It's been a bad season for ticks already, yuck!  Here are some tips on removing a tick, if you should find one on your pet:

Soak a cottonball with alcohol and drip it onto the tick, wait about 10 secs. 98% of the time, the tick will release and crawl backwards. If this does not happen however, do not hesitate to use tweezers to pluck the tick off of your pet. If the head detaches from the tick and stays embedded, don't panic, it's not that big of a deal! Your pet's body will actually wall it off and get rid of it, and yes, it's normal for there to be a bump in that area for a while. 

Here is a some-what funny, but true story of a tick removal gone wrong. Please remember to always use common sense, and if in doubt, call your vet!

Two women come running into a vet clinic with a dripping wet, slightly singed cat, asking "Will his whiskers grow back?!?" The staff eventually extracted this story from them:

The ladies were lounging by the pool and the cat saunters up to them. They find a big fat tick on the back of his head. One of the girls dad is a doctor, so she knows exactly what to do to remove the tick. First, they smear vaseline on the tick, because that will cause it to back out, right? It didn't work. Next, they doused the tick in alcohol, ticks will always back out when this is done, right?About 98% of the time, yes, however this case fell into the other 2%. Finally the ladies decide that sticking a hot match tip to the tick will surely irritate it and cause it to back out, I'm sure you can see where this is headed... Following the application of a hot match tip to the cat that has vaseline AND alcohol all over its head the cat catches on fire and runs off. The ladies chase down and catch the flaming cat, and toss it into the pool to extinguish the flames. Thankfully, the cat wasn't seriously hurt, apart from some burnt ear tips, and lots of singed hair. But on the back of its head was one fat, dead, charred tick.