With the spring season full on, it is time to enjoy the outdoors with your pet. And so will fleas and ticks too. Here are some tips to guide you on how to remove ticks from your pets and some methods to avoid.
If its a deer tick, it must feed for 24 to 48 hours before it can transmit the organisms responsible for Lyme disease. Removing the tick as soon as you find it reduces your dog’s risk for Lyme or other tick-borne diseases.
AVOID THESE TICK REMOVAL METHODS
There’s a lot of misinformation on the internet, including the following tick removal suggestions, which should be filed under “Bad ideas”:
- Pinch the tick between your thumb and forefinger and pull it out — Many (but not all) ticks are infected with pathogens, or disease-causing agents. Pressing on the tick body may actually force pathogens in the tick gut into your pet.
- Burn the tick with a lit match or lighter — Some claim applying heat to the tick body will make it back out of the skin. In reality, heat may cause the tick to regurgitate gut contents into the bite. And chances are good that you could burn your pet’s skin or hair.
- Suffocate the tick with petroleum jelly, fingernail polish, alcohol or essential oils. Ticks generally only breathe between 1 and 15 times an hour out of spiracles, or openings on the sides of their bodies. While the tick may back out to escape the irritating solution, it will probably disgorge gut contents into the pet first.
TICK REMOVAL THE RIGHT WAY
If your dog is covered with hundreds of ticks, call your veterinarian. He or she can recommend a fast-acting tick-killing product for the majority of ticks, and the remaining ticks can be removed manually.
If you’ve only found a few ticks on your dog, removing them is relatively easy:
The 8 tips.
1.-Glove up.
2.-Apply rubbing alcohol to the tick bite.
3.-Use fine-tipped tweezers or forceps.
4.-Position the tweezers where you might imagine the tick "neck" would be.
5.- Slowly remove the tick using steady constant pressure.
6.-Don;t panic if the tick mouthparts remain in the skin.
7.-Apply rubbing alcohol again.
8.-Flush down the tick down the toilet or place it in a plastic bag or in a container.
Not all ticks carry disease-causing agents, but it’s a good idea to watch your dog for signs of tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease for a few weeks after tick removal. Signs of Lyme disease may include lethargy, loss of appetite and shifting-leg lameness. Your veterinarian can also recommend tick preventives to help kill ticks that come in contact with your dog.