Every year, along with the first rays of the gentle spring sun, a lot of ticks are selected on last year's grass and branches of shrubs. Unfortunately, every year there are more and more of them, as well as the number of people affected by them. Ticks attack any warm-blooded mammals, but most often they attack dogs. What do ticks look like on a dog and what to do if you find them on your pet's body?
Instructions
Step 1
Examine the animal daily to timely detect the tick and destroy it. It is best to do this after each walk with the dog, because ixodid ticks do not immediately bite the animal, but crawl along its fur and skin for some time before digging into it. Feel your dog's body carefully, paying particular attention to the head, ears and neck. Do this with thin latex gloves - it can be dangerous to touch the tick with your bare hands. Ticks move very quickly, so do not delay inspecting your pet.
Step 2
If you feel something that looks like a small pea with your fingertips, then with a high degree of probability it may be just a tick. It is small in size, has a flat body and four pairs of legs; the body of the tick is colored dark brown, black or reddish. A timely discovered insect must be immediately destroyed before it has time to bite anyone. It is best to burn it, because you cannot simply crush a tick with your foot - this is an extremely tenacious creature.
Step 3
Feeling a large foreign body on the dog's skin with your fingers, you should know that the tick has already dug into the skin of the animal and managed to drink blood. At the same time, it increases in size and can reach one or two centimeters in diameter. The parasite changes its color to a dirty gray or pinkish and looks more than repulsive. The insect needs to be removed from your pet urgently. To do this, lay the dog down and ask someone from relatives or friends to fix it in this position. Take a pair of tweezers or a strong thread and disinfect the device with rubbing alcohol. Grab the tick with tweezers or a thread as close to the surface of the skin as possible and begin to remove it from the wound with rotational movements. After you have completely removed the tick, it is best to send it to the laboratory for analysis, and show the dog to the veterinarian, who will prescribe the necessary preventive and restorative therapy. Treat the wound left after a tick bite with an antiseptic.
