Spinning ticks

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

My dog picked up a tick a few months ago, so naturally I went online to see what to do and found the usual methods - matches, fingernail polish, oil, hot sauce, pulling with tweezers, etc. My husband tried matches and oil, which he considered “tried and true” methods, but they didn’t work - so we were about ready for a trip to the vet.

Then I found a method called “spinning.” You just rub the tick in tiny circles until it backs out. It took a couple of tries over a minute or two - not quite as quick as the articles indicated - but it did work. The tick backed right out of my dog, and I know it was intact because it crawled around on my (gloved) hand before I disposed of it, and I could see the head.

Here’s a link that has a video of how to do it:

It may not work with all varieties of tick, but it worked great for the dog tick.

There seems to be some controversy about whether the tick “regurgitates” its germs before pulling out, but I’m not sure any method can guarantee against that.

I would love the Straight Dope about why this works! (Some articles claim the tick gets “dizzy” but I don’t buy it.)

2

This seems to be in relation to this Staff Report:
Are you supposed to twist ticks counter-clockwise to remove them?

For the reasons given in Jill’s report, “spinning” them sounds just as bad as trying to unscrew them. Until I see a tick with a Phillips Head grove on it, I think I’ll stick to the tweezer method.

3

Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board, catsaway9, we’re glad to have you with us. Since there’s already another thread on ticks, I’m going to suggest that future posts be put there, and I’m closing this one. I’ve duplicated/copied your post into that thread.

Here’s the link to the other thread: more on ticks