TICKS ARE PARASITES, DISTANT COUSINS OF SPIDERS, WHICH CLING WITH THEIR MOUTHPARTS TO THE SKIN OF DOGS, CATS, AND OTHER ANIMALS. ONCE THEY ARE WELL ATTACHED, THEY INJECT THEIR SALIVA AND SUCK THE BLOOD.
WHAT ARE TICKS?
Ticks are parasites, distant cousins of spiders, which cling with their mouthparts to the skin of dogs, cats, and other animals. Once they are well attached, they inject their saliva and suck the blood. At first, they are rather small, fairly flat, and not firmly attached to the animal’s skin.
They begin to feed and gorge themselves with blood, after a few hours they grow and round out to about the size of a pea. Ticks are mostly found in grassy, bushy, and wooded areas, including some gardens.
WHY CAN TICKS BE DANGEROUS? LYME DISEASE
Embedded fully ticks on dogs can transmit many diseases, the most serious of which is Lyme disease. Some of these diseases are sometimes fatal for dogs and cats and often cause unpleasant flu-like symptoms, among others, which can be permanent.
PRODUCTS TO PREVENT TICKS
Topical products recommended by veterinarians, such as Frontline, are generally effective in preventing ticks or getting them off quickly. Sprays, collars, and powders can also be effective. Even when using a preventative tick product, they can still attach and start feeding because active products need time to work, the tick will die and fall off within 24 hours.
HOW TO CHECK FOR TICKS ON DOGS AND CATS
Remember to always check your dog for ticks after a walk and check your cat regularly to see if he is used to going outside. Ticks can be anywhere on the body, but most often they are on the head near the eyes and ears, on the back of the neck, inside the back legs, and under the tail around the anus. Ticks that have recently attached themselves can often be removed by combing the fur, provided they have not yet had time to attach themselves firmly to the skin.
HOW TO REMOVE A TICK
Veterinarians around the world recommend physically removing ticks using slender-tipped tweezers. You can also buy special tools to remove ticks from pet stores, they are simple to use and work in a similar way.
HOW TO SAFELY REMOVE A TICK FROM A DOG OR CAT, STEP BY STEP
Use tweezers or a tick-removal tool to catch it as close to the skin as possible. If one squeezes the tick’s body, fluids will be injected into the bloodstream of the dog or cat.
Pull upwards with even pressure. Do not twist the tick or pull sharply as this may break off the mouthparts that remain in the skin. If this happens, try removing them with tweezers. If you can’t extract the mouth easily with clean tweezers. Leave it in place and wait for the skin to heal.
Once the tick has been removed, clean the area around the bite carefully by hand with alcohol. An antiseptic, soap, and water.
Dispose of a live tick by submerging it in alcohol, sealing it in an airtight bag or container. Wrapping it in tape, or flushing it down the toilet. Never crush a tick between your fingers because it could transmit its diseases to you.
ALTERNATIVE METHODS TO REMOVE TICKS FROM DOGS
Other methods of removing a tick may work in special situations, for example. If the tick is in a hard-to-reach place such as near the eye or the ear. So it is not possible to use pliers, or if you do not have pliers available. You can then soak the wadding in liquid soap, nail polish remover, or other similar liquids.
You must hold the soaked cotton on the tick for several minutes. Most often it will then fall into the cotton. The chemical method is only recommended if the tweezers method is not possible. This method is primarily recommended because the goal is to remove the tick through a tick remover for cats as quickly as possible before there is an infection – that is why you should not wait for it to come off on its own.
However, using chemicals can irritate or injure the tick, which can cause it to vomit infected fluids into the host animal, causing the very infection you are trying to avoid.
