How to Check Your Pet For Ticks

Deer ticks or black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis), are most commonly known to transmit the bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi) known to cause Lyme Disease, which when transmitted affects the joints of your pet who will usually display a limp in the front foreleg. Dogs are tick magnets and need to be checked every couple of days for ticks. An engorged tick is easy to spot and feel as the dog is stroked; smaller ticks are not as easy to spot. Ticks engorge themselves by feeding on the dog's blood. An engorged tick feels like a big, smooth lump and needs to be removed immediately for the health of your pet. Ticks are found in grass, trees, sand, dirt, under hedgerows--anywhere where it might find a warm-blooded host brushing past. Eliminate discomfort for your furry friend by reading on to learn how to check your pet for ticks.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tweezers
• Rubbing alcohol
• Cotton swabs
• Cup of rubbing alcohol

1. When your pet is calm, rub the fur the wrong way, exposing the skin underneath. This method will allow you to see any tiny ticks that have just burrowed in or any that are still walking around on the pet searching for a suitable spot to bite. On spotting a tick, take a cotton swab and dip swab into the rubbing alcohol. Rub tick gently with the alcohol-soaked swab and leave for one minute. This will usually kill the tick and loosen its grip.

2. Take the tweezers and place between the skin and the tick's head. Close tweezers on the base of the tick's head and pull gently. The tick should come out whole; check that the head is there. Get a clean swab of alcohol and swab the dog's tick bite area immediately.

3. Place tick in a cup of rubbing alcohol. Repeat steps to find and kill other ticks that have bitten or that are crawling around on the dog. To reduce the number of ticks found on the pet, purchase flea and tick collars or use the once-a-month spot method available where you purchase your pet supplies.

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