It finally happened to me. Of course, I thought it could – I understand the principal – I just didn’t think it would. Why? No reason. But I really thought I was somehow immune to getting a tick attached to my skin. I was wrong.
How it got there, I have different theories, I don’t know for sure. Maybe it was from my recent visit to Mountberg Conservation Area with the dog. But late one night getting ready for bed, I found it: a tiny little brown bug with kicking legs burrowing into the skin on my stomach. Not only did I find a tick on me (not my dog), it was attaching.
I panicked. And did exactly what you’re not supposed to do.
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Here’s what you are supposed to do if you find a tick on you or your dog:
- Stay calm. Remove ticks promptly before it starts to feed.
- Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp it as close to the skin’s surface as possible. Sterilize the tweezers if you can with rubbing alcohol or hot water.
- Pull the tick out of the skin gently and steadily. Avoid squeezing too hard or twisting to prevent the tick’s head and mouthparts from breaking off and remaining in the skin.
- If the tick is removed whole, drop it in rubbing alcohol to kill it. Then put it in a plastic ziplock bag – many areas including the province of Ontario, Canada (where I live) collect ticks and send them to labs for Lyme disease analysis.
Why are ticks dangerous to dogs and people?
Ticks are blood-sucking arachnids – yes, spiders. Certain kinds of ticks can transmit pathogens including Lyme disease thanks to their direct contact with blood of both humans and animals. Lyme disease is actually a bacteria, so can be treated with antibiotics. Antibiotics can help prevent it – more on that soon.
Ticks are also vectors for other bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections such as Anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Powassan virus. Charming, right?
Lyme disease, however, is the main tick-related public health concern where I live. Two species of ticks carry Lyme disease: the western blacklegged tick and the deer tick. Brown dog ticks do not carry Lyme disease (but can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever to humans and canine ehrlichiosis and babesiosis to dogs). Basically, ticks are a health concern not to be taken lightly.
What are symptoms of Lyme Disease?
According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, early symptoms of Lyme disease in people include the following:
- fever or chills
- Fatigue
- muscle and joint pain
- swollen lymph nodes
- a bullseye rash almost a give-away for the illness
But these symptoms can be mistaken for other illnesses, delaying diagnosis and allowing the infection to spread. In dogs, the Lyme disease bacteria can affect dogs in the same way as humans, causing joint inflammation, lameness, fever, and in some cases, kidney damage.
However, dogs can receive preventative medication from the veterinarian. These internal medications that prevent fleas, ticks, and heartworm caused by mosquito bites are not without some risks but are widely prescribed. In consultation with the Vet, I’ve determined the gains outweigh the risks. So far, my dog is tick, flea, and heartworm-free.
Me, apparently, not so much. Here’s what I did when I found a tick on me – also known as …
What NOT to do if you find a tick on you: panic; grab the nearest tweezers in the bathroom; grab the tick by the body so hard it swishes into a mess, mixing guts with your blood, then leaving the black heat and pinchers under your skin. Then try and grab the head and watch it sink further into your skin near your belly button. Yup, ticks like that area.
What to do if half a tick is embedded in your skin
What you really, really don’t want to do is leave half the tick embedded in your skin. You are inviting a number of problems including, infection, foreign body rejection, and potential pathogens from the tick.
An internet search offers advice about how to remove the embedded head, but this was my choice: Seek medical assistance. That’s what I did.
Seeking medical assistance for an embedded tick head in my stomach took an hour or so in the hosptial emergency department at midnight, but it was worth it. After some uncomfortable freezing, they plucked the tick out with a sterile blade, bandaged the area and prescribed antibiotics. The one dose of strong antibiotics was a precaution to kill any bacteria including the Lyme disease-causing strain.
To avoid tick bites and reduce the risk of tick-borne diseases Public Health Agency of Canada recommends taking the following preventive measures:
Stay informed: Know where ticks are prevalent in Canada geographically. Health Canada and many other websites post annual guides – basically, ticks are likely found in any wooded or grassy areas. Peak tick activity season is typically during the warmer months, and thanks to an unseasonable mild winter, that season is now.
Wear protective clothing: Heading out to provincial parks and conservation areas? Wear long sleeves (if possible), long pants tucked into socks or boots, closed-toe shoes, and maybe a hat to minimize skin exposure to ticks. Guess what? Ticks like to attach to the scalp and behind the ears.
Employ preventative strategies: Apply insect repellents containing DEET or picaridin to exposed skin and clothing. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
Shower after being outdoors in wooded areas for an extended period of time. Putting your clothes in the dryer on high heat for at least 10 minutes will kill ticks, according to Public Health Agency Canada.
Perform regular tick checks: After spending time outdoors, conduct thorough tick checks on yourself, your children, and pets. Ticks can land on you anywhere (and jump on you from your pet), but usually migrate to these areas to attach: hair, behind the ears, underarms, groin, and back of knees. Ticks, as I found out, also like to attach close to the belly button.
Where do ticks on dogs attach most often?
According to the American Kennel Club, ticks often attach to your dog in the following places:
- Tail
- Groin
- Head and ears
- Under the legs (armpit-type canine area)
- Under the collar
- Eyelids (extra gross)
If you are uncertain about removing a tick safely from your dog, contact your Vet. This is especially true if the tick is embedded in the eye area.
Remove ticks promptly: If you find a tick attached to your skin or your dog’s skin, follow the removal procedure outlined above. One of my mistakes was not having my tick removal tools handy where I could find them quickly.
Note about feeding ticks on dogs and people
Fortunately, for me the tick I found on myself had only just attached and hadn’t begun feeding. (I can barely write that sentence. Ick). As ticks feed on either human or animal blood, ticks grow larger and can swell to the size of a marble. A tick can feed for several days turning a greenish-blue colour.
Where to find ticks removing tools
Here are some tick removal tools that work for both humans and dogs: Tick removal tool for people and dogs (affiliate link USA) and Tick removal tool for people and dogs (affiliate link Canada). You can also find tick removal tools on websites such as Chewy. Most pet stores offer tick prevention sprays and tools.
Overall, I’m going to be more vigilant about checking for ticks after long (or even short) outings in wooded areas with the dog. I’ll update my dog’s preventative heartworm, flea, and tick treatments in consultation with my Veterinarian. Finally, I’ll toss my ‘outdoor’ clothing in the dryer on high for ten minutes after returning from hiking or camping adventures with the pup.
Writer bio: Sherri Telenko has been a professional writer for decades and a travel writer for the last two. She’s a member of TMAC (Travel Media Association of Canada) and Dog Writers Association of America and travels almost weekly with her canine companion, Victoria. Contact Sherri at dogtrotting.net here. All written content is original, written by a person, and based on experience and research. Please subscribe!
