How to detect and remove a tick from a dog
Whenever you have detected a tick on your dog, yourself or your youngster, you must recognize that you just can not disregard it. Accept the fact of finding the Tick and move on to dispose of it as soon as you are able to. It may be an unpleasant experience for you or a family member, but unless you desire a case of Lyme disease on your hands, the tick in question must be dealt with at once. Lyme disease is a disease stimulated by a bacterial transmission; the bacteria is carried by certain sorts of ticks in a few parts of the country, including New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota and California.
If this Is not your 1st experience with ticks, you could have been exposed to either the “smoldering” or “smothering” formula for getting rid of these annoying animals. The smoldering technique requires holding a lit match up to the tick, in hopes that the tick will be tender to the heating, let go and falling off on his own. The smothering method calls for pouring goo on the tick, such as mineral oil, in order to submerge the tick and get it to drop-off. Neither of these techniques are safe, and both can lead to increased infection for your child, yourself or your dog. Suitable care will assist in your action against the intruder.
And of course, you must know that you can not pull a tick off. You will leave the head embedded in the skin, and it will continue to suck up blood. Gross to have to think about, but true.
The most effective way to get rid of a tick is to use sterilized tweezers. Swab the tweezers with alcohol or hold them over a flame for a few minutes. After that, try to wedge the tweezers in between the skin and the jaws of the tick, approaching the tick from the side. Once you have a grip on the tick, lightly pull over a period of several minutes. If the tick does not appear to be making a motion at all, you may pull from side to side. The trick is to be patient and cause the tick to get tired and release his grip. If you implement steady pressure for several minutes, this should sooner or later happen. If you pull too hard, you could yank the body away and leave the head stuck in the skin, so be patient. If something unforeseen happens or you experience any uncertainties or questions, get hold of your doctor for advice.
If you do not have a couple of tweezers handy, you will be able to pull with your fingers (just make certain to cover them with a napkin or another thin material). Once more, pull gently at the point of contact with the skin; do not pull on the tick’s dead body. After you have managed to free the tick, squash it with your shoe or something hard. Ticks are hard to crush, and if you do not kill them, they could leap back on you and bite down once again. Instruct your kids to tell an grownup if they come across a tick anyplace on their bodies.
Whenever you or your youngster or your dog have been pricked by a tick, call your physician to discover if you need to be worried about Lyme disease. This disease is easily cured if caught in the early stages, so it is always better to call for for professional advice instead of holding off.