What You Have To Know About Dog Ticks
There's no better way of bonding with your dog than spending time together communing with mother nature. Maybe hiking through the woods together, him chasing squirrels, you enjoying the tranquility and the company of your best friend.
But lurking in those woods lies a hidden danger. No, I’m not talking about bears, or wolves, I’m talking about dog ticks!
Ticks are parasitic arachnids, related to spiders and scorpions. These parasites feed on the blood of warm-blooded creatures, and seem to have a particular fondness for dogs. If your dog spends any time outside in the summer months, it’s likely he’ll acquire a tick or two.
These little suckers are pretty clever too. They climb onto a long stalk of grass and wait for a likely host to come by. Then they hop on, hide themselves under the animal's fur, sink their teeth in, and start feeding.
To hide their presence, they inject a numbing agent into the wound, so the dog never even knows they're there. Meanwhile they get to work, draining one hundred times their own body weight from the poor animal.It is therefore important that you regularly check your dog for ticks. Make this part of your regular routine.
You’ll generally be looking for two types of ticks. The hard-bodied type is normally brown in color and resembles a small round spider. The soft-bodied type is larger and grey in color. They may be flaccid, or distended, depending on how much blood they’ve consumed.
If you do find a tick on your dog it is vital that you remove it immediately. Ticks are a serious threat to dog health and spread a number of serious illnesses, including Lyme Disease. They also attack humans, and as someone who has been bitten, and suffered a bout of tick bite fever, I can assure you that it is no joke.But how do you go about removing dog ticks? There are a number of myths about this, the most common of which include burning with a match or cigarette, or using petroleum jelly or alcohol. None of these methods are effective.
The right tool for the job is a fine-pointed pair of tweezers. Position the tweezers around the tick's head, as close to the dog's skin as you possibly can. Now, grasp the head and pull back gently, giving a slight twist of the wrist as you do. Keep it slow and steady, because you don't want the head to break off and remain in the wound and become infected.You should also use a hydrocortisone spray on the bite spot to take care of the irritation.
Once you've removed the tick place it in a bowl with an ammonia based household cleaner to kill it. Or if you have pity on the poor creature you could just flush it, but be aware that it will most likely go on to feed on some other poor animal or person.
If you often walk your dog through open fields or forest, I'd recommend a monthly treatment with a preventative like Frontline. This will kill ticks already on the dog and prevent others from pilfering a free meal.
Click here to read more about dog ticks, dog care, dog training and other useful dog advice at www.dogsanddogtraining.com
