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I live in a mountain area where the problem of ticks is not an issue for my two dogs during the winter. But with the arrival of spring I begin their monthly treatments for ticks for their health and my piece of mind.
Protecting your dog from ticks is a must because of the various transmutable diseases these parasites carry. Below we will provide you with information so protecting your dog from ticks can be accomplished with easy monthly treatments.
Why is protecting your dog from ticks something you should be concerned about? Because ticks are parasitic carriers of the Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
These two diseases can kill your best buddy as well as potentially transmit the disease to other family dogs, not to mention the human members of your family. Lyme’s is a particularly nasty contagious disease able to severely cripple humans and lead to death.
Giving your pooch a tick inspection is not difficult. Here’s how you can do it:
- Have the dog sit while you check the ears and run your hands over your dog slowly feeling for the telltale bump indicating a tick.
- Pull the fur aside as required to see the tick and while wearing protective rubber gloves remove the tick with tweezers. A common mistake many dog owners make is removing only the body of the tick while leaving the head still attached to the dogs skin. This does not solve the problem as the tick will continue to live while sucking more blood from your dog. See, I told you these are nasty little parasites.
- If the tick has been attached to the dog for several days, the body of the tick is going to be the size of a small marble and will bust when squeezed. Thus you must wear the protective surgical gloves to avoid any transmission of Lyme’s or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever to you or another family member.
You will know you have removed the head of the tick because the dog will give a yip due to the fact the tick has a small piece of the dog’s skin in its mouth.
The recommended ways to protect your dog from the above diseases and kill any tick that finds a home on your dog are:
- Yearly shots for the diseases
- Monthly flea and tick treatments with medication placed along the dogs front shoulder blades to his rear hips
- Monthly dips at your groomers or the vets
- Sprays and dusting with tick prevention powders
Your vet can also provide you with pills you give your dog once a month for protecting your dog from ticks.
How do you prevent ticks on your dogs? Please share this article with other dog owners.
Riverdivine
May 10, 2013 at 10:22 am
There are MANY nontoxic, safer alternatives to giving your dog neurotoxic pesticides. I mentioned the Dr.Becker product; here’s a website with many additional great products. Cheaper, safer, smarter! 🙂
ALL NATURAL FLEA AND TICK FOR DOGS
Riverdivine
May 10, 2013 at 10:19 am
PLEASE do some research before applying toxic pastes onto your dog’s skin, or making your pet ingest poison/insecticides, the flea and tick products that the typical conventional vet promotes. These products are neurotoxins, with much research showing that they are linked to promoting neurological disease and/or cancer in your pet. Just as you wouldn’t spray Raid on your dog as its incredibly toxic, its seem very unwise to attempt to protect your dog from a flea or tick, but then give a poison that will do much more damage to your dog’s nervous system, and possibly create cancer. Here’s a great piece by Dr. Becker, a well respected holistic vet that works with Dr.Mercola. Here’s an article, explaining the issue further, and they have an herbal spray that is a safe alternative here: Mercola Market
RHONDA
May 10, 2013 at 9:34 am
MY BORDCER COLLIE AUSSIE MIX USES VECTRA 3D WHICH IS THE BEST YOU CAN BUY FOR YOUR FUR BABY BUT IT IS NOT CONTROLLING OR KILLING OR REPELLING ALL TICKS…MY VET ALSO PRESCRIBED A PREVENTIC COLLAR. STILL GETTING TICKS OFF TIPSY HERE IN WESTERN KENTUCKY AND PUTTING 20 MULE TEAM BORAX ON CARPETS, OR ANY AREA MY BELOVED FREQUENTS.
ANY ITHER SUGGESTIONS?
RHONDA
May 10, 2013 at 9:35 am
SALLY PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU GET A REPLY TO THIS QUESTION ABOUT THE TICK PILL.
Sally
May 10, 2013 at 9:46 am
Will do Rhonda. I would love a pill form instead of a topical for ticks. It’s hard to keep my 2 boys separated during the dry down time. I currently use Parastar plus that works well in the U.P of Michigan.
Victoria
May 10, 2013 at 9:21 am
Also tick twisters are an amazing thing to keep handy they make it so simple to remove the tick!
Sally
May 10, 2013 at 9:18 am
What is the name of the pill my Vet can provide me with to prevent ticks as stated in your article? I have never heard of a pill for ticks, only Sentinel which is for fleas not ticks.
Ron Miller
May 11, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Sally — you’ll have to ask your vet. We used pills 3 or 4 years ago for our dogs, and they seemed to work well. Can’t remember the name of it now, but I think it was “prescription only”.