A dog has a tick - what should the owner do?

The warm season, in addition to joy, brings danger into the lives of pets. Every dog ​​breeder tries to protect his pet from all parasites. But sometimes such trouble is inevitable. What to do when a tick bites a puppy, how to prevent such a situation? Don’t panic prematurely, now we’ll look in detail at how to protect your pet.

Symptoms and consequences of a tick bite in a dog

Ticks are carriers of dangerous viral diseases, so the consequences of their bite can be very dire. Let's consider what symptoms a dog experiences when bitten by a tick, depending on the disease transmitted.

What diseases can ticks transmit to dogs?

The most dangerous disease transmitted by ixodid ticks is piroplasmosis, so we will consider it in more detail.

Other common ailments include:

I. Ehrlichiosis. Observed in several forms:

• bloody urine;
• anemia;
• weight loss;
• difficulty breathing;
• drop in activity;
• hemorrhages on the cornea and mucous membranes;
• bleeding from the sinuses.

- Granulocytic. This form of the disease is more dangerous in its latent form, leading to severe damage to internal organs and systems. If symptoms are present:

• temperature increase;
• the occurrence of seizures;
• inflammation of the eyelids;
• joint pain.

II. Borreliosis. At the site of the tick bite, inflammation of the adjacent joints is observed, leading to:

• arthritis;
• lameness;
• enlarged lymph nodes;
• inflammatory processes in tissues and blood vessels.

III. Hepatonozoonosis. The progression of a disease that affects leukocytes depends on the condition of the animal, therefore, with high immunity, it may not appear for several years. During illness, the dog:

• feels pain in muscles and joints;
• suffers from lacrimation and purulent discharge;
• experiences weakness and fever.

IV. Bartonellosis. After a tick bite, symptoms may not appear for several years. In such cases, the pet's death becomes unexpected until a medical conclusion is reached. If signs appear, then the sick dog will have:

• anemic;
• pulmonary edema;
• weakness in hind limbs;
• hemorrhages in the eyeballs;
• heart problems;
• sudden weight loss;
• drowsiness;
• inflammation of the eyelids

V. Encephalitis. When a dog is bitten by an encephalitis tick, the following are observed:

• seizures;
• mood changes;
• a sharp rise in temperature.

Note that neurotoxic reactions, characterized by gradual limb failure or brain damage, are more severe in small breeds. .

Types of subcutaneous mites in dogs

Dogs are attacked by 3 types of ticks - external, subcutaneous, intradermal. The first type includes ixodid ticks. Parasites live in tall grass and on the lower branches of bushes. They feed on the blood of animals, birds, and people. In dogs, suction occurs in most cases on the stomach. The head is inserted under the skin, the abdomen is outside. Ixodid ticks cannot penetrate completely under the skin. To remove the parasite, use tweezers, a syringe, strong thread, and special devices.

Demodex

Microscopically sized subcutaneous mites live on the body of every animal. Demodex lives in hair follicles and sebaceous ducts. It feeds on epidermal scales and sebaceous secretions, cleansing the skin of unnecessary accumulations. When immunity decreases and the metabolic process is disrupted, the composition of food changes. The subcutaneous demodex mite secretes a toxic substance and dies after a few days. During the decomposition process, signs of intoxication appear.

Symptoms of subcutaneous mites in dogs are itching, redness, inflammation, and hair loss. It is diagnosed in the laboratory by analyzing scrapings from the affected areas of the skin. Treatment at home is long-term. It is impossible to completely get rid of demodex hair mites. The main task is to reduce its amount to a safe level. Significant efforts are being made to strengthen the immune system.

Demodex in dogs

Sarcoptes scabie

The microscopic parasite causes the dermatological disease sarcoptic mange. The clinical picture is similar to demodicosis, but is more pronounced. Ulcers, ulcers, and rough areas appear on the skin. The fur falls off in clumps and bare areas form. At an early stage, localization is focal, gradually spreading throughout the body.

A sick dog is a source of infection with scabies mites in other animals. Other dogs, cats, and people often suffer. A subcutaneous mite can exist on the human body for about 30 days, causing irritation, itching, and redness. Does not lay eggs under the skin and dies. In the chronic form of sarcoptic mange, dogs develop keratinized areas of the epidermis, scars, and age spots. In places where the parasite is localized, hair does not grow. A photo of a subcutaneous tick in dogs of this species is located below.

Sarcoptes scabiei in dogs

Notoedrosis

A microscopic mite under the skin causes ear scabies or notoedrosis. Affects the outer part of the ear. Vivid symptoms of the disease are severe itching, scratching on the ears and head. The dog becomes restless and constantly curls up in a ball to scratch its head. Scratches, hematomas, bruises, and bloody stains form. At the site of the lesion, hair falls out and bald patches form.

In the absence of qualified therapy, notoedrosis progresses, the parasite moves to the body and mucous membranes. What a subcutaneous tick looks like in dogs is shown below. Treatment needs to be comprehensive; therapy is prescribed after confirmation of the diagnosis.

Notoedrosis in dogs

On a note!

Skin mites in dogs have similarities with an allergic reaction and some other dermatological diseases. To prescribe the right medications, you need to establish a diagnosis. The disease is detected during examination and laboratory analysis of scraping of the affected areas of the epidermis.

Symptoms of the disease

The tick itself is not particularly dangerous; it drinks only a few milliliters of blood, after which it leaves its intermediate host. However, in case of serious damage, when there are dozens of such bloodsuckers on the animal’s body at the same time, the dog may experience discomfort, irritation and itching. The pet will often itch and behave restlessly. The greatest danger from tick bites is the infections that this parasite carries.

It is not always possible to notice these blood-sucking insects with the naked eye in a pet’s thick fur, so it is necessary to pay attention to the dog’s condition and take into account the signs that indicate that the animal is infected with a parasite. It should be said that all breeds, without exception, are at risk of being bitten and infected by ticks.

It is customary to distinguish the following reactions and symptoms of a dog to a tick bite:

• neurotoxic;
• local.

In neurotoxic reactions, tick paralysis is noted, and a gradual deterioration in the animal’s condition occurs.

The dog's limbs may be taken away, the back part of the body ceases to function, the vessels supplying the brain fail, suffocation and death occur. Yorkies and small Spitz dogs may have seizures and jaundice. Such neurotoxic reactions occur when the pet owner does not promptly contact a veterinarian and does not take any action to treat the animal.

The first local reactions can appear within a few hours after the parasite bite. In short-haired dog breeds, changes on the skin can be seen with the naked eye, and a tick swollen from drinking blood also becomes visible. Such local symptoms usually include redness of the skin area around the bite, irritated behavior, itching and scabies.

Finding a tick on a dog

A small tick (nymph or male) is easy to miss: it hides in an inconspicuous place under the fur and looks like a small black dot. And a large tick that is already drunk (these are females that drink for a long time) is clearly visible, but only on short-haired animals. If the dog has long hair, then a large tick may not be noticed.

