Due to the crazy weather this spring I have noticed a massive increase in ticks.
I would urge everyone to be on their guard as there has been an increase in Lyme disease and other associated illnesses from bites of infected ticks.

I agree - this year seems worse than ever. We live in the campo & have 6 dogs and seem to be fighting a losing battle against the buggers!

I'm especially wary as OH spent a month in hospital a couple of years ago - literally at death's door - with 'Q' Fever, most likely caused by a tick bite

Fleas as well. Apparently it wasn't cold enough to kill them off.

Well, it was cold enough here - we even had snow!

Well, ours have scalibor collars, get frontline every month and milbemax every three months against worms and filaria.

(Don't ever give your dogs milbemax unless they are given the all clear for filaria from your vet.)

The labs have been here two years, and so far we haven't had a single tick or flea. Admittedly they aren't allowed to run free in the campo, but even in the garden there is always the odd tick looking for a free meal.

The pups had a few ticks when they arrived, but after a shot of frontline, what few ticks were left were almost falling off.

Do you attempt to remove the ticks, or just allow Frontline to work its magic.

We use Scalibor & Frontline too - trouble is, we live in the campo and can't fence our land off so the dogs are free to roam - not that they go far. There's also a goat farm down the road and I reckon they're a source of ticks

Well, When the pups arrived, I picked off what I could see, and then the day after that checked them again.

Only some very sick ones, and no more since.

Do always remember that all the methods of removing ticks, like burning with a cigarette, vaseline, poisons and so on, as well as pulling them by the body should never be used, as all will risk making the tick vomit some blood into the wound which is a very high risk of causing an infection. Pull them off with a hook or loop designed for the purpose, and be careful not to leave the mouthparts in the wound.

If you get bitten, I would suggest applying a hot poultice, as hot as you can bear on the wound for as long as you can. The idea is to heat up the tissues around the wound in the hope of killing bacteria and viruses which can be very heat sensitive.

Do the ticks manage to feed off the dogs given that they have frontline?

Well the odd one that we find do seem to be pretty well attached - though I removed one earlier today and it was dead so I guess the frontline is doing its stuff!

Be aware that it is illegal to let your dogs roam in the campo. If they kill any of your neighbours chickens or bite anyone they will probably be shot or you will get denounced.
If you can't afford to fence off all of your land, could you not fence off a bit round your house?

Our vet told us after correctly removing the tick rub the area with alcohol either medical/cleaning alcohol or vodka.

I thought Frontline didn't provide full protection against ticks? Ours had the collar too after I had a tick. Was stood at the bathroom mirror one morning and looked like a nasty spot on my neck. Putting on my reading glasses I could see it's legs hanging out You can buy a special tick remover instrument but I can't remember if I bought it in the UK or Spain.

That's good, but the idea of the heat treatment is to cook any bacteria in the wound where they are too deep to be affected by the alcohol.

Heat also works to stop bites itching.

Can anyone tell me where one can buy the tick remover please