How to Kill Ticks in Pets

Your pet can pick up a tick anywhere, even in your own backyard.

Ticks are small parasites that live off the nutrients they get from their hosts' blood. Unfortunately, their host could be your pet. Since ticks are exposed to blood from several hosts, they do carry diseases such as Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Ticks are commonly found in and around wooded and grassy areas, but it is possible to find ticks in urban areas as well. If you find a tick on your pet you should remove it, kill it and then take steps to prevent ticks on your pet in the future.

Things You'll Need

• Protective gloves
• Cotton swab
• Rubbing alcohol
• Tweezers
• Tissues
• Flea-and-tick shampoo
• Topical flea-and-tick repellent
• Flea-and-tick powder

Instructions

Remove the Tick

1. Locate the tick on your pet. Dip the cotton swab in rubbing alcohol and then rub the area around the tick with the wet cotton swab.

2. Use a tweezers to grasp the tick. Get as close to the head of the tick as you can to remove the entire tick. Once you have hold of the tick, pull back using a small amount of pressure to ensure a firm grip. Tug on the tick until it is completely out.

3. Examine the tick to be sure you have removed it in its entirety. Use another cotton swab dipped in alcohol to clean the area on your pet where the tick was. To kill the tick, wrap it in a tissue and flush it down the toilet.

Other Methods to Kill Ticks on Pets

1. Bathe your pet using flea-and-tick shampoo. Make sure you use enough shampoo to cover your pet's entire body. To kill ticks in your pet, allow the shampoo to set for 10 minutes before rinsing.

2. Apply a topical flea-and-tick repellent to your pet's skin once a month. The topical repellent will spread out over your pet's entire body, killing the ticks. You can find these topical solutions at your veterinarian's office.

3. Pat your pet down with a flea-and-tick powder. While this method is a bit messy, the powder will kill ticks on pets.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to use flea-and-tick powder in a well-ventilated area; pyrethrin, which is a toxin to kill fleas and ticks, is commonly found in these powders and can have adverse effects on you or your pet if inhaled.

• Never attempt to squash a tick, because the blood it carries can be infected with disease.

References

• FamilyVet.com: Ticks and How to Kill Them
• PetEducation.com: Pyrethrin