ticks

Seriously, has this been a bad season for anyone else? Literally EVERY time we take the dog for a walk my girlfriend pulls at LEAST 10 tics off of her, and usually its more like 20. I didn't even know there were anything other than the "regular" tics (ones that look like little bastard spiders) but apparently there are also seed tics (little gray things that look like, well seeds - except they're full of YOUR BLOOD) and dog ticks (little bodies with a deflated sac which eventually fills with blood until its like 10x's the size of the body proper). Fucking gross little bastards.

The humorous upside is, we shaved the cat down to stop it from carrying tics in on her fur - gave her a lion cut, so she's got this RIDICULOUSLY skinny little ass and this huge mane, with the top of her tail a pooft of fur.

I'll try and get some pics and post 'em as it's friggin' hilarious.

oh you mean "ticks"

wait . . . shit, yeah, I meant "ticks."

editing

In middle school I lived in MN for two years. We had woods behind the house where Id go play with my friends. Then I learned about "wood ticks" and it fucking scared me to go outside. I always checked my skin when i got home because I was so damn terrified.

LOL, nothing would make me happier than having legitimate cause to shave a cat.

We have a lot of ticks in Southern Oregon, mainly in tall grass. I haven't gone hiking yet this season, so I don't know how bad it is. I fear lyme disease, but that's worse on the east coast I think.

Yeah, we also have Rock Mountain Spotted Fever which is communicated by ticks. Don't know if that makes it worse, or if its just that the fuckers attach themselves your body - like leeches with legs.

Just for you Iain C - not the clearest picture, but you can see my cat getting womanhandled and shaved at the Kennel where my girl works

once after a camping trip i had a deer tick in my nutsack for about a day and a half. it was the size of a small pea (the tick not my nutsack).

freaked me the fuck out.

  xxx said:

  T35513R said:

The humorous upside is, we shaved the cat down to stop it from carrying tics in on her fur - gave her a lion cut, so she's got this RIDICULOUSLY skinny little ass and this huge mane, with the top of her tail a pooft of fur.

 

The only sure way to keep ticks off of your pet is to use a transdermal pesticide like Frontline. I know it costs but it's worth it if you have tons of furry creatures running in and out of your house. Plus, it will piss your cat off less because she will get to hold onto the complex fur structure that helps her regulate her own temperature.

 

Yeah, my girl's on top of this but, unfortunately, fleas et al are becoming immune to Frontline (at least in this region). The suggested thing to do is to alternate treatments between Frontline and other transdermal treatments but even with doing this they're still mobbing us like crazy. . . I'm considering drinking a daily supplement of DDT to take of the problem for good.

Rock Mountain etc is scary cause the symptoms arise way after the bite has ceased to be really noticeable - one day you feel a little flu-like and then BAM! you're FUCKED.

quick edit: @ Keltoi - oh man - I went to the bathroom at work last week and found a tick hanging offa my right nut - I know you're not supposed to just rip 'em out, but I couldn't stop myself. Something very, very, very wrong about bugs sucking the blood out of your nuts.

We used to burn those suckers off.

  keltoi said:

once after a camping trip i had a deer tick in my nutsack for about a day and a half. it was the size of a small pea (the tick not my nutsack).

 

freaked me the fuck out.

the same thing happened to me as a kid, except I believe the tick was even bigger when I discovered it.

You knew it was coming.

this one time i found an earwig in a raspberry i was about to eat, SCARY.

one time I found a fried cockroach in my chinese food. I ate it anyway.

i also had a tick on my sack around age 4-5 for at least a day

i remember scratching at it and it didn't come off

i told my mom and she plucked it off for me, with a little blood

what followed was the look that D.A.R.R.Y.L had in Stand By Me, where he finds the leech and faints

I noticed that there were a lot of ticks really early in the season this year, like my dog had ticks on him in freaking February or March, usually they don't come out until it's warmer.

For real on the Frontline though, that shit works, crazy to hear about the immunity though... kind of like the "super-bug" bacteria that can't be stopped by normal anti-bacterials. We are creating our own end!

high fives for everyone with ticks in their nuts!

wtf nature is right...those buggers have no business on this planet!

wtf would Tick Birds eat then????

  thanksomuch said:

wtf would Tick Birds eat then????

wow, I never even heard of those before....

*scraps tick genocide plan*

i'm still not sick or burdened with ticks so i guess i'm superhuman.

i'm only "sick" when i call into work.

  tronicphace said:

  thanksomuch said:

wtf would Tick Birds eat then????

 

wow, I never even heard of those before....

 

 

*scraps tick genocide plan*

I woke up this morning and had a tick on the back of my knee.. WTF not cool, the idea of ticks being in my bed disgusts me.

Is it only in the United States you guys are having this problem? Been pretty warm over here for a while and I don't know anyone with any tick problems nor does my ferret, who is frequently walked outdoors or any of my rats have any.