Itchy dog with ticks - Symptoms, causes and help

In the 2nd part of the itchy dog series of posts, we will cover ticks.

Ticks are eight-legged parasites that bite your dog to drink their blood. Although dog ticks are very tiny, they can swell up to the size of a pea once they’ve attached themselves to your dog by burying their mouthparts into their skin. Ticks can also spread diseases to humans.

Ticks typically reside in grass. Your dog can also easily get them from another infested dog. Ticks also lay eggs in your dog’s fur and it will soon turn into infestation. Once on your dog, ticks like to cluster in warmer areas on the dog’s body with either folds of skin or the most blood flow. These include inside the ears, armpits, inner thighs, pawpads and the neck. The itch often makes a dog feel unwell and miserable.

What do you do when you discover ticks on your dog?

1. Isolate your dog to a small area or a balcony if possible.

2. Clear your house of ticks. You can do this by purchasing a tick killer and repellant spray. Spray down your furniture, make sure to get all the corners. Get all the corners of the walls, behind furniture, under furniture. Don’t miss a spot!

3. Also spray down your dog’s beddings and soak them in hot water to kill any ticks.

4. Using smoke treatment to smoke out remaining ticks is a good idea to get them all to come out

5. Detick your dog. Pour some hot water into a container first to put the ticks into. Search through all the fur of the dog, and pull out ticks when you see them. You can use a tweezer. Drop the ticks into the hot water to kill them off.

6. Shower your dog with flea and tick shampoo. Flea and tick shampoos are designed to kill any ticks upon contact, so this will take care of the remaining ticks. Continue to check your dog for more emergent ticks that you may have missed previously.

7. After drying your dog, use the same flea and tick killer spray and spray your dog’s body with it. Do not spray near eyes or ears.

Prevention is better than cure, so what can be done to prevent ticks in the first place?

1. Keep up with monthly flea and tick prevention such as Nexguard or front line

2. Wear a flea and tick collar for your dog

3. Use dog insect repellant before going outdoors

4. Spray down your house with the repellant/killer spray regularly

To sum it up, here are the items you need for a complete deticking process : Flea and tick killer spray, flea and tick shampoo, tweezers, Nexguard/Frontline, dog insect repellant spray

Remember not to let your dog ingest any of these chemical formulas as it will be harmful!

Maya’s Recommendations: GROOMERS BLEND Flea and tick shampoo

This is affordable (only $20+) But its effective!

Alternatively, a groomer can detick your dog for you and pest control can be called for your house, but be prepared to pay quite a bit for the services. Maya prefers to keep everything affordable~

See you next time!