Wednesday 1 May 2013

Ticks.........a dogs worst nightmare!


Ticks on Dogs

This time of year it is common to see ticks, if you live in a country that has a warm humid climate there will be ticks present. Ticks can be found in many different countries around the world and it is important to protect your dog against ticks before they attach on to your dog.

How to prevent ticks

Prevention is best with ticks, I always use Frontline Spot on Flea and Tick Drops, (suitable for small, medium, large and extra large dogs) which can be found in my online store. I have used this with my two dogs and we have never had any problems with ticks.

Tick diseases

Ticks carry many diseases such as Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Tick-borne Meningoencephalitis, Colorado Tick Fever, Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, plus many other diseases.

How ticks get on your dog

When your dog walks through a wooded area or long grass he has a greater chance of a tick/s transferring onto his head and body as ticks lie in wait for their victims to brush past them and them climb aboard.
Once onto the head or body they either attach themselves straightaway or have a crawl around to find an ideal sucking spot.
The ticks dig their mouth part into your dog and feed on the blood, the tick will not loosen itself until it has finished its meal, which could be hours or days.

How to remove ticks 

Removing a tick from your dog can be done but you have to be careful as if you do not pull it out in the right way you can end up leaving the mouth part behind or making the tick bring up infective fluids which will get inside your dogs blood stream. Tweezers can be used if you know how but otherwise you can get a tick remover tool, like the tick twister, which can be found in my online store it is specially designed so that you can get ticks out of your dog safely and at ease.

If you live in an area with ticks be sure to apply the Frontline flea and tick drops on to your dog, this is done easily and is normally applied on your dogs hairline behind his neck, this will stop the ticks from attaching on to your dog and your dog will stay tick free.