Tick Infestation

Ticks are resilient little creatures that never seem to die. They survive almost any attempt to eradicate them. The rate at which they spread, as well as their resistance to pesticides is amazing. Ticks normally appear when the weather gets warmer, but inside kennels and homes with heat inside, ticks can breed at any time of the year. If it`s cold they will simply hide inside little nooks and crannies and patiently wait for the temperature to get warmer.

It takes 10 to 30 days for tick eggs to hatch, so you should treat an infested home at 10 day intervals, at least 4 times. Then after that, once per month for 2 to 3 months. Any sprays and insecticides used should say “acaracide” on the can, since other insecticides and sprays have little or no effect.

It is normally only required to spray to about the level of 2 or 3 feet up the wall from the floor. Spraying should be done to areas where the dog often sleeps, such as the sofa or chairs if he indeed does sleep there. The edges of rugs should be sprayed, as should the edges of baseboards.

For human beings, the main threat of ticks is the disease referred to as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Despite its geographically-specific name, the disease is not limited to the Rocky Mountain region. It can be caught over much of the USA and Canada. Ticks sometimes also cause a disease called “rabbit fever” in rodents, which can be transmitted to people.

In some warmer areas such as the Southern USA, France, and Africa, there is an intestinal protozan parasite called babesia that causes extreme anemia in dogs by attacking their white blood cells. Ticks spread this protozan from dog to dog. Being a host to many ticks can cause serious problems for a dog, including loss of large amounts of blood, anemia, paralysis, and eventually death is serious scenarios.

There is such a thing as flea and tick collars which are supposed to kill ticks. These can be useful for dealing with ticks that go undetected by the dog`s owners, but they are not ideal and if possible the owner should try to detect the tick and remove it, because damage and illness can occur in the dog before the tick is eventually killed by the collar. There is also a kind of tablet that veterinarians sometimes prescribe, that the dog can ingest and it will ensure that any tick feeding on the dog will die.

The above serious consequences of tick infestation are outlined here so that you will understand the importance of dealing with tick infestation in your home. Complacency on the part of dog owners can have serious effects on your dog and even on the owners themselves.

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How to Remove a Tick From a Dog

Removing dog ticks is something that can be accomplished by the dog`s owner, as long as the tick isn`t attached to the inside of the ear or the dog`s eyelid, or another spot that is difficult to access and would probably necessitate the use of anesthesia. Regular brushing of the dog can remove ticks if they have not yet attached themselves to the dog by burrowing under its skin and inserting their barbed probe. But if the dog tick has already latched onto the dog using its barbed probe then brushing is not enough. The tick will have to be honed in on and specifically removed.

You should pull the dog`s hair back from the spot where the tick is enlodged so they we have full view of the tick. Once you have done this, you may try applying a few drops of rubbing alcohol or iodine straight onto the tick. This can temporarily shock the bug, and might cause it to loosen its barbed probe.

Now use a pair of tweezers, get as near as you can to the skin, and pull the tick out with a slight twisting movement. The aim of that is to make sure the tick`s head does not break off and remain under the dog`s skin. If the head breaks off and stays under the dog`s skin, a secondary infection is possible. After removing the tick, it is a good idea to reapply iodine or alcohol to the open wound. If the tick`s head has broken off under the skin, hydrogen peroxide can be applied to the wound and this has been known to help.

Typically, after the removal of ticks from the dog, the dog gets reinfested with ticks once again because the owner gets complacent. It`s important to remember the female ticks usually lay 4-5000 eggs at a time, so if one of them infested your dog it is likely that more could do so as well. Washing the dog with a tick powder or different acaracide substance is useful, but the eggs or larvae may be present somewhere in your home, in which case care must be taken to rid the home of this problem as well.

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