Did Removing Champ's Tick Hurt Him?

Did it hurt the dog? That’s what thousands of concerned viewers asked in the comments on my viral YouTube video "How to Remove Ticks From Dogs." 

In it, I demonstrated how to properly remove an engorged deer tick from my dog Champ, using TickEase tick removal tweezers. They're the only CDC-compliant device made expressly for removing ticks of all sizes from people and pets.

The tick was attached right above Champ's eye.  

I promise you that there was no pain involved in removing Champ's tick. As a matter of fact, after the tick was removed, you can see a big doggie smile on champ almost as if he was relieved. 

Ticks Make The Area Numb Before They Bite

I earned the nickname Tick Man Dan because I’ve removed as many as 3000 live ticks from both people and animals. I've never experienced a situation where removing the tick has hurt.

Sometimes ticks can get into a hard-to-reach area like inside the ear, or the crotch area. You might accidentally grab some skin while removing the tick, or pull out a couple of hairs. That can be momentarily uncomfortable, but not painful.

Ticks actually produce a pain killing chemical that they spit into the skin prior to inserting their barbed mouth parts so they can take a blood meal. You don’t feel a tick bite because it numbs the area. When you do remove the tick, although it looks like pulling the skin up might hurt, that anesthetic is present throughout the tick's feeding process.

So even when you remove the tick, I can assure you that there’s no pain involved. 

Just ask Champ.