Removing ticks from your dog should be a priority as soon as you notice even one tick appearing on your dog’s skin. Many ticks can carry serious diseases like Lyme’s Disease.

The types of environments where ticks are usually found are places with thick vegetation, in tall grasses, bushes, and heavy brush in the woods where ticks have a lot of vegetation to crawl around on.

Removing a tick is not difficult but can be very upsetting to some dogs. To safely remove a tick from your dog’s skin, soak a cotton ball in mineral oil and hold it against the tick for about 30 seconds. Using tweezers to squeeze the dog’s skin surrounding the tick, grab the tick’s head between the tweezers, carefully pulling it out, making sure to remove its entire body.

Next swab the area with rubbing alcohol, and be sure to thoroughly wash your hands after removing all the ticks.

When removing a tick it’s important that you don’t twist or pull too hard on it as you may break the tick’s body, leaving part of it still attached to your dog’s skin. If a tick is not removed completely or correctly, it can leave your dog vulnerable to a number of diseases.

Another method of safely removing a tick from your dog is to rub the tick in a circular motion. Ticks do not like this movement and will oftentimes crawl out on their own, permitting you to easily remove them.

Be sure that you do not make any of these common mistakes when removing a tick from your dog:
(1) crushing the tick, as crushing it will allow its blood to enter your dog’s blood stream, and it may be carrying debilitating diseases;

(2) attempting to remove the tick with your fingers. This not only makes it too easy to crush the tick, but also exposes you to any potential diseases the tick may be carrying.

Ticks are nasty little creatures that neither you or your dog want to see. Learning how to properly remove them will help ensure your dog’s health and prevent the transmission of deadly diseases.