How To Treat a Tick Bite on a Dog?

Summers are in their total Bliss. Sunshine, Ice creams, Juicy fruits, and the Time for picnics to spend your vacations with your family and a furry friend. Devouring family Time outside in summer’s noon is excellent. However, one can feel worried about sun tanning, sweat, and not to forget; insects that are always on a Prowl. If you have a furry friend, you need extra care to protect it from insects like bees, Ticks, etc.

What are tick bites on dogs?

Ticks remain attached to the body of the dog and suck the blood of the dog to survive. They can cause various allergic reactions in dogs.

Ticks can also carry other disease hosts. They are known to spread the famous canine Lyme disease.

Dogs can get Lyme disease paralysis, also known as a dog tick bite. This disease is caused by the female ticks that transfer the disease from an infected dog to a healthy dog. Also, it is important for you to know that a single tick cannot cause such damage.

Other than this, Ticks can also cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis, encephalitis, ehrlichiosis, etc., in dogs.

What causes a tick bite on a dog?

As described earlier, Ticks are parasitic in nature and seek a host body to reside and feed. They constantly seek warmth, which is why a dog’s body becomes a desirable dwelling for a tick. Your dog can encounter these ticks in cases like the following;

• Playing outside during summers
• Roaming in the area with tall grass, shrubs, or wooden areas where ticks are always in quest of a potential host.
• Visit places where other warm-blooded animals like deers stay.

What are the symptoms of a dog tick bite?

Some of the symptoms that can show your dog might be having a tick bite are as follows:

• Itching
• Inflammation
• Sores and Scab
• Continuous Licking and Scratching

These symptoms can last up to a few days or even weeks.

In severe cases, dogs can get a fever, experience pain, lethargy, panting, shivering, loss of hunger, etc. If your dog continuously shakes its head, then there are chances that ticks have entered the dog’s ear canal. The tick-borne disease named “tick paralysis” can cause paralysis in dogs, due to which they will find it hard to move.

How do you take a tick off a dog?

Tick Bite Treatment: The moment you spot the tick bite dog, you should focus on removing the tick as early as possible. For that, firstly, you need to cover your hands with latex gloves and find a tweezer. After that, follow the below-mentioned steps;

• Pick up the tweezer and try to grab the tick with it, preferably the mouthparts.
• Once you have a grip over the tick, twist it and pull it out from the skin.
• Do it gently and ensure not to squeeze the tick’s body. If that happens, the tick’s head might separate from the body, and the left part would remain fixed in the skin. It can cause tick bite dog infections, which can be harmful.
• Take your dog to the vet if the tick isn’t properly removed.
• Once the tick is entirely out of the dog’s body, wash the area with warm water.
• If the dog has thick fur, make sure to trim down the infected area before washing.
• After washing, let the area dry out for a while.
• Now, in order to reduce the chances of dog tick bite infection, put on a mild antiseptic cream.
• For itching, you can put hydrocortisone cream to relieve the dog’s pain.
• If the dog seems to be in too much trouble, it’s preferred to take it to the vet.

Remove Engorged Tick from a dog: A tick that, on continuous feeding, gets swollen with blood and becomes engorged. The method of removing the engorged tick is similar to any tick. Pull out with a tweezer with a twist and without squeezing the tick’s body.

Once the treatment is completed, check the tick bite area from time to time. The tick bite area may develop a rash or get swollen, probably due to infection. In such conditions, continue applying antibiotic cream to the rash area. If there is still no sign of healing, take your dog to the vet and explain the situation to the vet.

What does a tick bite look like on a dog?

A tick has an oval, egg-shaped body with tiny legs to find a suitable spot to sit and reside. A tick bite is a tiny bump with a red texture, just like a mosquito bite. A dog tick rash is 1 to 3 inches long and doesn’t get enlarged unless it is a sign of disease.

You can stroke your hands on its fur to locate a bump from a tick bite on the dog. The process can be a little tricky when the dog’s coat is thick. Ticks prefer to reside in moist, warm places where they cannot be found easily. You can spot them near a dog’s head, feet, neck, ears, bottom or groin area, and other parts of its body. They can stick easily to almost anywhere. In some cases, they can also stick themselves to the dog’s eyelids. When a tick stays on the spot for more than a while, it swells up to the size of a pea and can be seen easily.

How to prevent tick bites on dogs?

Dogs love to wander outside, so you cannot just make them forcefully sit at home. However, what you can do is continue examining your dog every now and then, especially when your dog roams in a park. There are oral and topical tick-prevention medications available on the market. You can also choose them. In the end, only a Vet can give you a better suggestion on this, so make sure to talk with them.