We've seen a lot of ticks recently. The other day I removed 26 from a spaniel; here are some of them! Ticks have several stages of development that involve various 'hosts'. There are many different species of tick in this country but they are not choosy and most of them are quite happy to grab their meals from a passing dog, cat or human. Moorland areas may have heavy tick burdens, especially in spring/early summer, and autumn; however, we are also seeing a lot from coastal areas.

Most people are aware that they can carry several nasty and potentially fatal diseases. They also cause local skin infections and general malaise.

The strange green implement is called an O'Tom tick remover, and it really is the best thing since sliced bread! Having spent half of my career trying to get rid of the hideous creatures with needles, forceps etc; and treating dogs whose owners had tried the old 'cigarette stub on the tick' technique, it is lovely to have this very simple device to hand. Just slide it between tick and skin, twist 360 degrees, and hey presto! tick removed, with no damage to host, and no danger of retained embedded mouthparts. They are available at all of our clinics for a very modest charge, and are one of those simple but extremely effective inventions that you wish you'd thought of yourself!

Obviously, avoiding ticks becoming attached in the first place is the ideal. There is only one product licenced to do this, and it is called Advantix. It can only be used on dogs and must be kept well away from cats as it is toxic to them. If your dog is likely to be in a tick-infected area then we recommend this product. It is also used on the Pet Travel Scheme to avoid nasty species of tick from other countries gaining entry to the UK. Frontline or Frontline Combo will kill ticks within a few days if used monthly (2-monthly for the spray), but they will still need removing.

The warm and humid weather has no doubt increased tick numbers recently, as it has fleas. If you're not using some form of parasite prevention on your pets (remember Advocate for fleas, mange and lungworm as well), now is definitely the time to start, to avoid that late summer flea infestation.

Anne sent me this story about the handsome fellow pictured here: