THE UGLY TRUTH OF #TICKS

One morning I was cuddling with Alle when I began to scratch her behind her ears like she puppy loves.  When I felt a bump on the left side of her neck right behind her ear I began to run my hands over it trying to figure out the source or cause of it.  I briefly thought it felt like a scratch with a little bit of dry blood.  Then I started to think about how much Alle was scratching her neck and ear area the day before after playing outside most of the day.  So I listened to my mother instinct and looked closer.  I moved her hair aside and shined a flash light on her bare skin.  I was sickened and horrified when I seen little legs moving on the small body of a tick that was attach to my poor dog!  It was war, momma bear claws came out and I just wanted to rip it off of Alle.  But I calmly removed it myself and took Alle in the next day to her vet for a checkup.

Most pets veterinary removes a tick for free but if you want to do it yourself here is some key points on the removal of ticks:

• Make sure you are wearing gloves
• Use tweezers or a tick removable device
• With your tweezers gently put the tick on its back
• Grab the tick firmly, as close to the skin as possible
• Do not twist and turn the tick because doing so can break off the head
• Once you remove the tick from your dog put it into alcohol 

*Do not use such methods like paint, nail polish, petroleum jelly to remove the tick it can cause the tick to pass infected saliva back to your dog which can increase disease transmission or even infection.

Ticks need a host to grow and survive or they die.  And can attach on to a host in about 30 seconds.  Once a tick finds a host they burrow into the skin with their mouthparts which are barbed to secure them to their host.  Next they regurgitate small amounts of saliva with neurotoxins that prevents the host from feeling irritation and pain of the bite.  Which is probably why the tick bite usually goes unnoticed.

I foolishly thought that since Alle was on tick repellent medicine she was safe but have found out the hard way that your pup can still get ticks.  So rub your dog down to check for ticks plus they will love all the attention you are giving them!

 ATTACHED TICK UNFED TICK ENGORGED TICK

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