Ticks have a complex life cycle. In Guernsey we get the tick Ixodes and it has four years of development to the adult form. The first nymph form is very small and is very easily missed. The next two years have larval forms and the adult develops in year four with the female having a large grey to fawn body and the male being smaller with a hard carapace (covering to the body). Ticks can be very irritating and at times painful when in sensitive areas and although they do not carry major diseases in Guernsey they certainly do elsewhere in Europe.
If your pet just gets the occasional tick you need a ‘tick picker’. There are many on the market but all have a common design where there is an elongated and narrow ‘V’ which you run underneath the head and body of the tick parallel to the skin surface. You then just continue pushing and the ‘V’ gets under the mandibles of the tick lifting it off.