HOW DO YOU GET TICKS OFF YOUR DOG!?!?!?!?

Question

Ok, so I have just got this about 4 month old yellow female lab (I've had her for about 3 months). We've had ALOT of second thoughts about keeping her. At first, everyone was fine with her (as she is potty trained :P) except for the fact that she's a girl. And the whole "period/maturing" issue. We even went as far as to give her away (against my million protessts) when we finally decided to spay her when she was 8 months old (vet said they had to be a mininmum of 8 moths) and everything seemed fine until... the number of ticks on her started to increase. Ok, when we first got her, we were aware of the whole tick thingy (since there are ALOT of street dogs here- so many you won't belive how many) but we didn't know how big of a problem it would be. When we got her, after two weeks, we found one sole tick on her while bathing her. Getting rid of that, we rarely saw a tick after that, for a while. THere would've been one or two every once in a while, but that was it. Later, the number of ticks increased to three or four, per week. When the ticks steadily began to increase, (much against our getting rid of every tick we could find) we bought tick power, and when we used it for the first time, it seemed to work. For a couple of days, (3 days I think) I didn't find even 1 tick. (Although I wasn't really looking all too well for them- out of confidence that the anti-tick powder would work, and partly lazy.) Today, I went and looked for ticks (yesterday I found more than 5! YUCK! Poor doggy D:) and found ALOT. After finding a hugely freakily fat (about the size of half your thumbnail! EWW) tick, I finally freaked. After a close inspection of the walls, we found TICKS on them! After taking 6 ticks off the walls, we all took a bath. We never let our puppy past the front room, and we never let her get on the couch, so the ticks can't be upstairs, or anywhere else in the house, but they could surely be on the couch. A bad thing is that our floor is black granite (walls are white) and the couch is a dark brownish color with a covering made of something like felt. EVERYONE IS SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING SELLING HER/GIVING HER AWAY, as we really can't take care of her well if she gets infested with ticks, as well as ourselves if they get onto us.
ANY ADVICE AT ALL, ANYONE? Anything would be good.

Answer 1

Tick collars usually do the trick if your preventative meds aren't helping. If you haven't tried it yet, get some Frontline or Vectra3d for her.

Answer 2

Ok , well ticks are something to worry about. If left untreated it could give your dog lyme disease, or can cause serious dehydration. So serious, to the point that she would have to be hospitalized. First, I would go out and by flea and tick shampoo. Then, before you give her a bath, go through THOROUGHLY and get all the ticks that you can see off. Bathe her, then go through her hair again. Second, I would buy something for your lawn that can help keep fleas and ticks away. You can buy it at petsmart. It's a powder. Sprinkle that ALL over your lawn. After all this, make sure your lawn is fenced in, this way no stray dog that carry the ticks can get near her. Then I strongly suggest giving her a bath everyday and checking for ticks. They also have a flea and tick medicine that you put on them once a month. The good kind you could buy from a vet. Frontline Plus is a great brand. If you still have problems, consult a vet. :) good luck...

Answer 3

- how to remove a tick in case it has attached itself to your pet.

1. Once you have located the tick, take a special tick removal instrument or a pair of common, but sharp tweezers and grab the tick by its mouthparts or very closely by the head. Important - do not grab the tick by its body! That will squash the body but leave the head underneath your pet's skin, which can also lead to disease and infections.

2. Pull the tick firmly and steadily out, without twisting, jerking or squeezing the tick. Make sure not to break body from the head of the tick.

3. To destroy the tick, place it in a jar of alcohol to kill it. Some people flush them down the toilet; I guess that can work if it is more convenient for you. My granddad used to put it in a Kleenex and step on it to make sure its dead however I'm not sure that's the best way to go about it.

4. At the place of the bite, clean the wound with some disinfectant and also you can apply an antibiotic cream.

5. Wash your hands thoroughly.

6. In case you are worried the head is still embedded under your pet's skin go to the vet immediately.

While there are a great number of products available on the market for flea and tick control and some are very effective, in my experience the best combination is one of the topical products with a daily manual inspection to remove ticks before they have even latched onto your pet.

Answer 4

To begin with: ticks do not originate INSIDE a normal domicile. To survive, they require dampness and darkness and availability of hosts. OUTSIDE these conditions are prevalent; haul away and cut back the offending environment to keep nature at bay. Adding your dog to the mix makes it tick heaven; keeping your dog inside except to "heed the call of nature" is the best solution; keeping your dog and yourself (ticks like ANY warm blood) away from the above environment and from overhanging or overlong greenery WHEN outside is the best corollary. If you feel you MUST let your dog "run free", you will have to accept ticks in your life, despite some effective repellent medications out there.



All that said, getting rid of ticks is easy but time-consuming. Are you willing to spend a little extra time with your dog EVERY day? Ticks are tiny little buggers and they are slowly mobile, seeking UP and DARK and MOIST. When they find what they seek, they begin feeding, which makes them IM-mobile and easy to detach.



Brushing your dog's coat every day will go a long way toward your goal of catch and kill. If you catch them moving, tweeze them up and drop into a paper cup with alcohol in the bottom; if you catch them still (and feeding and growing fat with You Know What) do NOT tweeze them (as it might squeeze infective substances into your dog through the wound). Instead, use a tool called a "Tick Lifter" (tm); this is available in many drug stores and pet stores in tick-prone communities and costs about $3.00 each; they are light and small and can be carried on your keychain (if you buy more than one you can give them as stocking-stuffers; they work on people, too). Simply SLIDE the stainless steel tool under the tick from BEHIND until the V-notch in front makes full contact with the sucking-mouthpart and then LIFT straight up and that tick will pop right off the wound; THEN tweeze and drop into the cup. Make sure to swab the wound with a Q-Tip (tm) dipped in the alcohol.



Love your dog, put up with the process.

Answer 5

If a tick gets on my dog I just apply a drop of liquid soap to the ticks body and it backs out of the dog to the point where I can simply pull the tick off with my fingers and dispose of it.

This rarely happens because he and the cats are treated for ticks during the season here ( about three months). The flavour of the day at my vets office is ADVANTIX and there were no ticks on any of my animals this year. Tick powders are not as effective as topical liquids such as FRONTLINE - REVOLUTION - ADAVANTAGE and ADVANTIX.



BTW - if you have that many ticks in the house it is going to require fumigation. You're house is infested now. Take care of that now and treat the dog properly and the problem will disappear.

Answer 6

Dear,



In response to your question, HOW DO YOU GET TICKS OFF YOUR DOG!?!?!?!?, I say you that you might get some help from ASPCA Complete Dog Training Manual



As you asked; "Ok, so I have just got this about 4 month old yellow female lab (I've had

her for about 3 months). We've had ALOT of second thoughts about keeping

her. At first, everyone was" it might help you.



Good Luck :)

Answer 7

smother the tick in Vaseline as this will cut off the air supply to the tick and it should just drop off. Give your dog a bath using a dog shampoo that you have added pure essential tea tree oil too. For a 500ml bottle of shampoo add 50 drops.



Give your dog some garlic mixed in with their food. Both of these help repel ticks

Answer 8

buy a flea and tick treatment like frontline if the infestation is bad enough it may warrant using a product that can be dangerous but suffering a reaction to flea treatment is a lot less dangerous than contracting lyme disease yes pets can get lyme. and dust your house carpets and furniture with Diatomaceous Earth this seemed to work for me. and as an added bonus it kills stick bugs. make sure you buy food grade diatomaceous earth and cover your nose and mouth when you dust house as particles are very fine and can cause respiratory problems.

Answer 9

take him to the vet is my best guess