Now I am really Ticked off!
 

After a weekend of fun and romping with the other pups in Central Park , including Riverside Pk, we found out today that Pup had a tick on him!! The vet says that Central Park has a tick problem!!
so wear your OFF or whatever you need to protect yourself if you go off the paths or into any tall grass.

Ticks in a wooded parkland. Seems hard to fathom.

Mike T, where do you live?
We are talking about sidewalks and grass here, not a wooded parkland.

Scarlett, with all the worries about Lyme Disease and Nile Disease, you should NEVER go out without insect repellent! Poor Pup. Ticks are so gross.

I know! The vet picked it off of him with a tweezer !! Ick ick!
The vet said that people have been coming in with ticks on their pets AND on them.
Silly me, I thought that we were safe in the city :(

I feel your pain Scarlett. Those dog ticks are grooossss. Ticks are everywhere, grass, the weeds in the sidewalk cracks. eeeeuuuuwwwww. Still haven't found an easy way to get them off our dog. She has really short fur so they show up really fast. Thanks goodness for the 13 yo boy who owns her. They love that kind of stuff!!! ;)

Pup has a haircut so his hair is sort of short but he is still pretty hairy, curly too and brown..perfect hiding place for ticks..Poor Pup, he is now only allowed out on the sidewalk and back in pretty quick!! ((&))

scarlett - we can truly understand how this must have upset you BUT ticks are a fact of a dog's life. Keep your little tweezers handy and for yourself: spray well with DEET before heading out there cause that West Nile Virus along with Lyme's Disease can be really scary!!!

I guess NYC will have to spray Central Park. But you know, I also thought Central Park had LOTS of trees.

Maybe Pup needs a walk down by the river. Chiao!!

Scarlett, you were walking in a park with lots of trees. If you have been hanging out in SoHo, that would one thing, but you were IN A PARK.

Typically,it is only deer ticks that transmit lymes. I cant imagine any deer ticks in central park. I wouldn't sweat it.

Thank you LN and doc, yes, this was a dog tick. The kind that swell up big and gross with blood. Not a tiny little spider-like deer tick.
Yes, I am aware that there are trees in Central Park. But since Pup rarely climbs trees or even hangs out under them, we thought he was safe.He does get those drops also, the little bugger might have died soon anyway.
Down by the Hudson was also where we played, it could have come from there.
Mostly the purpose of my whine, was to alert other Pup owners and those who do loll under the trees and in the grass, Ticks are out there and looking for someone nice to go home with :)

And maybe if he wrestled with another dog it jumped off the other dog onto Tate! Kind of like kids and head lice! Yikes.

... to add insult to injury, many say with ticks you can no see 'em. Glad the culprit was discovered and dispatched.

Dogs get ticks all the time. It's not a big deal. Just carefully pull them out with a pair of tweezers or hemostats. Be sure to grab the tick as close to its head as possible. If you don't, you might rip it apart and leave the head on the dog.

"ticks you can no seem em" :D

Yep, this little sucker was in the wrong spot at the wrong time!

I think you would have heard me squealing all over the world if I had to be the one to pick it off :O
That is one of my fears, that half of it will come off ...shudder~

That happened to my dad! He did the match on the butt trick and the tick died. Then he pulled and the body broke off and the head was stuck in his arm! He had to go to the doctor to get it out. How gross is that?!!!

Grasshopper, Suzie's 13 year old boy would have helped you out! I'd have been like this :-&

=-o Grasshopper, how could your dad stand to do that match to the butt thing on his own arm ??? Yes, I think that is the Top Gross story so far !

Scarlett, I feel your pain, our furry friend got one romping around in Michigan, but the vet gave us some drops to put on her that keep the ticks off her. Looks like we're on our own though :)

Well, he is kind of a "manly man", if you know what I mean. :-) Next time we shall certainly consider Suzie's son!

Thank goodness for manly men! ;)

You know kids insist that you look at the tick because it's sooooo "exciting". I dash for the door during the extraction process. I've determined that time to be a dad/son bonding moment.

My own "wilderness" brother removed all his own ticks.

There are no ticks in Macy's, thank you very much.

Believe it or not, I live in LYME, CT, home of Lyme Disease and we get ticks on ourselves and our pets all the time. Of all the many ticks I've pulled off my body over the years I've only had Lyme Disease once. I think all the hype is unnecessary and common sense is the best medicine. If you or your pets have been in a wooded or grassy area, do a quick "tick check" especially up around the neck and hairline area. Yes, ticks are gross, can spread disease and at the very least leave an uncomfortable little bump on your skin, but I wouldn't avoid wooded areas because of them. The benefit of outdoor recreation on one's health outweighs the risk in my mind.

... a ticklish, mitey tough problem, that's what bugs me!

I had to do that match on the butt thing when I was a kid and got a tick in my leg at summer camp. However, half the tick ended up liking my leg and stayed in. I never went to any doctor about it, though. I was just teased by everyone that it would grow another body and stick around for awhile.

