Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball and cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball. Let it stay on the repulsive insect for one minute, after which the tick will come out on it's own. If the tick is not stuck to the cotton ball, wipe the area gently with a washcloth and the tick will stick to the washcloth. Repeat if necessary.
This is the safest and best way to remove a tick because there is no chance of part of the tick breaking away under the skin. I can't see where this could be harmful to anyone unless of course the person has an allergy to soap. I've had this tip saved for a while and had the opportunity to try it today on my husband. It worked perfect on the first try and he was more than impressed and grateful:)
Source: Received in an email from my friend Debbie who lives in Tallahassee, FL who said it came from a school nurse who learned it from a Pediatrician.
By Donna from Crystal River, FL
I need to know how to remove the head of a tick.
Normally you can use a pair of tweezers to do this with. However, if the tick is very large this won't help. You will need to use a pair of needle nose pliers. When you remove the tick from your dog's skin, you'll need to remove the part of the tick that has embedded under the skin at the same time.
Someone had suggested putting some kind of lotion on the tick and it will back out. I can't remember what it was. Help!
By Anne
How To Remove Ticks - Melissa Kaplan
Ticks, including tick larvae and nymphs (the two life stages that precede the metamorphosis into the adult tick form) favor a moist, shaded environment, especially areas with leaf litter and low-lying vegetation in wooded, brushy or overgrown grassy habitat. You do not need to be an avid outdoorsperson to come into contact with infected ticks. Since many mammals other than deer and dogs are hosts to the Ixodes ticks that carry Borrelia, Babesia, Bartonella and Ehrlichia, infected ticks may be brought into suburban and urban settings by wildlife moving through the areas during the day and night.
Your dog or cat can bring them into the house, or you may get them sitting out in your yard. Other types of animals are hosts to ticks carrying these organisms, including other mammals and other mammals. Other arthropods, such as mosquitoes, may turn out to successfully carry tickborne organisms.
In fact, one of the biggest sources of ticks isn't wild animals, but your pet dogs and cats. The other major source of ticks is just being outdoors in areas where ticks are likely to be. Borrelia, and possibly other parasitic organisms living in the ticks, drives the ticks to climb up weeds and grasses and remain there during the day, waiting for a warm-blooded host to walk by close enough to grab onto their clothing or skin.
When you are walking on hillside paths, the ticks will be congregated on plants on the uphill side of the path. So, the very ground on which you walk, the grasses you brush by or picnic on, and the fallen log you rest on are the most likely places humans will come into contact with Ixodes pacificus in California, Oregon, and Washington.
Thus, one must become familiar with all the signs of these tickborne diseases in order to seek appropriate testing and proactive, preventive treatment. Since only 50 percent or less of people finding ticks actually get the bull's-eye rash (erythema migrans) - or any rash - from a tick bite, one cannot rely on the presence or absence of such a rash to determine likelihood of infection.
Remove the tick properly. Using sharp pointed tweezers, or specially made tick tweezers, grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible, as close to its embedded mouthparts as you can. If you squeeze the body or head, you risk compressing the guts and salivary glands and expelling even more organisms through their mouth into your body.
Do not twist the tick or turn the tweezers as you pull out the tick. Pull out straight with a slow, steady motion. Twisting may force more organisms into your body, and may result in the head or more of the mouthparts being left in your body.
Do not apply any substances to the tick before removing it - no alcohol or nail polish, no petroleum jelly or other ointments, and do not try to burn it out or otherwise convince to let go of you. It won't let go. It will just happily keep on sucking your blood and pumping pathogens into you.
Western Black-legged Tick
Ixodes pacificus
American Dog Tick
Dermacentor variabilis
Rocky Mountain Wood Tick
Dermacentor andersonii
Save the tick or any nymphs or larvae that you find on you. Store them in a clean glass jar or film container, tightly lidded and labeled with the date you pulled the tick off you and the location you were when you acquired the tick.
Ideally, you should have the tick tested right away to see what it contains. Ixodes pacificus is currently the only western tick associated with Babesia, Bartonella, Borrelia and Ehrlichia, but other ticks, such as the Dermacentor variabilis (American Dog tick) can carry pathogenic organisms causing diseases in humans and domestic pets (in this case, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia); Dermacentor andersonii is also a vector for RMSF.
What is the best way to remove a tick from a human when it has started to bury in?
By Barbara
Go to google.com and type in "removing ticks." There will be many sites for you to look at.
Is there an easy way to remove ticks? I heard of one using cotton balls, but can't remember what the cotton ball was dipped in. Thanks and God bless.
By Joan from Lewes
Cotton Balls or Qtips dipped in alcohol. Let it sit for a few seconds. Then grab the tweezers. It is vital that you tweeze as close to the skin as possible so that they head doesn't stay lodged into the skin.
I am looking for a holistic tick remedy.
By lori
I would not trust any holistic remedy for something as dangerous as a tick bite. I would be off to see my doctor or the er room if I had the symptoms of a tick bite.
What is the best way to remove a tick from a human?
Mary from Washington, MO
Just saw this on Oprah, Dr. Oz said to pull the tick straight out with a pair of tweezers. You can leave the head in, the body will work it out. I think he said if you are in a Lyme disease region to then take the tick to your dr. to have it checked. Do not try to burn, smother or drown the tick out, they don't work.
I found a tick on my dog. How do I safely remove it?
Thanks,
Lewis
I have tried, a cottonball with proxide (soaking cottonball) and place on tick.....Also Nail polish remover on cottonball, dabbing tic. till it starts to back out. also, If your quick, light a match, blow it out, and lay HOT match on tic. you may have to repeat afew times to get tic to come lose.
Good luck. Also contact your Vet. he might have some better ideas
I need to know how to remove a tick. Do I just pull it out? My cat, Calvin, and I both thank you for the help.
fab4mom from Walker, LA
While everything I have read suggests using tweezers to slowly pull the tick out while spinning it (as if unscrewing it), we have found it very helpful to drop a few drops of tick repellent on the tick first. Since pulling the tick out too quickly may cause the body to be removed while leaving the head in your pet (possibly causing infection), it is difficult to take the necessary time. The repellent encourages the tick to let go much more quickly. As none of the repellents from our veterinarian worked as a preventative on our labrador retriever due to our heavily wooded area, we have used Cloud 9 Herbal Dip, a natural product, for 6 years with great success. Sterilize the tweezers as well as the wound site afterwards. Alcohol works fine.
I used to be a groomer and when I found ticks we smothered a cotton ball in alcohol and covered the tick with it for a second or two and then used tweezers to pull the tick off. Always use a "twisting" motion and pull gently. If they are stubborn about coming off, having another person hold the cotton ball over the tick while you are grasping with the tweezers and pulling, usually helps a lot.
I foster dogs, we counted on 8 new dogs that came in, 56 ticks on all 8. We used a thick dish soap, like ajax, it suffocates them and is antibacterial for the wound. If it does not work I heard rubbing alcohol also works good.
Our hospital emergency room removed ticks from a young woman's hair by coating the tick with KY Jelly. The tick let go immediately and was remved. Can also use Vasoline Petroleum Jelly.
Ooh, don't pull it out - it'll break apart and leave its head in there (I know, it sounds gross.) Rubbing alcohol has always been the best method for us.
To the person 'living in the woods' where do you find 'Cloud 9 Herbal Dip'?
Apply Tea Tree Oil to the live tick or leech and surrounding skin. Leave for 20 minutes. The tick may fall off. If not, remove it carefully (make certain no part of the tick is left in the skin). Continue applying the oil to the bite three times per day for up to seven days.
