Ticks
You can have a flea-free pet experience!
MetPet.com Staff Writer
Ticks are insects that live in wooded areas. They are
parasites, sucking blood from animals and humans. They can pick up a blood meal on
your pet, cause irritation, anemia (in large numbers) and transmit diseases including
Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the dog parasite babesia.
A tick attaches to the skin with its mouth and, if it is female, will engorge
itself with blood and swell to many times its normal size. A tick is about
the size of a grain of rice.
When swollen, it looks like a smooth, round seed about the size of a small
raisin. If you've never seen one before, it may just look like a hard,
round pimple. If you look closely, you can see its 8 tiny legs and
possibly part of the head.
There are many theories on how to remove ticks some of which
involve matches and gasoline. The easiest, and least dangerous, way is to pull it
out gently. Here are three alternatives:
1. If you have a steady hand, you can grasp the tick
gently with a pair of tweezers and pull it out. Don't twist it, just pull
it out slowly and gently straight out.
2. You can also do this with several layers of tissues or paper towels. Grasp the tick's body with
the paper or tissue and gently pull it out of the skin. You do not need to twist it,
just pull and it will either detach itself or come apart.
3. You can dip a Q-tip into flea/tick dip or rubbing alcohol and put it directly onto the
tick. Then pull the tick out before it falls off and gets lost in your pet's fur.
Make sure not to touch any part of the tick and immediately
burn or dispose of the tick and the paper. The head or mouthparts may remain
attached to the skin but will fall out.
The spirochette bacteria which causes Lyme disease, borrelia
burgdorferi, can penetrate the skin so make sure you do not come into direct
contact with the tick or its fluids. Dogs can apparently become infected
but may not always show any symptoms.
The bite area may redden but it should heal naturally in a
few weeks time. To avoid ticks in the future, you can spray a pet-specific insect
repellent on yourself and your pets before venturing into the woods. Always check yourself and
your pet if you suspect you have been in a tick-infested area.
Related information:
Flea Allergy Dermatitis
Fleas: an Introduction
|
