Tick Removal

'Tis the season for ticks and I bring you expert advice as to how to remove them from your pets, courtesy of dogster.com and Dr. Patricia Conrad, parasitologist.

Here, according to Dr. Conrad, is the best way to remove a tick from your pet:
Grasp the tick firmly wth hemostats (aka tweezers) as close to the skin as possible. Pull gently but firmly straight away from the skin until the tick comes out. Do not twist. Avoid grasping the tick’s abdomen. This can cause regurgitation of stomach contents into your pet, increasing the likelihood of Lyme disease, Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and other scary tick-borne diseases.
Some other points: tick prevention is better than tick removal. In my experience, Frontline is the tick preventative with the best safety and efficacy profile. No tick preventative is 100% effective.
Finally, think at least six times (twice is nowhere near enough) before removing a tick from your cat. Healthy cats almost never suffer from tick infestation due to their good grooming habits.

The best way to remove ticks is to prevent them and even though the chemicals in Frontline give me reason to pause, I use it anyway since Phoebe had Lyme disease once and it was no fun.

Stay safe!