various sizes of ticks

To answer the question, the grossest thing about springtime is TICKS. As many of you know, ticks are skin parasites that feed on the blood of their host, namely our pets and sometimes us. Ticks love warmth, movement, and carbon dioxide, thus making a living mammal an ideal home. The parasite can transmit many serious diseases such as Lymes, Ehrlichia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and IMHA, to name a few.
The lifespan of a tick can be up to two years! Ticks will literally wait on a blade of grass until a warm body walks by and latch on! Adult female ticks are the ones that "engorge" or fill with a blood meal, increasing their weight by more than ten fold. After detaching, an adult female can lay up to 3,000 eggs.

Adult female tick engorged on a dog

So what are the best ways to deal with these blood suckers? Prevention. If you live in a heavily infested area, spraying your yard may be a good idea. The best prevention is a topical treatment on your pet. Frontline is an excellent once a month topical. Tick collars such as Preventic are also effective and last around 3 months. Both of these preventatives are available at Fountain City Veterinary Hospital. The most common way to remove a tick is to dab rubbing alcohol on the tick and use tweezers to take hold of the tick as close to the dogs skin as you can and slowly pull out. This method runs a risk of leaving the head embedded. You may have them removed at the our veterinary hospital with a small device called a tick twister. When removing ticks, you should always wear gloves to be safe as many of the diseases they carry are transmissible to humans. DO NOT apply hot matches, petroleum jelly, turpentine, nail polish, or rubbing alcohol alone to remove the tick. These methods are not safe for your pet. Once you have removed the tick, you must kill it before disposing of it. Put the tick in alcohol or insecticide, do not squish it.
After the tick is pulled off, there may be a red, crusty, or scabby area. The tick's attachment site causes irritation. The site may get infected, especially if the pet is scratching at it and an antibiotic may be needed.
Although ticks are disgusting, most of the time they do not cause major problems. The best way to stay on top of it is to use a preventative such as Frontline or the Preventic collar starting in March and to have the tick removed as quickly as possible. If you have any questions about ticks or other external parasites please feel free to contact us at 419-636-5081.