Pet Grooming and Care – Easy Techniques To Remove Ticks

July 28th, 2011 by Kahu_05 Leave a reply »

Ticks are common, Nevertheless, they are very alarming because they can pose serious health problems to pets and humans too. When it comes to transmitting contagious diseases, they rank second to mosquitoes. Watch out for the following symptoms that are brought by tick infestations: irritation, inflammation, local infection, sensitivity, fever, lameness, loss of craving, sudden pain in legs or body, arthritis, depression or lethargy, cough, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis.

Ticks are very challenging to detect particularly when they are still diminutive or in larval and nymphal stage and the dog’s fur are thick and long, that is why some pet owners choose to frequently cut their dog’s hair short or shave them for easy tick detection. Wear gloves whenever searching for ticks. Circumspectly, run your hands through your pet’s downy coat and feel for bumps. Arbitrarily check the areas for ticks.

Common Practice For Removing Ticks

When removing ticks, you either spray alcohol or pour one to two drops of mineral oil bluntly to the tick. It will immoblize the tick in an instant. It also helps release its hold onto the dog’s skin. Locate the head of the tick, and grip the head as close to its mouth as possible. Carefully apply pressure. Slowly pull the tick away from the skin. Avoid gripping the tick at its head as not to twist the tick. Twisting can leave tick debris or other parts behind. Never crush the tick. Crushing the tick can spread more microbes, or worse, it can cause the blood of the tick to access the dog’s wound. If the head or any part of it remains in the dog’s skin, evict them circumspectly. Although the immune system of the dog can generally banish these remainders, an infection or abscess may occur, so it is best to contact your veterinarian if uncertain.

After removing the tick, drop the parasite to a mineral oil or alcohol, check that it is deceased before disposing it to a nearby trash bin. To prevent transfer of infection, wipe the mineral oil in the dog’s fur and then disinfect the area with alcohol.

Efficient Tools For Tick Removal

It is not advisable to directly pull out the tick with your bare hands. If you use your bare handss, you can transfer the bacteria from the tick to your hands. Although removing dog’s tick may not be as easy as you think, there are supplementary ways to easily remove ticks by using different tools such as curved hemostats, tick ladle, tick slider, tick nipper, tick noose, and tick pincers. Curved thermostats are commonly used by physicians or veterinarians. Tick spoon on the other hand, is an impressively well-crafted little plastic spoon with a notch at the end. Tick spoon is used by sliding the notch under the tick before levering it off. The tick slider is quite similar to the tick spoon. Simply, slide the instrument under the tick before lifting it off. Tick nipper is a little plastic instrument with a curved jaw, which enables you to grasp the tick by its head prior to lifting it off. Tick forceps is just like an instrument used by ophthalmologists. It can easily grasp the head of the tick because of its fine tipped end. Never use sharp objects when removing ticks as not to poke holes in your dog’s skin.

Although ticks might be removed easily using various instruments, prevention is still far better than cure. Regular bathing and other preventive tick medications are still the most excellent ways in keeping the ticks off your pet.

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