Ticks can cause serious health problems for dogs, including humans. When it comes to transmitting communicable diseases, they rank second to mosquitoes. To identify if your dog is infested by ticks, following are the signs and symptoms to lookout for: irritation, inflammation, local infection, hypersensitivity, fever, lameness, loss of appetite, sharp pain in legs or body, arthritis, malaise or lethargy, cough, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis.
Since ticks are hard to detect if the dog’s fur is long, most pet owners would maintain their pet’s hair short for easy tick detection. In searching for the presence of ticks, it is advisable to don gloves. Rub your hands against the dog’s hair and feel for bumps. Visually check if it is a tick.
Removing Ticks – Common Practice
To get rid of ticks, spray alcohol or pour one to two drops of mineral oil at the tick. It will immobilize the tick in seconds. It also helps loosen its clasp to the dog’s skin. Carefully, grip the head of the tick, as close to its mouth as possible. Carefully apply pressure. Carefully, remove the tick away from your pet’s skin. Avoid gripping the tick at its head as not to twist the tick. Twisting can leave tick debris or other parts behind. Be conscientious not to crush the tick. Crushing the tick can spread more microorganism, or worse, it can cause the blood of the tick to access the dog’s stab. If the head or any part of it remains in the dog’s skin, remove them cautiously. Although the immune system of the dog can usually banish these remainders, an infection or swelling might occur, so it is best to contact your veterinarian if uncertain.
After removing the tick, drop the parasite to a mineral oil or alcohol, ensure that it is dead before disposing it to a nearby garbage bin. To avoid transfer of infection, wipe the mineral oil in the dog’s fur and then disinfect the area with alcohol.
Efficient Tools For Tick Removal
It is not expedient to directly takeout the tick with your bare hands. Doing so can transfer bacteria from the tick to your nails. Although removing dog’s tick might not be as easy as you think, there are other strategies to readily remove ticks by using different tools such as curved hemostats, tick spoon, tick slider, tick nipper, tick noose, and tick pincers. Curved thermostats are traditionally used by physicians or veterinarians. Tick spoon on the other hand, is an impressively well-crafted little plastic spoon with a notch at the end. Tick spoon is used by sliding the notch under the tick before levering it off. The tick slider is very similar to the tick spoon. Simply, slide the instrument under the tick before lifting it off. Tick nipper is a little plastic instrument with a curved jaw, which enables you to grasp the tick by its head before lifting it off. Tick forceps is just like an instrument used by ophthalmologists. It can readily grasp the head of the tick because of its fine tipped end. Never use sharp objects when removing ticks as not to poke holes in your pet’s skin.
Although ticks might be removed easily using various instruments, prevention is still far better than cure. Regular bathing and other preventive tick medications are still the most excellent ways in keeping the ticks off your pet.
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