Now that I think about it...THAT must be what's wrong with me....ha!

I learned this from the girl scouts: After removing the tick, you should put it in a Ziploc bag and then kill the insect. Then you should give the bug infested ziploc bag to the parents (or doctor) so it can be tested for lyme disease or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. RMPF is more of a concern with NC ticks and is deadly if it isn't treated.

Most everyone I know does a tick-check after walking the dog.

Scarlett, it's gross alright, but please don't deny your Pup the extreme doggy joy of rolling and romping on grass just b/c of one little tick. It's extremely unlikely to have been a deer tick, so I'd also go easy on the Off if I were you. You're really upholding the Urban Princess stereotype here, and we all know you're better than that.

ncgrrl, you must have been in a better troop than I, since my tick incident occurred at girl scout camp. Actually, it was our troop leaders that told me not to worry about leaving the body inside my leg.

Good idea, however, about having the insect tested....that way you know for sure whether or not you can be affected by it.

LOL, Urban Princess, thank you SO MUCH E!!
I do my best to uphold some kind of Princess stereotype :)

For a North Carolina raised girl, I should be used to ticks, my mother put clear nail polish on them til they came up for air then pulled them out. But I would just close my eyes and scream til they were gone, burned to death in an ashtray if I had my way !
I guess, this is the price I will pay for having such a sweet and gently pup, who keeps me company while that Yankee is out working all the time :( But I refuse to get all citified and pick my own ticks !
Time for a trip to Paris, I bet they don't have ticks! Unless they wear tiny berets and sip wine ~

Out here in California we deal with ticks on our dogs every rainy season. I have discovered that a tick collar works like a charm! They clasp around the dog's neck and last for 3 months. Much easier and safer to use than a spray repellant. Ticks may alight on the dog but will not attach and penetrate the skin. Ask your vet, Scarlett. Here I buy one each season and my best friend wears one from mid-October until the end of January. Beats trying to pull those 'lil hummers off!! UGH!

Yikes Scarlett, thanks for the heads up! I spend time with my own pooch in central park at least twice a week...and my vet told me I didn't need to use Frontline or its equivalent in the city, so I completely understand your outrage!
I'll be sure to do a full inspection of the little guy when I get home. And myself while I'm at it...YUCK.

Although this is not directly on point, I think it's interesting to note that coyotes have been seen prowling the streets of New York.

I also recall a story in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago telling the unfortunate tale of a Jack Russell dog being drowned in the lake in Central Park by a rather irate goose.

If I have a point, I suppose it's that though Mother Nature can be quite beautiful, it can also have a very ugly side, as well. But we co-exist. Unless, we - the supposed superior animal - believe that all that is ugly should be eradicated.

"Unless, we - the supposed superior animal - believe that all that is ugly should be eradicated."

Was just at the state fair and I believe that this is not possible.

A Jack Russel was drowned by a goose???
Jeez, Tate the pup just gets weird when he sees pigeons. That was some Goose! I would watch my children if that is so.
You are right, Jack, and what is beautiful to some is not to others --
I still can't look at spiders on television or movies ~shudder~
Do ticks serve a purpose other than making my skin crawl? Or spreading illness? Perhaps if I saw a tick in the light of a do-gooder, I would be less grossed out by them.
Meanwhile, the Pup takes Heartworm pills and Frontline for ticks and fleas! So that tick may have been breathing his last anyway-but not many people I know wear flea/tick collars so this is still worth mentioning :)

Very few ticks here in Montana;however when I lived in Minnesotta (tick heaven) I also had one in my leg, pulled it of,but the body stayed in and is there to this day. That was 24 years ago!!!
Is that why I gained all that weight???

I guess I like at this a little differently. I have had dogs all my life, and I have lived in many different parts of the country over the years. I've always been aware (I feel it's my duty to my dog's well-being, as well as my own well-being) of what "pests" existed in my locality. Alligators in Florida. Scorpions in the desert Southwest. Ticks anywhere there's trees and shrubs. (Ticks really are more prevelant in shrubby areas. They hang on the limbs - about knee high- and wait for someone - man or beast - to amble by.)
So, I guess, I'm not sure what all the hub-bub is.

Jack,

Now in your best valley girl voice "eeeeuuuuwwww". The Hub bub is about how icky it is to find a tick on the dog or other family member. ;)

Suzie,
no disrespect meant (seriously), but what does this have to do with travel?

Jack,
read the original posting and you will see that I was making a point for people to be AWARE that they should be careful when walking in Central Park, or any Park, even if it is in NYC. Wear OFF or whatever you like to keep the bugs off of you and if you have a pet, the pet also.
The vet told me that there is a problem in NYC with ticks in the parks, I was unaware, so I felt that I should tell people-people who might be TRAVELING to NYC and visiting the Parks!

Jack,

Don't have a clue as to how this relates to travel but Scarlett opened the thread and we all joined in. Isn't it fun? Like you, looks like lots of people have something to say on the subject. ;)