Shortly after that, I found one of the little suckers attached to the back of my shoulder. Freakout. There was a nasty red rash around the bite and it was an adult deer tick. Because of the high rate of Lyme Disease in this area, the doctor put me on a two week round of docycyline right off the bat. Since I have MS, he gave me a break from the "let's just wait and see" thing.

It's going to be a looooong spring summer and fall picking ticks here. Luckily, my own two dogs are good and white, any tick on them shows up immediately upon return to the house. My last dog was a black dog and she inevitably would shed a tick or two on our bed after a walk in the woods. YUCK.

brookcove

Posted : 4/19/2006 4:38:03 PM

I just brought home a rescue that was just covered with ticks. Ick ick ick. Sure enough here ten days later she developed tick disease symptoms and she's now on doxy.

I've seen ticks around all winter long here (NC Piedmont). the dogs are doing all right on the Frontline but they've been on us and the kids, ick ick. I went north to deliver a dog, I guess it was Decemberish, and picked up a deer tick. A rash appeared a few days later and a couple days after that I definitely had Lyme symptoms. Thankfully I was on the alert and got a course of doxy immediately.

griffinej5

Posted : 4/19/2006 5:13:29 PM

The dog we had before supposedly had lyme, but it never affected her. Apparently Millie must have also picked up a tick during the winter, because she has a trace of lyme as well. I don't know how she got it, considering she goes nowhere, but the vet says she did.

Melissa Camiel

Posted : 4/19/2006 6:30:55 PM

OMG that happened to me a few weeks ago!! I was taking a shower and I noticed a red spot on my hip. The tick was halfway through my skin!!!!

I will never go exploring in the woods again....

gradyupmybutt

Posted : 4/19/2006 7:07:00 PM

Okay, now, I havne't found any one me or the boys but I've got the creepy tickly feeling in my hair. Thanks guys! ~LOL~

stardancnminpin

Posted : 4/19/2006 11:14:57 PM

I know a lot of people don't like chemicals, but living/growing up in SE Texas, and on a wooded farm - OFF mosquito repellant was/is a must have!
I would always tuck my pants legs into my socks, and spray around my ankles with the OFF. That way it isn't sprayed on the skin, and it stops one avenue of approach for them. Of course, I always do this outside away from pets (even back then). I have also sprayed around my waist and up and down my blue jeans if I am going to be wading through grass/woods that is going to be brushing against me.
Staying out of the woods wasn't an option as a kid lol. Between riding horses through the property, and the always fun trips through the woods to the fish pond - you couldn't keep from getting into areas where those nasty things like to hang out. And, we always did a 'tick check' after one of those days too: bend of the knees, places where clothes where tight and binding, as well as a good head scrubbing. Finding a tick always grosses me out, but I can't seem to stay away from those areas where we get them! That's what I get for growing up as a tom-boy[

] .

griffinej5

Posted : 4/20/2006 8:12:17 AM

A guy whose dog was in the class Max was just in said that if you wore a hat and tucked a dryer sheet in the back, that would keep ticks away. I don't know how much truth there is to that statement or where he heard it, and frankly the guy annoyed the hell out of me, but I suppose it can't hurt to try it.

angelamarie

Posted : 4/20/2006 9:10:57 PM

The only sure fire way I've found to keep the little stinkers at bay is to wear very light clothing (so they can be seen), tuck pants into socks and spray around cuffs on pants and shirt and around collar of shirt 100% deet. Then, when I get home, I strip in the basement, streak to the shower and go over myself head to toe with a loofa sponge.

I think I'll try the dryer sheet instead, it sounds much easier.

griffinej5

Posted : 4/20/2006 9:33:01 PM

ORIGINAL: angelamarie

The only sure fire way I've found to keep the little stinkers at bay is to wear very light clothing (so they can be seen), tuck pants into socks and spray around cuffs on pants and shirt and around collar of shirt 100% deet. Then, when I get home, I strip in the basement, streak to the shower and go over myself head to toe with a loofa sponge.

I think I'll try the dryer sheet instead, it sounds much easier.

I bet everyone else in the house would be rather confused about what was going on if I did that. Heck, Millie will bark at me sometimes if I come out of the shower and walk past her in a towel, so I can only imagine what she would do if I walked past her with nothing on.