What does a tick look like: before and after feeding?

You should not hope that the dog itself will give a sign when it is bitten. Usually at the very beginning this does not manifest itself in any way. Only then may the pet begin to worry and lick or bite the affected area. Often by this time the tick has already fallen off - there is only residual inflammation.

What a dog's tick bite looks like depends on whether it has an allergy to saliva, a secondary infection in the wound, and the presence of the Lyme disease pathogen. With the latter option, the area after the tick bite is surrounded by pink rings.

However, the first symptoms of a tick bite in dogs are usually absent. A dog’s reaction to a tick bite may not appear even after the tick has disappeared. A sore or bump may form after a tick bite, but it may not bother you. Thus, the owner will not even know about the problem. The only effective method for detecting a parasite is a thorough examination of the animal's body.

Symptoms of a tick bite in a dog

The tick bite itself does not pose any danger, but together with its saliva, the animal’s blood can become infected and contaminated with parasites. The most common disease is piroplasmosis. In addition, a dog can become infected with encephalitis, borreliosis, and ehrlichiosis (these diseases are much less common).

The symptoms of a tick bite in a dog depend on the disease the tick carried. An accurate diagnosis can only be made using a blood test.

The first signs of piroplasmosis can appear within a period of 1 to 5 days (the longest period is 20 days). Signs of a tick bite in a dog infected with encephalitis will become noticeable after 14 days. Some diseases, such as borreliosis (Lyme disease), can take months to appear.

Symptoms of piroplasmosis:

• refusal to eat. At first, the dog may eat less than usual, but after a while it will completely refuse to eat. In this case, the animal may be thirsty;
• lethargy, general weakness. The animal will try to lie down most of the time, behave passively, and refuse to go for walks. As the disease progresses, weakness will increase;
• diarrhea, vomiting;
• dizziness, shortness of breath;
• spasms, convulsions. There may be spasms in the neck, or the hind limbs will begin to fail;
• elevated temperature compared to normal. This symptom may not appear, especially if it is re-infected. The temperature subsides two days after infection;
• pallor of mucous membranes. Associated with a lack of oxygen and intoxication of the body;
• dark urine. The urine will darken due to the removal of red blood cells destroyed by the disease.

Symptoms of encephalitis:

• heat;
• , motor impairment;
• disruption of the urinary system;
• visual impairment;
• tremor;
• laryngeal paresis, change in barking;
• pain in the neck and head;
• paralysis.

If you notice any of these symptoms, you should immediately take your pet to a doctor. The longer it remains untreated, the more harm will be caused to health. Delayed assistance can lead to death.

Important! Piroplasmosis may not be detected during the first blood test. . If several obvious signs of the disease are detected, but Babesia is not found in the blood, it is necessary to re-test

If several obvious signs of the disease are detected, but Babesia is not found in the blood, it is necessary to retest.

How to remove a tick from a dog

If your dog lives outdoors and often accompanies you on trips to the river and forest, he may be attacked by several ticks at once. Getting everyone out individually is not an easy task. For this case, pet stores offer special shampoos: they help destroy those who have attached themselves, as well as mite larvae.

If you go this route, don’t forget to change your dog’s “bedding” often, or at least shake it out thoroughly, because larvae can remain on the bedding.

When your dog is attacked by single representatives of harmful arthropods, do not be lazy to examine your pet after each walk. Be sure to check the armpits on the front legs, the groin area, the stomach and, of course, the ears.

How to remove a tick from a dog? Most often this is done with vegetable or machine oil, Vaseline and even nail polish. You need to drop one of these substances onto the tick and wait a few minutes until the tick loosens its grip (if you are lucky, it may even fall off without your participation). After that, try to remove it.

This should be done with gloves (so as not to get infected yourself), armed with tweezers - carefully, as if twisting. Direction is counterclockwise. How to remove a tick from a dog using a thread? First of all, make sure that the thread is strong and will not let you down at the most crucial moment. Then tie it close to the proboscis. Pull the ends of the thread in both directions, simultaneously pulling the insect up.

It is important to remove the tick completely, since if its proboscis or head remains in the wound, the problem will not be solved, and the risk of infection will still remain relevant.

If the head does come off and remains in the wound, it looks like a black dot. Remember how you had to remove a splinter from your finger and do the same thing, using a regular needle.

The “operation” is completed by wiping the wound with iodine or brilliant green.

By the way, scientific and technological progress does not stand still: original devices have appeared in pharmacies, with their help you will be able to help your pet faster and better than using tweezers and thread.

Biology of the pathogen

Piroplasmosis is provoked by Babesia, which replace two hosts during the entire development cycle. The first are ticks. Infection occurs through the bite of a sick animal. Dogs become infected after eating a sick parasite.

Babesia enter the bloodstream and begin to actively divide. Single-celled microorganisms develop in red blood cells and feed on hemoglobin. After some time, they begin to transform, getting into the stomach.

On a note!

In ticks, parasites are contained in large numbers in the saliva, so when bitten they enter the blood en masse. Babesiosis in dogs develops rapidly; the clinical picture directly depends on the animal’s body’s defenses.

Symptoms of diseases from a bite

The tick itself is not very dangerous; the parasites it can carry with it pose a threat to health.

After all, among other things, it can provoke the development of staphylococcus in your pet.

Therefore, if the owner removes even a dozen of these insects from his pet, the dog does not necessarily have to get sick with anything.

However, when a ghoul is detected and removed, the behavior and condition of the dog must be carefully monitored for 3 to 30 days.

Different ticks are carriers of their own parasites. Therefore, the observed symptoms are significantly different.

• With bartonellosis, a dog may have drowsiness, weakness of the hind legs, weight loss, inflammation of the eyelids, cardiovascular problems, weight loss, and inflammation of the joints. There are hemorrhages in the eyeballs and nosebleeds.
• Hepatozoonosis does not manifest itself in any way as long as the dog’s immunity is fine. As a result of stress - childbirth, moving, a cold - the parasites are activated. The dog has increased discharge from the eyes, fever, muscle and joint pain, and weakness.
• Ehrlichiosis can also be dangerous for humans. Signs of the presence of the parasite that caused the disease are, first of all, decreased activity, the dog lies down a lot, does not want to play, and is alarming with its inhibited reaction to any words and commands of the owner. The next stage is a high fever.

The tick itself is not very dangerous; the parasites it can carry with it pose a threat to health.

• Borreliosis is also dangerous not only for animals, but also for humans . The dog's joints become inflamed in the area closest to the bite, and arthritis then develops. Lameness usually appears completely suddenly and is accompanied by various neurological disorders. Then all this also suddenly passes and the next stage begins: poor appetite, apathy, weakness, inflammation of the joints.
• Piroplasmosis is the most common disease that occurs when a dog is bitten by a tick. What to do and how to treat depends on the stage of development of the disease. After the bite, the dog is lethargic, drinks a lot, but does not want to eat. Gastrointestinal disorders begin, shortness of breath develops, and the temperature rises. Urine has a very dark color - red, brown and even almost black.

