Remove Tick From Dog

Minnesota records first death from tick-borne Powassan virus

In Minnesota, POW virus can be transmitted by the blacklegged tick (also called the deer tick), which can also carry Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis. The blacklegged tick is abundant during our warm weather months in hardwood and mixed-hardwood forests of Minnesota. When a tick infected with POW virus attaches to a person, it might take only minutes of tick attachment for the virus to be transmitted. POW was first detected in Minnesota in 2008, in a Cass County child who was exposed near home. In 2009-2010, five additional POW cases were identified in Minnesota. These cases were likely exposed to infected ticks in north-central or east-central counties (Cass, Carlton, Hubbard, Itasca, or Kanabec). In addition to these human cases, MDH has found POW-infected ticks in northern counties (Cass, Clearwater, and Pine) and in southeastern Minnesota (Houston County). POW virus is related to West Nile virus (WNV). Like WNV, POW virus can cause severe disease of the central nervous system, involving inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) or the lining of the brain and spinal cord (meningitis). People with POW may have fever, headache, vomiting, weakness, confusion, loss of coordination, speech difficulties, and memory loss. Signs and symptoms occur within one to five weeks of an infectious tick bite. To prevent tick-borne diseases, always use tick repellents containing DEET (up to 30 percent concentration) or permethrin when spending time in tick habitat. Products with DEET can be used on the skin or clothing. Permethrin-based products, which are only applied to clothing, are highly effective and can last through several washings and wearings. Also, wear long pants and light-colored clothing to help detect and remove ticks before they’ve had time to bite. People with homes or cabins near the woods can also use landscape management and targeted pesticide applications to reduce exposure to disease-carrying ticks. The back end of the adult female blacklegged tick is reddish-orange in appearance and teardrop-shaped. The nymph, or immature, stage of the blacklegged tick is about the size of a poppy seed and dark-colored. It is so small that it often goes unnoticed. When the nymph is noticed, it is easily mistaken for a speck of dirt or small freckle on people’s skin. Blacklegged ticks are smaller and darker in color than American dog ticks (also known as wood ticks). They also lack the dog tick’s characteristic white markings.

How to Safely Remove a Tick from your Dog or Cat

There are several ways they could remove the tick from your dog.  One way is to pull a very gently on the tick until the head releases from the dog.  This does not always work well.  You may want to use a tweezers when you do this to ensure that the tick does not bite you.  Regardless, oftentimes the tick persistently hold on and when you finally pull hard enough, the the body of the tick comes often your fingers, and the head remains firmly embedded in the skin.  This can often cause inflammation and a small red bump to appear at the original site of the tick bite.  The bump can enlarge but will eventually recede.  You can put some calendula cream or a mild antiseptic on the red area until it resolves.  It’s important to remove the tick before it has been inbedded for 24 hours.  This will help in in preventing Lyme disease from infecting a dog.

TIPS TO HELP REMOVE TICKS FROM YOUR PET.

Take a bottle of isopropyl alcohol, remove the cap, and fill it with some of the isopropyl alcohol.  Take this cap and hold it tightly over the area where the tick is imbedded.  To do this you’ll press the sides  of the cap and into the fur and skin of the dog surrounding the tick.  You’ll have to part the fur with your fingers to expose the area.  Hold the inverted cap with the alcohol in it over the area for few minutes.  When you removed the cap, hopefully the tick will be floating free in the isopropyl alcohol.  Either the tick will be a laying  unattached on the dogs fur or will be floating in the cap.  Another safe and effective way to remove the tick is to to coat the area where the tick is with the essential oil of thyme which causes to the tick to disconnect and also acts as a disinfectant in the general area.  A tick has to feed for 24 to 48 hours before it can transmit any spirochetes.

Because a deer ticks are small and their bites don’t itch they are easily overlooked.  Ticks prefer warm moist conditions to double check under your dog collars and around his ears.  If you’re not sure what it is inspect with a magnifying glass.  Never never try burn  a tick out or apply irritating substances like kerosene because this will cause the tick to expel the contents of its digestive tract.