Ticks

Contrary to popular belief, ticks are not only active during the summer months. With climate change our autumn months are getting warmer, meaning that ticks are still a risk to our pets, and us, even at this time of year.

The most common disease transmitted by ticks in the UK to both our dogs and us is Lyme’s disease. If this is caught early enough it can often be cured with antibiotics but if left untreated it can lead to serious illness and even death in rare cases.

Symptoms to look out for include a bull’s eye style lesion on the skin, fever, lethargy, appetite loss and swollen glands.

Try to check your dogs over after a walk, especially in grassy or wooded areas and if you do find one remove it as soon as possible before giving the area of the bite a good clean with antiseptic. Make sure you remove the whole tick including its head as if this is left behind it can cause infection. The best way to remove them is to use a proper tick removing tool such as the O’Tom tick twister. Using this slide the tool under the tick so that it is held in the hook. Then gently twist until the tick is removed. If you find a tick on your dog and are unsure about how to remove it feel free to give me a shout I’m happy to help.