So, what to do if your dog is bitten by a tick?

Treatment when this parasite is detected on the skin of an animal, naturally, is not a priority.

Here it is important to remove the entire insect, including the head.

When a ghoul is detected and removed, you must carefully monitor the behavior and condition of the dog for 3 to 30 days.

List of drugs

You can get stable immunity for six months (a dangerous period for infection with piroplasmosis through a bite) by using the Nobivak Piro vaccine produced in the Netherlands.

More stable immunity, up to a year, is developed when using:

It should be understood that after a tick bite, injections are given only if the disease manifests itself.

If the diagnosis is made, then use:

• dye-based antiprotozoal agents (Fatribanil, Berenil, Imizol, Imidocaarb) and broad-spectrum antibiotics (Doxycycline, Clindomycin, Azithromycin);
• supporting agents (Gamavit, Salmozan, Heptral, Hepatovet);
• infusion therapy drugs (glucose, sodium chloride);
• vitamin preparations (B1, B6, B12, C)

Drugs for the treatment of piroplasmosis have a high toxicity rate. A weakened body, even after successful treatment, needs time for rehabilitation. Only the owner can take care of the animal and prevent illness by using preventive measures.

Consequences

If you do not remove a tick from a dog, there are several options for how the situation could develop:

• After a while, he will crawl out on his own and leave the victim.
• Or inflammation, redness, swelling, itching will begin. The dog will begin to scratch the skin and scratch the wounds. A secondary infection will occur, which is dangerous due to the development of pustules and ulcers.
• If you don’t rid your dog of ticks, he will try to do it on his own, latching on with his teeth. In this case, the head may remain under the skin or the virus of a fatal disease may penetrate through the blood.

If the parasite is safely removed, the wound heals quite quickly without causing complications. Immediately after the extraction procedure, you need to disinfect the wound. Use any product containing alcohol, brilliant green, iodine.

In a situation where an allergic reaction occurs after a tick bite, oral antihistamines and antiallergic ointments are used. Treatment must be prescribed by a specialist. The locations of veterinary clinics in Moscow can be seen on a map via the Internet.

Prevention

Unfortunately, today there is no 100% effective means of protection against piroplasmosis. And this is not surprising, because Babesia is not a virus, but a parasite. Therefore, the most effective prevention of piroplasmosis was and remains the protection and prevention of infection of your beloved pet from ticks.

But here the pet market offers many different products: collars, sprays, drops, tablets. We will not describe each of them in detail. Read about modern flea and tick treatments for dogs. There we talk in detail about the most popular ones.

A few years ago, to the delight of dog breeders, a vaccine was invented. But, unfortunately, it also does not provide a 100% guarantee against infection. The vaccine can only neutralize the toxic substances released by Babesia and, thereby, promote a speedy recovery of the pet after treatment. The effect of the vaccine is not so durable - only 6 months. But in the case of a tick bite, death is almost completely excluded. Today, according to veterinarians, the most effective are two vaccines: Pirodog and Nobivac Piro.

Whatever preventive methods you use to protect your beloved pet from piroplasmosis, it is important to examine the dog after every walk.

Preventive actions

It is impossible to completely protect your pet from ticks, so you need to approach this issue comprehensively:

• choose medications that provide protection against parasites;
• put a special collar on your pet;
• After each walk, inspect the animal's fur.

More and more cases of ticks getting on the fur of animals within the capital have been recorded in recent years, so do not neglect these methods. To avoid searching for ways to remove ticks from your dog, first select a collar.

Please pay attention to the following companies:

• Kiltix;
• Bolfo;
• Hartz.

In addition to repelling ticks, a collar from one of these brands has the additional function of getting rid of fleas. You don’t need to wear this accessory all the time; you just need to put it on for walks and take it off afterwards.

In combination with the collar you can use the following drops:

• Leopard;
• Roff;
• Advantik;
• Bloch Nat Max;
• Stronghold;
• Ultra Guard;
• Central Naturals Defense.

About two years ago, Frontline drops were popular among dog breeders. However, now veterinarians do not recommend using them to protect their pets, since ticks have adapted to them. Treatment with drops must be repeated approximately once every two weeks.

Frontline in the form of a spray has earned more flattering reviews from veterinarians and dog breeders, as it effectively repels ticks. They need to treat their wool before each walk.

There are many methods for removing a tick from a dog before it bites, but the most effective is simple inspection and combing out the fur. Carry out this procedure every time you walk. Inspect the ears and front paws especially carefully; according to statistics, it is on them that ticks can most often be found.

A tick on a dog is very dangerous. This dog could not survive, despite all the efforts of doctors:

First aid for a tick bite: what to do at home

The first aid you can give your dog is to remove the parasite and monitor the condition. What to do at home if, after a walk, you find a parasite that has attached itself to your dog?

First of all, determine how tightly the tick is attached. At the first stage, only the head of the parasite is immersed in the dog's skin. If the tick is on the pet for several hours, it buries not only the head, but also the paws into the skin.

To remove a tick, you need to force it to loosen its grip. Ticks breathe through their bodies, so creating a barrier that does not allow oxygen to pass through will force the parasite to remove its paws and head from the skin, freeing up space between the abdomen and the skin of the pet.

How to remove a tick from a dog?

Let's figure out how to remove a tick from a dog. To create a barrier that keeps oxygen out, you can use oil, greasy cream, nail polish or soap suds. If necessary, the fur around the parasite must be shortened.

• Apply the selected product to the tick every 5 minutes. Depending on the degree of attachment, after 10–15 minutes you will be able to move the tick with your fingers.

• The next step is to remove the parasite. To preserve the integrity of the skin, the ticks are not torn off, but rather twisted out. There is absolutely no difference in which direction you twist the tick - clockwise or counterclockwise, the main thing is that it is comfortable for you.

To remove a tick, you can use special tools, tweezers, a clamp or thread. The special tool is a small plastic hook that resembles a nail puller. The legs of the hook are placed under the tick, after which the tool is twisted and lifted.

If you don't have special tools, a clamp or tweezers with flat edges will do.

It is important to grab the tick near the skin and not by the body, since pressing can crush the shell.

A relatively safe method involves using thread. A loop is placed over the tick, after which the thread is crossed and twisted. When the head of the tick is tightly covered by the thread, they begin to scroll it, slightly pulling the parasite up.

Most likely, the dog will behave calmly during all manipulations. However, at the crucial moment when the head of the tick emerges from the skin, the dog will feel a sting, which can lead to an unexpected reaction. Enlist the help of a friend or family member to hold your pet and prevent him from making sudden movements.

When the tick is removed, it must be placed in oil. It is better to close the container, since the parasites are very agile. It is safest to burn the tick after removing it from the oil. Like all parasites, ticks are capable of going into suspended animation, that is, the parasite will visually look dead, but after a few hours it will come to its senses and continue searching for victims.

