It’s a sad fact that year-by-year we’re seeing tick cases increase, and the biggest misconception is that ticks are a seasonal problem. Ticks are a year-long issue here in Australia and the warming temperatures mean that each year is seeing an increase in tick cases and fatalities.
The best practices for pet owners to adopt are regular preventative treatments and consistently checking over pet’s skin and coat manually to make sure no nasties are hiding under all that fur.
WHAT TO DO:
- Simply run nails and fingertips through the coat and across the skin, including nooks and crannies that ticks love to hide in. Most ticks are found forward of the front legs, around the face, ears and neck, but check every area anyway.
- Start around the face and ears. Check the inside and outside of the earflap, around the eyes, outside and inside of lips and all skin folds.
- Remove the collar and check around and in any skin folds on the neck.
- Search the shoulder area by running fingertips down legs and searching paws, between and under the toes and also under the armpits.
- Examine the chest area, down sides, belly, inguinal area and back. Check around and under the tail, anus and thighs before moving down the back legs to check between and under the toes.
If you should find a tick remove it immediately. When removing try and avoid squeezing the body of the tick and instead aim to remove the tick by its head (where it connects to the pet’s skin). In this case, take your pet to the Vet immediately.
