The ticks are potentially dangerous parasite both for us and our dogs because it is a carrier of serious disease. With the arrival of summer and good weather, the environment becomes favorable for tick’s eggs to hatch. To learn a few simple precautions to reduce your dog’s chance of being bitten, visit the Washington State Department of Health website.
On the other hand, if you notice that your dog does have a tick, do not try to tear it out immediately because you there are serious implications in doing so. The tick strongly hangs, or adheres to your pet with his mouth and therefore, you may end up causing an injury or infection to the skin if you don’t know what you are doing. Not to mention, you could tear off the tick’s bottom half and unknowingly leave his head attached to your pet.
To safely remove ticks from your dog
It is important that you consider a few things when you want to remove a tick from your dog. The first thing we recommend is that you use latex gloves or a piece of paper to prevent possible infection. Do not forget that ticks are capable of transmitting serious diseases, hence the protection. Additionally, you may need another set of hands to help hold your dog still while you are attempting this.
To safely remove a tick from your pet, it is important to be very careful and follow a series of recommendations. We recommend that you use some special tweezers to remove a tick. You can also use any clamp that has a fine point. When trying to remove a tick, ensure that you grab its mouth part, which is very close to the skin of your dog or cat, and be careful not to crush it. Then slowly and gently try to remove it completely by pulling it straight up. Do not twist as you pull the tick out as this may cause you to leave pieces of the tick attached to your pet.
Another popular, easy method of removing a tick is placing some dish detergent on a cotton ball and placing it on the tick. The tick will detach himself to avoid the detergent at which point you can safely remove it from your pet.
Never use dangerous chemicals on your pet as the chemicals are absorbed through the skin and are toxic to your dog. Another method that we highly discourage is attempting to burn the tick with a lighter because it might injure your pet.
Once you have successfully removed the whole tick, make sure to it is dead. Douse the tick in alcohol and lace it in a sealed bag or flush it down the toilet. It is important to disinfect the affected area of your dog’s skin by washing thoroughly with antiseptic, soap and water.
If you are really apprehensive and it’s during your vet’s normal business hours, many veterinarians will kindly remove a tick from your pet, free of charge!
Don’t have a regular veterinarian? Contact TAILored Pet Services and we’ll provide a list of vets our employees and clients use.
Need a mid-day walk or potty break for your dog? We’re here to help! We have numerous monthly packages depending on your needs so contact us for more information.
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