Important! If you live in a disadvantaged region, do not destroy the tick under any circumstances! The parasite can be submitted to a laboratory, where tests will be carried out to determine whether the tick was a carrier of dangerous diseases.

What to do if the head remains in the dog’s body

What to do if the tick head remains in the body? In fact, you will not be able to take any urgent measures. The tick head that remains under the dog’s skin is a foreign protein that the body will fight against. If your pet is healthy, the tick's head will encapsulate and come out along with pus or other body fluids.

Swelling and inflammation will most likely develop at the site of the bite. Your task is to monitor the dynamics and general condition of the pet. If your dog has a fever or other alarming symptoms, it should be taken to the veterinarian.

To stop the inflammatory process, the affected area of ​​the skin is opened and cleaned. In most cases, the inflammation is eliminated by forming a fistula, through which odorless white pus comes out.

What to do if the dog is pregnant

Do not wait for the first symptoms and development of the clinical picture after a tick bite if the dog is pregnant. Take your pet to the veterinarian immediately and explain the situation to the doctor. With any type of blood poisoning, puppies are the first to suffer. Depending on the stage of development, embryos may become more active or, conversely, freeze.

Treating a pregnant dog always carries the risk of abnormal embryo development. With toxic treatment, a dog may have a miscarriage, which, despite all the tragedy, is considered a favorable outcome.

How to remove a tick at home

What to do if your dog is bitten by a tick? If you find a sucking insect on your dog's skin, you must remove it. Algorithm for how to properly remove the parasite at home:

1. Wear gloves. It is a preventive measure if the bloodsucker is infected.
2. Drop oil into the wound (you can use an alcohol solution or nail polish) so that the parasite sticks its head out a little. Perform the procedure several times every minute.
3. After a few minutes, a loop of coarse thread is placed over the suction site as close to the skin as possible and the insect is removed using rotational movements. You can use tweezers.

There is a second way to remove insects at home. Using the hot tip of a needle, which is brought to the bite site. The parasite quickly reacts to a hot and sharp object, independently pulling out its proboscis. Carry out the procedure carefully to avoid injury to the dog and rupture of the belly.

After removing the tick, treat the bite site with an alcohol solution of iodine or brilliant green.

After removing a tick, you need to know how to treat your dog at home if it is not possible to show it to a doctor.

Preventive measures

With the onset of warm weather, at home, treat the dog with any modern remedy for blood-sucking parasites. They use drops, spray, tablets, lotion, and attach a special collar. No remedy provides 100% protection, but it reduces the risk of disease significantly. Sprays, drops, lotions act on ticks for about 2 weeks, collars, depending on the active component - from 1 to 3 months.

Additionally, folk remedies are used in the form of decoctions of tansy, wormwood, solutions with the addition of essential oils of lavender, citronella, and lemongrass. Spray the wool from a spray bottle or apply drops.

Each owner decides independently whether to vaccinate against piroplasmosis. But he is obliged to do everything to protect the animal from a dangerous disease.

How to recognize a tick on a dog

Having discovered a tick, you need to remove it immediately, otherwise the animal will develop a severe infection, which is detected only after several weeks. By this time, the dog's condition is noticeably deteriorating. In advanced cases, the pet's death occurs.

Every owner should know how to remove a tick from a dog at home. These recommendations are especially relevant if it is not possible to take the animal to the veterinarian as soon as possible.

After each walk, you need to carefully inspect the animal's fur. Parasites often cling to the head, especially the ears, paws, neck, stomach, and armpit area. In short-haired dogs it is easier to see and get them. Long-haired pets need to part their fur to notice the parasite. The dog may itch in the area where the tick was attached.

It looks like a spider. Its body can have different colors: black, gray, beige, brown. Adults have 4 pairs of legs. Those who have not reached puberty have 3 pairs. The parasite that has burrowed into the skin approximately doubles in size and looks like a mole or pea.

The insect feeds on blood at any stage of its development. He needs this to achieve the next phase, as well as reproduction. It is also necessary to distinguish the larva: it has 3 pairs of legs and a translucent body.

The tick breathes with its entire body; it is this property that is used to remove the blood-sucking parasite from the dog’s skin.

Possible consequences of tick-borne encephalitis in dogs

Complications are associated with the specific behavior of the virus - the “enemy” penetrates red blood cells and destroys them from the inside. A visual improvement in the dog’s condition after the start of treatment is observed within 10–12 hours, but this is not associated with a complete recovery, but with a weakening of the disease. The process of illness and treatment can be divided into several stages:

• The virus cells that are found in intact red blood cells actively multiply, destroying the “temporary shelter.”

• Fragments of dead cells are excreted from the body through the kidneys. A large flow of waste and toxicity of the body leads to overload, resulting in chronic renal failure.

• After the start of treatment, a “blow” occurs to the liver and central nervous system.

Maintenance therapy reduces the risk of the following complications:

• Kidney failure due to blockage of the channels by dead cells.

• Liver failure is provoked by the active substance of the vaccine against piroplasmosis.

• Heart failure and hypotension are provoked by a drop in hemoglobin levels and oxygen starvation, due to the massive death of red blood cells.

• Chronic anemia is a lack of essential substances for hematopoiesis, reduced hemoglobin, “fading” of metabolic processes.

• Damage to the central nervous system most often manifests itself as convulsions and ends in death. The main cause is cerebral edema caused by tissue inflammation. The question of whether dogs suffer from tick-borne encephalitis is considered controversial. Considering the similarity of symptoms and clinical picture, it follows that encephalitis can be a consequence of piroplasmosis. However, death occurs in too short a time, which does not allow the diagnosis to be fully differentiated.

What to do about ear mites in a dog?

An ear tick is a tick that has crawled into an animal's ear and bit it there. This is a sensitive part of the dog’s body and here the itching manifests itself faster; it begins to actively itch and even tear areas of the skin, trying to get rid of the unpleasant sensations.

At first, the mite may not be visible while it is small, but over time, a brown liquid secreted by the parasite will appear, this will be a clear sign of an ear mite.

Traces of tick activity in an animal's ear

As already mentioned, the ears are a rather sensitive part of the body of four-legged brothers, for this reason you need to be careful with them. If you do not want to seek help from specialists, then there are several options.

You can:

1. Use special ear drops that should kill the insect. Today the choice of such drops is very large. They can be found at any veterinary pharmacy.
2. Or go in a more complex, but more effective way. Use ointment. In this case, you will have to first clean the brown crust from your ears, otherwise the effectiveness of the drugs will be minimized. To do this, you will need simple ear sticks and 3% hydrogen peroxide. Wet the cotton wool and wipe the areas with brown deposits. It will get wet and fall off, but you need to clean it thoroughly and try to clean the inner ear to achieve the desired result. Next, an ointment or gel is applied to the surface, for example, “Amidel-gel” has proven itself well. In some cases, results can be achieved in two approaches.

