Finding a tick creeping through your pet’s fur is an unpleasant experience, but finding one attached is worse. For tips and tricks on how to spot, remove, and prevent ticks on your four-legged friend, read our Star of Texas Veterinary Hospital team’s guide.
When to check your pet for ticks
Austin’s year-round mild temperatures give ticks no reason to hibernate. However, ensure you take special precautions when venturing outside with your pet during the warmer spring and summer months—when these pests are typically more active. You must also check your pet’s fur and skin carefully for the bugs after returning from a trip through these prime tick habitats:
- Tall grass and brush
- Wooded areas
- Under leaves and plants
- Where woods and fields meet trimmed yards
- Around stone walls and woodpiles where small mammals live
How to check your pet for ticks
After a jaunt outdoors with your four-legged friend, comb through their fur carefully. Ticks can be exceptionally small, making them difficult to find. Know what to look for. Tick larvae have six legs and are smaller than nymphs or adults, measuring about the size of a sand grain. Nymphs and adults have eight legs, but nymphs are more difficult to spot, as they are only about the size of a poppy seed. Adult ticks can range from apple seed size to that of a small grape, depending on their species and whether they have just taken a blood meal from your pet. Typically, a female tick attaches to a pet and feeds, becoming engorged with blood, making their bloated body easy to spot. However, your goal should be to find and remove ticks before they reach that stage.
When checking your pet for ticks, gently run your fingers over their body, feeling for small lumps. If you feel something, part the fur for a closer look. In general, ticks prefer to hide around your pet’s collar, in and around their ears, between their toes, under their tail, and in their armpits and groin. Keep in mind that all pets, including males, have nipples, so a thorough look at any bump is essential to determine whether it is a tick.
How to remove a tick from your pet
If you find a tick on your pet, you must ensure you remove the tick in its entirety. Leaving behind the attached head increases your pet’s infection risk. Use a special tick-removal tool or a pair of fine-tipped tweezers, and follow these steps:
- Grasp the tick firmly as close to your pet’s skin as possible, being careful not to pinch them.
- Pull upward with a steady pressure until the tick is removed. Avoid twisting or yanking the tick, as this may cause the head to remain embedded in your pet’s skin.
- Check the area to ensure you removed the entire tick. If you see the head, use the tweezers to remove it.
- Disinfect the area with soapy water.
After removing the tick, take a clear picture of its entire body, or preserve the bug in a container with rubbing alcohol. Doing this will allow our Star of Texas Veterinary Hospital team to identify the tick if your pet falls ill from a tick-borne infection after being bitten. If you feel uncomfortable removing a tick, or are having difficulty removing the tick’s head, contact our team for help.
Watch you pet for infectious disease signs after a tick bite
While hard ticks have to remain attached to your pet for hours or days to transmit disease, soft ticks can transmit disease in as few as 15 minutes. If you remove a tick that has latched on to your pet, they may have already transmitted a pathogen to your furry pal. Keep an eye out for common tick-borne disease signs, such as:
- Lethargy
- Fever
- Lameness
- Abnormal bruising or bleeding
- Joint pain
- Decreased appetite
- Enlarged lymph nodes
- Vomiting and diarrhea
Keep in mind that months can go by before your pet exhibits obvious infectious disease signs. However, some pets show no tick-borne disease signs. This is one reason why we recommend tick-borne disease screening along with your pet’s annual heartworm test. If your pet shows illness signs that could be associated with a tick bite, schedule an appointment with our Star of Texas Veterinary Hospital team. Bring in the tick or a picture of the parasite, so we can identify the pest, which will help us plan your pet’s treatment.
How to protect your pet from ticks
Protecting your pet from tick attachment is essential to infectious disease prevention. Some tick preventives convince ticks to move along before they bite your pet, while others kill an attached tick before it transmits disease. Our team can help you determine which preventive medication will work best for your furry pal. To keep your pet safe from ticks, you must administer the preventive year-round.
Help prevent your pet from contracting a tick-borne illness by ensuring you administer their tick preventive every month. Contact our Star of Texas Veterinary Hospital team to discuss the best preventive options for your four-legged friend.
