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IF you haven't already done so, get your dogs on their seasonal tick prevention

Degen said:
This tool is nice for dogs, but useless on the small ticks and you risk ripping the body of a well fastened tick off leaving the head in your body just before you empty its guts into your blood stream. Tweezers are a no no, as you generally squeeze their guts into you blood stream as you grab them.
Click to expand...

LOL! You watch way too much YouTube!

Considering the literally dozens of ticks I've removed on myself and others and pets, I think you are mistaken. The Tick Key is an awesome tool. Look closer. Here is another link for new readers.

Tick Key Tick Remover
https://a.co/d/gDkD9Dl

Like any other tool, it must be used properly. The tool is used by putting the body of the tick through the large hole and then sliding it until only the mouth parts are in the tiny narrow part of the tool. Then the tool is pried upward but only enough to pull on the tick's mouth until it let's go voluntarily. It's a slow process but the tick will not regurgitate if handled this way.

I tried the thread trick once 40 years ago and then decided it is for people with patience I don't have. It's also too easy to get the thread on the head instead of mouth parts. I agree that tweezers are a poor choice because it's too hard to grasp just the mouth parts.

I have also tried a tick shoe which works similar to the tick key, but it's too bulky. I prolly have a dozen different tools I have tried. The tick key is the best hands down.

I keep a tick key in my wallet. It's gets used several times each year. While it's quite thin, I'd pay good money for a titanium one that is even thinner and takes up even less space in my wallet.
 
Susquatch said:
LOL! You watch way too much YouTube!

Considering the literally dozens of ticks I've removed on myself and others and pets, I think you are mistaken. The Tick Key is an awesome tool. Look closer. Here is another link for new readers.

Tick Key Tick Remover
https://a.co/d/gDkD9Dl

Like any other tool, it must be used properly. The tool is used by putting the body of the tick through the large hole and then sliding it until only the mouth parts are in the tiny narrow part of the tool. Then the tool is pried upward but only enough to pull on the tick's mouth until it let's go voluntarily. It's a slow process but the tick will not regurgitate if handled this way.

I tried the thread trick once 40 years ago and then decided it is for people with patience I don't have. It's also too easy to get the thread on the head instead of mouth parts. I agree that tweezers are a poor choice because it's too hard to grasp just the mouth parts.

I have also tried a tick shoe which works similar to the tick key, but it's too bulky. I prolly have a dozen different tools I have tried. The tick key is the best hands down.

I keep a tick key in my wallet. It's gets used several times each year. While it's quite thin, I'd pay good money for a titanium one that is even thinner and takes up even less space in my wallet.
Click to expand...
Actually I shared that with you, I was taught by the BC doctor that developed it in person at a Toronto Lyme support group many years ago and the reasons give are those developed by him.

He is also the one that finally diagnosed a friend of ours who unfortunately passed because of Lyme complications. My saving grace was his wife that shared his information medical with me and was able to provide the Dr's name that treated him here in ON. Had I taken the treatment for Arthritis original prescribed by another specialist it would have likely killed me. All told about $1,500.00 in extreme high dose Antibiotics for 7-1/2 months a couple of eye tests (side effect monitoring), arthritis symptoms disappeared and Lyme cleared. For the record I believe I got mine at home in the city based on suspected time line and progression. I am still on the alert for long term after effects of Lyme and yes they happen.

Caution is the word!

You can get it in the country and yes in the city, I knew of lady that produced a map of Toronto showing all the Lyme Infested Tic findings based on her walks (again a long story).

I've been there done that and hope never to experience that again. I no one else needs to have that experience.

www.canlyme.com
 
I share your appreciation for a proper diagnosis and treatment @Degen. The fact is that too many people with Lyme disease are not diagnosed properly. Far too many physicians in Canada and the USA are simply not well informed about Lyme Disease and their patients become uncurably Ill, suffer needlessly, and some even die. It is good that you were lucky to get such treatment from an informed doctor.

I also think it's good that you are grateful and hold him in high regard.

But I do think you are giving him too much credit for the thread method. Your doctor may have told you that he invented it and I suppose it's possible that he did come up with the idea independently. But I think it's much more likely that he saw an ecraseur used in other areas of medicine and adapted the method to ticks. The ecraseur (a thread or wire or small chain in a metal tube stencil) has been used for a hundred years now to extract ticks and do other forms of surgical removal. There are patents on it that are even older than me. It isn't new at all.

While a thread does work for tick removal, I think it's also easy to do it incorrectly, grab the tick too high above the mouth parts with the thread and thereby cause the tick to regurgitate back into the victim. Most straws are also too big to apply the noose properly. A very tiny steel tube (ecraseur) would work much better. But most people don't have tiny tubes laying around.

I don't personally think it's a good idea to discourage others from using a good tool like the tick key that could potentially save their lives. For those like you who have confidence in the thread method, and know enough to make sure that the loop is closed low enough on the ticks mouth parts, I say go ahead and use it. It's certainly better than leaving the tick in place drooling bacteria into your blood stream.

However, I have relatively low confidence in my own ability to use a thread for tick removal, so I'm gunna stick with the tick key. I'll also continue to recommend the key to others. I know with absolute certainty, based on my own personal experience removing dozens of embedded ticks, and the experience of others like me who live in tick infested areas, that it works and works exceptionally well.
 
Shame how you word things as it comes across dismisses of anything you don't agree with or think you know better.

I too have a tick key and quickly realized that it does not do the "micro tick" yes they can be very small and for the most part these are the ones that causes the issues.

I would suggest based on your comments that you attend a few Lyme Symposiums and get a real education as to what is really working.
 
Degen said:
Shame how you word things as it comes across dismisses of anything you don't agree with or think you know better.

I too have a tick key and quickly realized that it does not do the "micro tick" yes they can be very small and for the most part these are the ones that causes the issues.

I would suggest based on your comments that you attend a few Lyme Symposiums and get a real education as to what is really working.
Click to expand...

I wish we could just agree to disagree. You like the thread method and I don't. Simple as that.

I don't need to attend a clinic. I live with the damn things. I also have personal access to a real expert on the subject.

I am unsure what you mean by a micro tick. I assume you mean nymphs but the science I know does not recognize them as a problem (yet). The real problem is deer ticks which are much smaller than a dog tick - maybe that's what you mean. The tick key works just fine on little deer ticks. I know cuz I have removed several that way.

I didn't dismiss your method. In fact, I said that done properly it works just fine. I prefer the key because I think it's too easy to misuse the thread. In my case, I have big shaky hands and I can't even tie fishing line properly anymore let alone snare a tick by its mouth parts.

In my world it's just easier to agree to disagree. You stand by your method and I stand by mine and life goes on. It would be really nice if you could do the same.

Btw, here is a cool trick I use for capturing them alive for testing or disposal. Cut off a 2 inch length of scotch tape. Put an inch of the tape on the tick's back which is easy to do cuz that's the side you see. The tape will stick to its body stronger than his legs can hold on. Then simply fold the other end of the tape back over its belly enclosing the tick inside a tape on tape enclosure. In all my life and easily a thousand ticks, I've never had one get loose.

Here are two dog ticks I caught this past weekend. Neither one was embedded.

20230424_104713.jpg
 
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