Remember, many drugs only kill living ticks, without killing the larvae. Therefore, the procedure will need to be continued until you kill the last living tick, provided that it, or rather she, does not leave offspring!

Carefully read the instructions for the drugs; it is lack of attention that often leads to ineffective use. And many medications are far from harmless, and it is not recommended to use them again.

Possible complications

Consequences:

• lung enlargement;
• liver damage;
• ischemic brain damage;
• renal, heart failure.

Convulsions are rare and end in the death of the animal. Kidney failure is common, but if urine forms, there is a chance to save your pet.

Complications include the chronic course of piroplasmosis. After the disappearance of bright painful, unpleasant symptoms, complete recovery does not occur; parasites are present in the blood, gradually poisoning the pet’s body. With the next bite from an infected tick, an aggravation occurs.

Important!

In severe situations, several types of Babesia are found in the blood of dogs, which causes complications in many internal organs and systems. It is very difficult and expensive to cure an animal. There are also situations when a pet is sick, but it is impossible to establish a diagnosis based on tests.

How dangerous is a tick bite for a dog?

A tick bite is unpleasant in itself. In addition, the insect carries tiny parasites that settle in the pet’s blood. At the same time, animal cells are destroyed and metabolic processes deteriorate. Severe intoxication also occurs. Typically, such symptoms appear within a few days. In difficult cases, symptoms appear fairly quickly, the next day. This often causes the death of the animal.

In addition to microscopic parasites, ticks themselves are also dangerous. These insects carry many dangerous infections. Saliva contains painkillers. The animal does not notice when the parasite attaches itself to the skin. If the tick is a carrier of the infection, it enters the dog’s blood along with the saliva.

Sometimes a chronic form of the disease occurs. It is quite difficult to diagnose. Here the usual symptoms may not appear. To determine the presence of the disease, you will have to undergo special tests.

( Video : “Piroplasmosis symptoms. The dog was bitten by a tick. Author: veterinarian”)

Does a tick always infect a dog?

The main danger is not the bite itself, but the diseases that the tick carries. The main ones:

1. Piroplasmosis . This infection is accompanied by a large amount of released hemoglobin and powerful destruction of red blood cells. In this case, almost all internal organs of the animal are damaged, including the brain.
2. Encephalitis . The disease leads to paralysis, blindness, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Moreover, all these diseases occur in an extremely severe form.

However, practice shows that tick bites do not always lead to infection. Pet owners remove the tick themselves and lubricate the wound with some kind of antiseptic. This is where all treatment ends. Of course, it’s good if everything went well. But you need to remember that the likelihood of the disease occurring is quite high. This is influenced by many things, including the epidemiological situation, which is critical in many regions.

Remember, the faster the tick is removed from the pet, the less likely it is to become infected. The speed at which symptoms manifest is affected by the dog’s immunity and its breed. As a rule, the most dangerous period is considered to be 1-3 days after the bite. But the disease can appear after a couple of weeks. In order not to risk the health of your four-legged friend, if a bite is detected, you should immediately show it to a veterinarian, without waiting for symptoms to appear.

( Video : “Encephalitis tick: habitats, symptoms and consequences of the bite, diagnosis and treatment”)

Symptoms of piroplasmosis in dogs

Dogs suffering from piroplasmosis often have a moderate to severe form of hemolytic anemia, and the corresponding symptoms of the disease include fever, anorexia, a depression-like state, pallor and yellowness of the visible mucous membranes, and an enlarged spleen.

Depending on the quality of the pathogenesis of the disease, its acute and chronic forms are distinguished, each of which is characterized by certain symptoms.

Acute form of the disease

The first signs of piroplasmosis in dogs in the acute form of the disease can appear as:

• An immediate increase in temperature to 41-42 degrees, which can last up to five days or more.
• Lethargy, loss of appetite.
• Increased heart and respiratory rate.

As a rule, these signs can be maintained for several days, periodically alternating with periods of relief in the general condition of the animal. After this period, at the moment piroplasmosis leaves the initially affected erythrocytes and fills the bloodstream with the pathogen, the following symptoms of piroplasmosis in dogs are observed:

• Hyperemia (redness) of the visible mucous membranes of the animal, often with pinpoint hemorrhages. Later, jaundice appears.
• Yellowing of teeth is a sign of severe disease.
• Decreased cardiac activity, shortness of breath.
• Hematuria is the appearance of blood in the urine, which takes on a pinkish tint.
• Severe watery diarrhea.
• Paresis (partial paralysis) or paralysis of predominantly the posterior parts of the body.

The acute form of piroplasmosis is characterized by a lightning-fast course - the symptoms of the disease last, as a rule, for a week, then the body temperature returns to normal, and the dog dies without treatment with protozoocidal drugs.

Chronic form of the disease

Chronic pathogenesis is characterized by the comparative mildness of the symptoms of piroplasmosis in dogs, and the mortality rate in this case is much lower. Main features:

• Body temperature is almost always normal, with the exception of the period in the first few days after infection, when it rises by a couple of degrees.
• Periodic lethargy and loss of appetite, alternating with remissions (improvement).
• Constipation, followed by diarrhea several times a day.
• Pale mucous membranes with a slight icteric tint.

The dog can observe this condition for about one to two months, then very slowly - over the course of six months - signs of recovery develop. This process goes faster when using appropriate drugs in the treatment of canine piroplasmosis.

What to do about ticks on a dog?

tick found immediately raises the question - what to do? The answer may vary depending on the time the uninvited guest was discovered.

First of all, you need to make sure that the tick does not end up on the dog. This is what every conscious dog owner should strive for. And to do this you need to adhere to certain simple rules, namely:

• try to avoid dangerous places during insect activity to reduce the likelihood of encounters;
• prevent your pet from coming into contact with yard dogs, which are often carriers of diseases and parasites;
• closely examine the animal after each walk;
• it is advisable to use special preparations and other items that not only repel bloodsuckers, but also kill them when they try to bite a dog;

Naturally, it will not be possible to avoid a tick bite 100%, but not going outside is also not an option. All this is a game of probabilities, which the pet owner must tip on the desired scale.

If you constantly examine the animal, then there is a chance of finding an Ixodid tick before it burrows into the body of your furry friend. As already mentioned, the parasite crawls onto the dog’s body and crawls for some time in search of a suitable place to eat.

General view of a well-fed tick

In reality, this process can last for two hours. In this case, you can generally avoid an unpleasant bite and protect your dog from various infections.

More likely tick bite sites , where you should look for them first, are:

• neck;
• armpits;
• elbow area;
• groin area;
• the head as a whole, and especially behind the ears and near the eyelids.

At the same time, while he is crawling and has not yet eaten, it is difficult to notice him. For this reason, you should not relax if you didn’t find anything when checking. You need to constantly monitor your pet.

The dog may not experience immediate discomfort, since when an insect bites, it injects an anesthetic secreted by its glands. But over time, she may begin to scratch and lick the area where the bite begins to itch. The dog may become irritable, lose its appetite, and its body temperature may rise if an infection gets into the blood. And the sooner symptoms can be identified, the better. This will give the necessary time to treat the animal.

