Finding a tick on yourself or your dog can be an extremely frightening experience. Not only are ticks unpleasant to look at, but they can also harbor diseases, the most serious being Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Before you light a match or squish the tick with your bare hands, wait! Here’s what you need to know to safely remove a tick from your dog.
Ticks live in grassy or wooded areas and are most active during the spring and summer months when they are searching for hosts. Often, a tick will crawl to the top of a blade of grass, wait for a passerby, and attach itself to anything that touches it. Since dogs are often outside, it is only natural that if you live in an area populated by ticks, your dog will eventually pick one up. Once a tick finds a host, it buries its head under the skin and begins feeding on the host’s blood. Daily tick checks are extremely important—the sooner you remove the tick, the better!
To check your dog for ticks, rub your hands all over their body, feeling for any small bumps or lumps. Pay special attention to the head, neck, ears, and paws. If you feel anything unusual, pull the hair back and examine the spot closely. A tick will typically appear brown or black, and its size will vary depending on how long it has been attached. It is especially important to check long-haired dogs, like Golden Retrievers, very carefully, as their thick coats can easily hide a tick.
Removing a Tick from Your Dog
Once you’ve located the tick, grab a pair of latex gloves and put them on. This will protect you from any diseases the tick may be carrying, as they can be harmful to both humans and animals. The safest way to remove a tick from your dog is with a pair of sterilized tweezers or a hemostat. You can sterilize your instrument with a swab of alcohol or by briefly passing it through a flame. With either tool, grasp the tick as close to the dog’s skin as possible, and gently pull it straight out. A gentle touch is very important during tick removal, as you don’t want to break the tick’s body off from its head, leaving the head behind in your dog’s skin. If this happens, contact your veterinarian immediately.
Some ticks may hold on longer than others, but with a firm yet gentle pull, the tick should detach within a minute. Once you’ve removed the tick, you have a few options for disposal: flush it down the toilet (ensuring it goes down), place it in a glass or plastic sealable jar for analysis, or crush it with something other than your fingers and dispose of it. Be careful not to crush the tick anywhere inside your home, as doing so could release any diseases it’s harboring.
After removing the tick, check your dog for any signs of a rash or reddish spots. Keep an eye on their behavior for any changes, such as soreness or limping. If any of these symptoms appear, consult your veterinarian, as they could be a sign that the tick has transmitted a disease to your dog. If you find yourself removing a significant number of ticks during a given season, consider investigating flea and tick medications and limiting your dog’s access to wooded, overgrown areas.
