If you have a dog and you love it from the core of your heart, you would probably want it to stay safe and healthy. As a pet owner, you have to take care of your pets, no matter what. There are many things in the environment that can be dangerous for your dog.
Dog’s have A LOT of hair, which is why the little insects called ticks to get attached to their skin. These ticks not just cause itching and rashes but it can also lead to some of the most dangerous diseases a dog can get. Some of these diseases are mentioned below:
1. Anaplasmosis
2. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
3. Ehrlichiosis
4. Babesiosis
5. Lyme disease (Borrelia)
6. Tick paralysis
7. Inflammation and other bacterial infection.
Now, all these diseases don’t sound like treats, do they? They’re very dangerous and you need to be absolutely sure that your dog is safe and healthy. Tick-borne diseases are very common in dogs and tick bite bruises are very harmful to your dog as well. Here are 10 tips that will help you prevent your dog from catching any diseases from ticks:
1. Learn About Tick Season:
First thing’s first, you need to find out what season the tick’s come out in. Now, the thing is that it varies in every country. In some countries, it’s in the fall, in some in summers, so you need to contact your vet and ask them about the tick season. Once you know that, you can start taking precautionary measures accordingly.
2. Know The Lay of The Land:
Tick’s usually crawl up on scrubs and grasses. Obviously, you take your dogs to the park for a walk and because of that, they have the ability to leap onto the animals passing by. Running to the bushes playing ball. You can avoid that by not exposing your dogs to such shrubs and grassy areas Best to avoid exposing your dog to such places, particularly during peak tick season.
3. Tick Prevention Collars:
Tick’s are usually very clingy and disgusting but at the end of the day, they’re still just creatures and you can always use prevention to kill them. There are two types of Tick prevention collars, mentioned below:
✓ Repelling: One type emits a gas that repels pests.
✓ Treating: The other type has medication that seeps into the fat layer on dogs’ skin or active ingredients that spread using the dog’s natural skin oils. When the first type is used, a pest must bite the dog for the insecticide to kill them. The second type of treatment collars emits active ingredients that kill fleas and ticks on contact before they bite.
P.S: Tick prevention collars are very effective for keeping ticks away from your pets. However, these collars can be a little dangerous for dogs who like to swim or have other dogs licking all over them. That can be dangerous.
4. Check For Ticks On a Daily Basis:
When it’s tick season in your country, always make sure to check your dog for tick-borne disease. Get rid of those little parasites before they spread out and cause a bad effect on your lovely dog. You can always kill the ticks but, If you detect a tick, take your dog to the vet as soon as possible.
5. Save The Removed Ticks:
It sounds really disgusting but you never know what kind of disease your dog is going through and how saving the ticks might help you. Why is that useful? The reason being is, when you have some of the ticks stored, you will have the knowledge of what kind of tick has your dog been exposed to before and if he gets infected again, your vet can perform a diagnosis more expediently.
P.S: Store the ticks in a container filled with water and keep them away from everything else.
6. Remove Ticks With Precaution:
You will find a lot of articles online which would tell you how to remove ticks. However, they are not authentic, you should never burn the ticks because they can harm your dog, you should also not rub vaseline or any other lubricant because that would make your dog’s skin more slippery and the tick would be harder to remove. or these are simple steps to remove the tick from your dog’s skin by yourself:
Step1: You need to take a fine-tipped tweezer to grasp the tick from its mouth closer to the surface of your Dog’s skin. you need to remove the entire tick which includes its head and mouth mainly.
Step 2: Pull upwards with an even pressure steadily.
Step 3: Clean the bitten area on the dog with rubbing alcohol or iodine scrub to kill the bacteria which can spread infections. you can also use soap and water as well if alcohol isn’t available.
Precautions: Things you need to take care While TICK REMOVAL!!
1. DO NOT! twist, crush, poke or burn the tick.
2. DO NOT! smother the tick with any other material.
Some people even try to pull on it and have questions like ‘When I pull on it, it gets bigger’. It doesn’t get bigger, it just expands when you touch it and would probably harm your dog even more by injecting infected blood in the blood of your pet. So, if you can’t remove it by yourself, It’s better to take your dog to a vet so they can remove the ticks for you.