If these symptoms occur, it is advisable to further examine the animal, palpate suspicious areas for bulges, which may turn out to be a drunken parasite. If you do not pay attention to an itchy dog, then you may not find the bloodsucker at all, since after eating he may simply fall behind. In this case, the dog may be infected, but the owner will not think that the cause is a tick bite , which will result in preventing the disease from being diagnosed in time and treatment being started. Carelessness can cost your pet's life.

Diagnosis of piroplasmosis

The diagnosis of piroplasmosis should be made only by a veterinary specialist, using a number of laboratory tests. First of all, the doctor will conduct a clinical examination of the sick dog, but since the symptoms of the disease may be weak or absent altogether, the following methods are prescribed:

1. Clinical and biochemical blood test to detect Babesia in erythrocytes.
2. Polymer chain reaction for parasite antigen detection.
3. Urine analysis to determine the color of biological fluid and the presence of hemoglobin in urine.
4. Examination of an ixodid tick removed from a dog’s body for the presence of parasites in the bloodsucker.

In some cases, repeated diagnosis may be required, since in the initial stages of the disease the presence of Babesia in the blood cannot be established.

Tick ​​on a dog

Ticks on dogs are often found during the period of parasite activity (spring and summer, sometimes autumn). In warm weather, insects crawl out and wait on blades of grass, tree trunks and foliage of bushes until the intended victim passes by. Ticks determine its location by smell. Having determined the dog’s location, the parasites quickly move to its body and try to find vulnerable areas of the skin - soft and not protected by fur.

You can pick up ticks in the forest, in the park, even while walking along a small alley. These insects are poorly distributed in urban areas, but remain active in villages, holiday villages and large forest parks. Therefore, owners need to be careful not only when traveling out of town with their pets, but also when walking through nature reserves and parks.

The tick usually sits on the belly or is located behind the ears. It bites into the skin and begins to drink blood, plunging its proboscis. Tick ​​salivary glands secrete small amounts of allergens to which some pets are sensitive. But the danger of the parasite lies not in this, but in the fact that it can be a carrier of deadly viruses and dangerous infections.

Therefore, it is so important to provide tick prevention in the summer, as well as constantly check the dog’s body for the presence of attached parasites.

Blood Hunters

Ticks are carriers of pathogenic microorganisms and bacteria that infect domestic animals and their owners. Their attacks are effective because the body, touch, and smell of the insect are aimed at searching for the victim.

The first pair of legs is equipped with complex Haller organs that recognize thousands of odors, including sweat, pheromones (products of external secretion) of a dog or carbon dioxide exhaled by it. Ticks respond to vibration, shade from a pet, and heat. Like a good hunter, they sense their prey at a distance of 20 m, remaining invisible to it at a size of 0.2 - 0.4 mm.

Most often, attacks occur in damp places of deciduous and mixed forests, parks, near paths and footpaths.

Dogs often pick up ticks near roadside bushes

After the attack, the tick moves along the dog's body in search of warm, moist and poorly protected places, closer to the blood vessels. Most of them are located on the neck under the muzzle, in the armpits, and groin.

Tick ​​saliva contains anesthetic substances that inhibit blood clotting and the local immune system response.

Therefore, the tick bite is imperceptible, and it can feed on the blood of its victim for several hours or days.

Having drunk blood, ticks leave the animal, leaving injuries, swelling and inflammation. The most dangerous consequences of a tick bite on a dog is the penetration of toxic substances and infectious agents into the animal’s body along with its saliva. For more information about the disease, watch this video:

The most common diseases include: Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, piroplasmosis, tick-borne encephalitis.

The main thing is not to be late with treatment

Ticks are dangerous for cats and dogs as carriers of babesiosis.

Within a few days after the bite, symptoms of the disease appear:

At an advanced stage of babesiosis, a dog cannot be saved

My dog ​​was bitten by a tick, what should I do and how should I treat it?

Do you experience any alarming symptoms after a parasite bite? Then don’t delay, but take action immediately. But be responsible and do not self-medicate, this can lead to unpredictable consequences.

One of the most dangerous and most common diseases transmitted by bloodsucking animals is piroplasmosis. The causative agent of the disease that affects blood cells is the microorganism Babesia canis. The incubation period, depending on the course of the disease, can last from 2 days to 3 weeks.

Symptoms of the disease:

• General weakness
• High temperature reaching 41°
• Bloody urine (brown and even black)

The disease progresses quickly, you won’t be able to just get over it, every minute counts. After all, the microorganism destroys the carrier of oxygen and other substances in the dog’s body, which leads to irreversible consequences. The mortality rate of animals without treatment reaches 98%.

We will not describe the course of treatment here, but we will outline the stages of treatment:

1. The animal is injected with drugs such as azidine, veribene or pyrosan (there are many of these on the market today), which kill microorganisms, and infected red blood cells die along with them.
2. Massive death of Babesia canis microorganisms and blood cells leads to toxicosis and often very severe complications in the form of renal failure. This is a consequence of the fact that the body is trying to remove dead cells through the kidneys, but their number is so large that the channels in the kidneys begin to become clogged. The following stages are aimed specifically at maintaining the body after the first stage.
3. Maintaining the body with cardiac medications, hepatoprotectors, vitamins, etc.
4. Carrying out the procedure of forced alkalizing diuresis to avoid the complications described above. Treatment of existing complications.

It is very important to diagnose and begin treatment on time. The earlier you start, the less likely there are serious complications. Having started treatment on time, visible progress may appear within 1-2 days, otherwise it is extremely difficult to cure complications and is not always possible. The last step is plasmapheresis or hemosorption. These methods are relatively new and have been in practice since 2007. The point is to cleanse the patient’s blood of dead red blood cells and their breakdown products without the participation of the kidneys, thereby protecting the organs from blockage.

Dog on a drip

The survival rate of dogs with piroplasmosis increases with vaccination. For these purposes, you can use vaccines: Nobivak Piro, Pirodog. But do not forget, these drugs will not allow the animal to recover on its own, they only increase resistance and the likelihood of a positive outcome. In this case, contacting a doctor is a prerequisite for recovery.

Another dangerous disease that can be transmitted by a tick. This is a bacterial disease, Borreliosis. Dogs with this disease have visible lameness due to damage to the joints. Body temperature rises to a temperature of 40 degrees during the incubation period for two days. The animal becomes apathetic, depressed, lethargic. Appetite disappears and weight begins to decrease. This is also a fairly serious disease and if you have symptoms, you should immediately contact a veterinary hospital.

The diseases described above should not be treated on your own, but there are a couple of recommendations if you cannot take your pet to the clinic. The animal definitely needs water, for this reason it is necessary to forcefully give 100-150 ml per hour. It is necessary to inject 20 ml of glucose subcutaneously three times a day, and also give vitamins B6 and B12 once a day. This will help support the sick body at a critical moment. But at the first opportunity, you will need to take the dog to the clinic, otherwise the result may be disastrous.

