I found a tick on my mare the other day (ew) and even though I pinched the skin around it and tried to make sure I got the whole thing, I think I missed the little sucker’s head. Now there’s a little bump on my horse. She doesn’t seem to be very bothered by it but I am.
Any tips?
You can’t really do anything about it now except perhaps if she is truly itchy beyond all belief see if the vet will give you something for comfort (Dex). But honestly, I wouldn’t. She a big horse and an itch won’t kill her. It would have been better to get the tick off intact but what’s done is done.
Take a cotton ball of rubbing alcohol and press, repeat - use tweezers to extract. This will sting your horse so you may want to have a handler.
Additionally, lather with corona or another sticky ointment if you are unsuccessful - emollients usually help bring things to the surface.
KILL THE FREAKIN’ THING!!!
[QUOTE=beowulf;8189538]
Take a cotton ball of rubbing alcohol and press, repeat - use tweezers to extract. This will sting your horse so you may want to have a handler.[/QUOTE]
This happened “the other day” according to the OP. No way days later she’s getting the stinger out.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8189543]
This happened “the other day” according to the OP. No way days later she’s getting the stinger out.[/QUOTE]
If it is scabbed over, you’d be surprised. I’ve done the same as OP… gotten the body but the head didn’t come with… spent 3 days getting one out…
I wouldn’t worry about it. In the next day or so you should be able to scratch it out with your finger nail. If the little b****d was carrying something. The damage is done. But the “damage” IMO and experience is way overblown. According to the “book” I should be riddled with Lyme considering the amount of ticks I pulled off of me over the years. Several last week.
I would be careful scratching around in an old tick bite trying to get what was “left behind” I might have done that to myself and paid the price with a pretty gross infection. What’s done is done. Leave it.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8189559]
I would be careful scratching around in an old tick bite trying to get what was “left behind” I might have done that to myself and paid the price with a pretty gross infection. What’s done is done. Leave it.[/QUOTE]
I agree. You don’t actually know for sure that there is anything left behind. Most tick bites do cause some swelling and a scab, even when the entire tick is removed (or falls off).
I know tick bites are icky and scary for people in non-endemic areas, but living in tick heaven - it wouldn’t even occur to me to try to dig out the mouthpiece of a tick that might be left in the skin. Your horse’s skin (and yours) is designed to expel small foreign bodies. If there is something tiny still in there, it will either be absorbed or be expelled.
If you want to do something, put a dab of corona ointment on it and cover it with swat. That will keep the flies from gnawing at the scab.
Too late now but for future reference always keep a bottle of rubbing alcohol in your first aid kit precisely for removing ticks. Pour a capful on the tick then take your tweezers, grasp the tick as close to the head as possible (often times it is embedded) then wiggle the tweezers back and forth gently until the tick lets go.
If it still doesn’t let go easily, another capful of alcohol may be needed. It’s usually the newly attached ticks that are the hardest to extract, IME. Those fully engorged (roley poley fat) are easy to remove. Not that most of us haven’t done this but ticks shouldn’t be pulled off with fingers precisely because the heads tend to stay embedded.
Another PSA: Both my vets (equine & small animal) as well as my MDs, have suggested saving the tick in a glass container in case any illness develops down the road. In fact, the first question from everyone of these folks has always been, “Did you save the tick?” Apparently, it’s much easier and more accurate to test the actual tick for the more common tick born diseases than to rely on antibody levels from the bitten individual at a later date.
I used to feel that leaving the head embedded and NOT picking the scab was okay… until my horse developed a fullblown infection because of the foreign object in his skin… others have been left alone fine but the heads never came out… so, I’d rather get it out the first time and treat aggressively w/ antibiotic ointment. YMMV.
Days later any disease in the tick has already gone into the horse. It’s too late now to stop the spread of infection. Likely bw it wasn’t leaving the head that caused the infection - it was the bite itself.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8189977]
Days later any disease in the tick has already gone into the horse. It’s too late now to stop the spread of infection.[/QUOTE]
You misunderstood me. Not an infectious disease. An infection on the wound site… it’s what the body does as a natural defense in the case of foreign objects. The area blew up and was raw and oozing - took several hot compresses to draw the infection out.
To be fair, most of the infectious diseases are transmitted by tick salivary glands… so it IS important to remove the head, even if you already got the body. Most of the diseases (IIRC) are caused by spirochetes that go from the gut to the salivary glands - so even if you remove the body (gut) there could still be a risk of infection(disease) in the salivary glands (which are still intact and embedded in the horse) that hadn’t been transferred yet. Of course, if the tick was embedded for more than 12 hrs I think you are looking at a good possibility of transmission if the tick was infected…
Either way, the head IS a foreign object, and some horses will react violently to foreign objects in the skin.
If the bump is itchy and not raw, you could put cortisone cream on it to help with the itchiness.
The spot is going to be sore, so put some medication on it until the head disintegrates. (When I was growing up, my mother had to “tick” me each day when I came in from playing in the woods. Those ticks whose heads are not removed leave a sore sport for a few days. So medicate with something that will relieve soreness.)
Sometimes the heads are just so imbedded that the body breaks off leaving the head in the flesh. Usually you can get all of the tick out, but occasionally this happens.
And yes, rubbing alcohol is good for it before and after.
[QUOTE=rcloisonne;8189877]
Another PSA: Both my vets (equine & small animal) as well as my MDs, have suggested saving the tick in a glass container in case any illness develops down the road. In fact, the first question from everyone of these folks has always been, “Did you save the tick?” Apparently, it’s much easier and more accurate to test the actual tick for the more common tick born diseases than to rely on antibody levels from the bitten individual at a later date.[/QUOTE]
How long ago was this? No vets in NY want you to bring them ticks anymore.
Too late to do this now, as the tick is broken , but in my area the feed stores sell a handy little device that will pull out an embedded tick (with luck). It looks like a plastic “teaspoon” with a “V” shaped notch in the end. You scoop the tick into the notch until it is wedged tight, then pull it loose.
They work pretty well and you don’t even have to touch the tick. And they reach areas that are awkward to get at with fingers, too.
If I find a tick on my animals, I paint the thing with insectide, it dies soon, disappears, although the bite leaves a little scab.
Just remembered that we always used to use fingernail polish remover to dab onto the tick before removing it. And it also helps to get the head off if you’ve had the tick head remain in the skin. The ingredients of nail polish remover always made the ticks give up and let go so you could kill them.
My mare just had one inside of her ear. I got the tick out, but must have left the head. 
She had a huge scab inside of her ear, yesterday. I wish that I had known about the alcohol. I removed the scab and covered the spot with ointment. She was freaked out enough about me removing the scab. Hopefully, it was not the kind of tick that gives them Lyme disease.
Would you mind giving me the initial signs and symptoms of Lyme?
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