It is necessary to regularly check your dog's body, head and tail for ticks, as these mites can transmit a number of serious diseases. Let's see how to remove a tick safely to protect your dog's health.
Ticks: the diseases they can transmit to your dog
To prevent your dog from getting sick from a tick, it is essential to inspect your dog when you return from an outing. This allows you to remove the tick without delay because it can transmit :
- Borreliosis, the equivalent of Lyme disease in humans, and which can do enormous damage to the animal's health,
- Babesiosis, also called piroplasmosis, which can be fatal,
- A transient paralysis or tick ascending paralysis, due to a toxin.
If the dog ingests a tick, it is exposed to the risk of suffering from a parasitic disease called canine hepatozoonosis.
Anti-tick hook to remove a tick from your dog: the best solution
There is no question of putting your dog in any danger. It is therefore necessary to remove the entire tick. This consists in checking that its mouth organ has not remained attached to the dog's skin. Ideally, we use a small accessory that is very practical and costs only about ten euros: the anti-tick hook. The instructions for use are as follows:
- Start by putting your dog in a quiet place,
- Spread the dog's hair well in order to free the tick,
- Insert the hook between the skin of the dog and the mite,
- Insert the hook between the dog's skin and the mite, make several turns of the hook as if you were screwing without pulling on the tick, the tick should come off by itself after a few turns,
- Check that all the mite has disappeared,
- Wrap the tick in a piece of tape so that it is completely imprisoned and throw the whole thing in the garbage,
- Only after removing the tick, sanitize the affected skin area exclusively with a dog disinfectant lotion,
- Disinfect your hands with a hypoallergenic hydroalcoholic gel for example.
Repeat the operation in the same way until all ticks are removed.
Some people prefer to have a pharmacist or a veterinarian do this. Why not? The main thing is to act quickly and well so that the tick is removed safely and the health of the dog is saved.
There are products marketed in pharmacies and adapted to canines in the form of anti tick lotions. They are applied directly to the mite, which is not resistant to them since it dies within a few hours.
To limit the risks of finding ticks on your dog, it is possible to act preventively. You just have to ask your veterinarian for a specific prescription in order to have the best adapted product for your dog. This preventive treatment must be renewed regularly in order to remain active. This does not exempt you from checking your pet every time you return from a walk. But in no case should the cat be given an anti-tick product prescribed for the dog because it can be fatal for the little feline.