If the long-eared animal has not contracted any infection, then there is a risk of the wound festering, but this does not always happen. In this case, there is nothing to worry about and you can simply take some ointment to heal the wounds.

What ticks carry piroplasmosis?

Piroplasmosis is transmitted by infected ticks. Piroplasm is found in the insect’s saliva and enters the dog’s blood when the parasite bites through its skin.

Satiated dog tick

Mite sizes range from 0.2 to 5 mm. Outwardly, they look like miniature crabs or harmless round spiders. However, the appearance of a tick is very deceiving. Blood-sucking parasites will not miss the opportunity to attach themselves to the body of a dog or person and firmly establish themselves in the place of their meal. Once fed, the tick swells, turns white and increases in size tens of times.

Ticks are carriers of piroplasmosis

Why is this happening?

The favorite places for attacks of synanthropes are tall thickets, bushes, grass in forests and parks. Ticks use their proboscis to pierce the skin of the animal. Their nose is designed in such a way that dog hair is not an obstacle. When it attaches itself to the skin, the pest straightens its tentacles and thanks to them, it stays in place at the site of the bite.

It is for this reason that the parasite cannot be pulled along its axis. Such human actions can lead to the insect only burrowing deeper and stronger into the skin. If the body of the synanthropus comes off, but the proboscis remains in the pet, the owner will have to make an effort to pull it out.

The dog was bitten by a tick, what to do at home?

Many owners, having discovered a tick attached to their pet’s body, panic and do not know what to do at home.

• Firstly, you should know that a tick bite itself is not dangerous for a dog, as it does not lead to significant blood loss or tissue damage.
• Secondly, according to statistics, only 14-16% of the parasites present are carriers of pathogens of dangerous diseases.
• Thirdly, with hands shaking with fear it is almost impossible to carefully remove the bloodsucker from your pet’s body.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=zCYh5XQQt6Q%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Important! If you are not confident in your ability to remove a tick yourself, it is better to go to the clinic. Hasty and illiterate actions can lead to the body being torn off from the head, which will remain in the dog’s skin and cause purulent inflammation of the wound

First aid when detecting an embedded tick

In addition to analgesics and anticoagulants, the tick injects saliva under the skin, which melts the tissue, making it suitable for sucking by the parasite. But the main danger is that it is through saliva that pathogens are transmitted. And the more it gets into the animal’s body, the higher the possibility of developing pathology becomes.

Timely first aid helps to minimize the risk of infection, since if a small amount of pathogenic microorganisms enters the pet’s body, its immune system can quickly neutralize them.

In order to completely, you must act according to the following algorithm.

• Grasp the tick body as close to the skin as possible. Ideally, for this you need to use a special Tick Twister device, which prevents accidental detachment of the head from the abdomen. But not every owner thinks in advance about purchasing such a device, so tweezers can serve as an alternative. A common method is to use a thread, which is tied in a tight knot, thrown over the head of the parasite and tightened.

Important! It is forbidden to remove the parasite with bare hands or using long nails. If there are microtraumas on the skin, infection can occur from an infected tick.

• Slowly loosen the tick in different directions, and then carefully begin to rotate it counterclockwise until the head and proboscis are completely removed.

• The removed parasite must be placed in a small resealable container or a regular plastic bag.

• The tick penetration site must be treated with hydrogen peroxide, and then lubricated with a 5% alcohol solution of iodine.

Important! The most common mistake that people make when removing a tick is to wet it with vegetable oil in order to “cut off the oxygen.”

This is due to ignorance of the fact that the respiratory organs of ticks are located in the anus. In the light of this information, the meaninglessness of this manipulation becomes clear. But the danger lies in the fact that the tick treated with oil begins to very actively secrete saliva into the animal’s tissue, and, consequently, pathogens. And this can lead to the development of an acute or fulminant form of pathology.

What to do if the tick head remains in the body

If possible, then after successful extraction it is worth taking the tick to the laboratory, where it will be determined whether it is a carrier of dangerous pathogens. But what to do if the head remains in the body, and there is a high probability of developing purulent inflammation?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qU8TkvsHTHA%3Ffeature%3Doembed

At home, you can try to remove it using a needle, which for disinfection should first be heated over a fire and wiped with alcohol. If you can’t do this yourself, or there is uncertainty that all foreign objects have been removed from the wound, you need to contact a veterinarian.

How to remove a tick from a dog

There are several ways to properly remove a pest.

Basic tools:

• thin but strong thread;
• tweezers;
• needle;
• alcohol;
• vegetable oil;
• petrol;
• brilliant green;
• iodine.

On a note!

For those who have had to deal with the parasite many times, getting a tick is quite simple. You need to pick it up with your nails, as close to the base as possible, and pull sharply. However, this procedure is not recommended for beginners, since there is a high probability that the head will remain under the skin. The pest can dig deep enough into the skin.

Removing a tick from a dog

Leather processing

Removing a tick from a dog starts with humane steps. Treat the surrounding skin with an oily substance or alcohol. They use sunflower, olive oil, gasoline, kerosene, machine oil, solid oil, medical alcohol, and vodka. Everything that was nearby or at hand. When using flammable mixtures, you need to take a minimum amount of them so as not to burn the epidermis and protect against allergies.

The substances block the pest’s oxygen, forcing it to escape. The presence of the parasite in the same place is made uncomfortable by the strong smell of the substances used.

On a note!

You can remove a tick using this method in 20-30 minutes. You need to constantly monitor the process in order to have time to remove the pest from the wool.

The main tool is tweezers

If the previous method failed to remove the tick, proceed to the following steps. Pre-treatment of the skin forces the pest to move closer to the surface of the skin. It will be much easier to remove the tick. The main tool is tweezers.

Gently press at the base of the head, begin to make circular movements, as if twisting the body of the pest. There is no general consensus in which direction to turn the tick. Most insist that you need to rotate counterclockwise. Others say that you can manually extract in a circular motion in any direction, but you cannot alternate. If you start turning to the right, you shouldn’t start turning to the left.

Important!

Do not press too hard on the body with tweezers. If the chitinous cover is damaged, blood will appear, which can get into the open wound. This is how dangerous diseases become infected. If you carefully unscrew the tick, infection can be avoided.

Application of thread

You can remove a tick from a dog at home using a thread. In this way, small parasites are removed or if they have not managed to get under the skin too much. Make a loop with a thread and throw it over the attached tick at the very base. Swing from side to side, then suddenly pull out.

Removing a tick from a dog

If a large tick has attached itself and you don’t have tweezers at hand, you can also use a thread. Throw a loop and begin to carefully unscrew it. 2-5 scrolls are enough to remove the parasite from the animal’s body.

Syringe

You can remove a tick with a syringe very quickly. You should first prepare the “tool”.

