# Walking about tick



## susanb (Jan 19, 2012)

We thought we had seen a spider walking about on Gisgo's fur. My husband picked it off and realised it was not a spider, but a small beetle. "what kind of beetle do you think this is?" he asked me. Anyway, we both had a close look and eventually realised that it was a tick. 

The reason for posting is that it looked completely different to the tick we previously removed from Gisgo. It was quite small (smaller than a grain of rice?) and brown in colour and just walking about. The one we removed before was big and fat and grey (and was attached).

If you google "walking tick" then there are a few you tube clips so you can see how different they look before they attach and start feeding. Of course we should have taken a photo to show you, but I'm afraid we squashed it (a lot). 

Hubby is now hoovering everywhere as he thinks it must have been in the house  I think probably he got it from the garden.


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## S.Claire (Sep 1, 2011)

Ewww. Yes ticks are very small. Unfortunately they only become big when they are full of blood - gross! Had to remove two from Nacho recently. He'd been for a couple of long walks where a lot of deer are in the woods - a typical spot to pick up ticks. He had one right by his eye and then a few days later (when it was bigger) found one on his nose - poor little thing.

Check Gisgo for the next couple of days. May have picked up more than one and it will become easier to spot once they've latched on. Also a tick spot on (if not applied for a while will be a good shout). I also bought a 'tick remover' for a couple of quid. Definitely worth it as it manages to pull the head out too.

Nasty little suckers!


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## colpa110 (Jul 5, 2011)

I HATE ticks...Bettys fur is so thick they are really hard to find...when I do ifnd one I always worry how long it has been there....the little twister tool I have makes getting them out easy though.


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

Those tiny ones are hard to squash aren't they!! A tip, if you do find one pop it between your two thumb nails, this is a great way to pop a flea too. Other than that I find them hard to squash.
He probably picked it up on a walk and it obviously hadn't attached yet do I think the house will be fine.


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## anndante (Oct 26, 2011)

Yep, I've found a few walking about on Polly over past month. And one walk she picked up 6 of the wretched things! Only one has survived undetected to be fat and full so far! But it is difficult to see them in all that coat. Hate the things. There seem to be loads of them this year, so I guess they like the wet weather!


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## DONNA (Jan 7, 2011)

I thought the small brown ones are male and the larger ones are females who attach and fill up with blood then drop of so they can mate with the male ones (yuck) Best check theres no more on there!


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## susanb (Jan 19, 2012)

DONNA said:


> I thought the small brown ones are male and the larger ones are females who attach and fill up with blood then drop of so they can mate with the male ones (yuck) Best check theres no more on there!


I just made the mistake of googling this to try to find out! Both male and female ticks are small and brown until they feed and then they get massive and can go grey, red, blue etc etc etc. They actually mate on the host and then the female drops off to lay eggs. (don't look up pictures if you are squeamish - gross!) 

Fortunately the common opinion is that they cannot survive in our houses as it is usually too dry (so not sure in this current weather!)


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## DONNA (Jan 7, 2011)

Yep gross is the right word ,when Buddy had one i looked online there are some shocking images of them i was scratching all night!! yuck


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Just wondering if the dogs who get ticks have had flea/tick treatment. Maybe I'm naive in thinking if the are treated they don't get them? 

Ps I'm new to all of the doggy stuff


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

Flee and tick treatments arent always efecti e i knew a woman with twhi snouzers who frontlined bith dogs one never git and ticks the other was always hoaching in then, leds face after every walk over the park.


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## Mogdog (Feb 6, 2011)

I used Avantix (spot-on) recently on Bess as she's been getting quite a few ticks recently. She hasn't had once since (yet). My vet said it can be used a couple of weeks after using Advocate, so I will do this during the summer months when they are rife.

I've always been wary of squashing ticks as they can carry Lyme disease and I don't like the thought of 'releasing' the germs.

S x


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