Dogs, and Fleas and Ticks – All That You Need To Know

Ticks – The Annoying Blood Suckers

Ticks are tiny insects that crawl on to your pet’s skin, hide underneath the fur and suck on blood. They only let go after they are completely filled with your pet’s blood and are very hard to be removed. Ticks cause severe wounds and irritation to your dogs. Here is more about them. 

Breeding  And Lifespan of Ticks– A female tick can lay up to thousand eggs at a time. One tick can live up to three years if it does not get killed. They can live in freezing temperatures and do not get affected by the sun or rain. 

Causes of Tick Infestation – Ticks love to slurp on blood and only blood. They can drink and drink the blood of any dog or cat.  Here are some of the ways that they can get on to your dog. 

• Gardens and wet soil – Gardens and wet soil are places where ticks thrive on. They can easily climb on to your dog’s paws and crawl all over the body. 
• From another dog – Ticks are transmitted from one tick-infected dog to yours very easily. 
• From a pet parent – If you have a notion that only dogs carry the ticks, be rest assured that a pet parent of a tick-infested dog also carries them. 

Areas on the body of your pet where you can find ticks – Ticks prefer to stick on in the soft places of your pet animal and not near the bones. You may find ticks all around the neck and on the back of your pet. The other places where you can find families of ticks are at the beginning of your dog’s tail, in front of their elbows, earlobes and definitely between the nails in the paw areas. 

Troubles and Diseases That  Ticks Can Spread – How annoying is it for you to have head lice or even a mosquito biting you for that matter? If you can’t bear a handful of them sucking your blood, imagine your dog suffering from hundreds of them crawling all over its body. These are the effects of them on your dog. 

• Exhausting itching – Your dog will scratch, scratch and rub itself against sharp objects to get rid of all the itches that are caused by the tick bites. They itch until they bleed and get severe wounds. 
• More open wounds – The tick bites leave behind open wounds that are more inviting for other ticks to suck the blood from. This increases the tick infestation on your pet. 
• Tick Fever – This is a deadly disease that your dog could encounter with. The temperature of your paw friend shoots up and its stomach bloats up like a balloon. Timely action is needed, however, the chances of survival of the ones infected with tick fever is minimal. 
• Fever, chills, and headache – We cry of a headache but dogs don’t. Ticks can spread germs that bring chills and fever to dogs. Dogs would also get severe headaches and watery eyes and nose which is not a good sign. 

Tick Repellent Method – Here are some easy ways to keep ticks off your dog’s coat and your home. 

• Use a good tick spray – Get home a tick spray for dogs and make sure they are natural ones and not chemical-based ones. 
• Groom your dog every day – Use a narrow toothbrush to groom your dog and use tick repellent sprays. Doing this every day keeps your dog clean and free from fleas and ticks. 
• Vacuum Clean – Vacuum cleans your dog’s bedding and house walls, windows, and furniture to suck out all the ticks. 
• Use paw shoes- Get your dog some paw shoes that are made of rubber. This keeps your dog free from ticks getting on to its paws.