1. The radius of the syringe should be as close as possible to the size of the parasite's body. Cut off the tip where the needle should be inserted. Do this with a sharp knife so that the syringe fits tightly to the skin.
2. The edges are treated with vegetable oil or cream. This will provide a better seal.
3. The syringe is placed, covering the serenely dining parasite. After a few seconds, pull the piston up.

After this procedure, the pest will begin to get out on its own.

On a note!

Using the twisting method, the parasite is removed from the dog’s ear, neck, and torso. After the procedure, treat the wound with alcohol, brilliant green or iodine. If you are afraid to do this yourself, you need to take your pet to the veterinarian. Leaving it under the skin is dangerous for the dog's health. Removing a dead parasite is much easier since it does not resist, but waiting until it dies is unwise.

What is piroplasmosis

The disease is caused by an intracellular parasite, Babesia, which is very small in size and parasitizes the red blood cells of the victim. The carrier of the disease is the ixodid tick (intermediate host), after the bite of which the microorganism enters the dog’s body and begins to destroy the animal’s red blood cells.

Babesia can be found in the stomach, genitals and salivary gland of the tick and can even be transmitted to the insect's offspring. When a dog bites a dog, the tick digs deep into the dog's skin, sucks out the animal's blood, and then injects it back into the wound. As soon as the microscopic parasite enters the bloodstream, it invades red blood cells (erythrocytes), begins to feed on the contents of the cell and actively reproduces.

After the blood cell is completely destroyed, the microorganism leaves its refuge and goes in search of new red blood cells. Macrophages (immune cells) capture and remove destroyed red blood cells from the body, but since piroplasmosis quickly destroys a significant number of blood cells, macrophages cannot cope with their task. An animal infected with piroplasmosis begins to suffer from severe intoxication.

What to do if your dog is bitten by a tick?

If you do find a tick embedded in the body of your long-eared friend, do not despair. It looks something like this:

Tick ​​on a dog's body

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The tick bite itself is not dangerous. The arachnid insect is very small and cannot cause much harm. In general, you may not even know about the bite if the dog does not contract any infections and the tick falls off on its own. In this case, if you find a bite wound, simply treat it with brilliant green or hydrogen peroxide, you can also use 5% iodine. This would be ideal, but this does not always happen.

The danger comes from infections carried by Ixodes ricinus. Although statistics tell us that in a generation ticks usually carry infections from 3% to 14% of insects, the likelihood of contracting the disease always remains. Therefore, you should closely monitor the animal after discovering a bite.

So, if you find a tick on a dog’s body , then it is advisable to remove it as quickly as possible. The tick buries itself slowly over 5-6 hours, and if you get it out during this period, then the likelihood of getting sick is reduced to almost zero. You can remove it manually yourself, or contact a veterinarian if doing it yourself is scary. If you decide to do this yourself, it is recommended to use gloves, because ticks incubate infections that are harmful not only to animals, but you can also catch the disease.

There are several general recommendations on what needs to be done to get rid of the parasite and what to do next:

1. Most experts recommend depriving the enemy of oxygen first. It should be noted that some do not recommend doing this, as they believe that the parasite can release many harmful substances into the animal’s blood and harm it. Others do not recommend using gasoline, oil or other toxic mixtures for these purposes, so as not to harm, instead of helping. Based on this, we can assume that alcohol or, in extreme cases, vodka, is suitable for these purposes. It is necessary to drip onto the affected area at intervals of 1-2 minutes. Or you can use a simple ring as a reservoir, applying it to the bite site so that it is in the center and filling the resulting container with, for example, Vaseline. The goal of the event is to make the bloodsucker come out a little and make it easier to get out. In some cases, it disappears on its own after such therapy, but this does not happen often. Having visually noticed that the insect has crawled out a little, proceed to the next stage.
2. Now you need to get it out, or rather unscrew it from the body. There are many options here, you can use tweezers, some use a thread, wrapping it around the parasite’s proboscis and turning it out, which in my opinion is difficult, some dog breeders have special devices for mechanically removing ticks, and some hobbyists create them themselves. I saw a craftsman who made a device from a plastic profile and got an uninvited guest with it. The device looks something like this.

Device for mechanical removal of ticks
Simply insert the body of the enemy into the opening and twist it (unscrew it counterclockwise) without jerking it from side to side. Under no circumstances try to pull it up; nothing will come of it anyway, and most likely you will only cause harm by tearing off the head or proboscis and leaving it under the skin. Also, under no circumstances should you put pressure on the body. Pressing too hard can release toxins into the victim's blood. The same can be done with tweezers. It is important to take it as close to the proboscis as possible, no matter what you press on the body. One principle works here - twist it!

1. Next, you should treat the wound with the means listed earlier.
2. The extracted body can be destroyed, for example, burned, or if you want to make sure that everything is in order, you should put it in a bag and take it to the laboratory for analysis. In fact, it is advisable to do so, such actions will allow you to diagnose the infection in time and, accordingly, effectively fight it, and most importantly, in a timely manner.

After this, you need to monitor the condition of your furry friend, perhaps you will get away with a slight fright. Don't forget to reward your pet with a treat for staying patient during the procedure. This will brighten up an unpleasant moment and make the animal feel cared for.

Symptoms of a bite

If a dog is bitten by a tick, this can be recognized by symptoms, but they are classified depending on the stage and form of the disease. It can be acute, partially acute and chronic.

Acute form of the disease

In this case, the signs of a tick bite in a dog are as follows:

• Reluctance to eat food;
• the occurrence of severe shortness of breath;
• change of colors in the mucous membrane area;
• increased body temperature;
• the bitten dog has no reaction to commands;
• increased heart rate;
• increase in hemoglobin level in urinary fluid.

Most often, this form of the disease occurs if the dog has not previously suffered a tick bite. If a dog is bitten by a tick, the pulse slows down noticeably. Gait becomes more difficult and the hind limbs become weaker. Intestinal atony may occur. In the absence of timely measures taken, dog ticks in this form can be fatal.

Chronic form of the disease

Typically, this type of dog tick occurs in dogs that have previously suffered from the disease. The symptoms of a tick bite in this case are as follows.

• Reluctance to eat;
• noticeable increase in body temperature;
• subsequent normalization of temperature;
• general weakness and exhaustion;
• diarrhea and other intestinal disorders;
• rapid fatigue of the dog;
• sudden change in mood;
• cachexia and anemia.

The duration of the acute stage is 1.5 months. The symptoms pose a danger to the dog’s life and health, so it is necessary to wisely choose anti-tick medications for dogs that promote a quick recovery.

How to remove a tick from a dog at home if the tick's head remains inside?

In this case, there is only one piece of advice: generously treat the affected area with iodine and wait. After some time, the dog’s body will independently cope with the task assigned to it - it will reject everything that is left of the pest. Make sure that the bite site does not become inflamed, and contact a specialist as soon as you see traces of pus.

It is worth repeating once again that the cause of such an unpleasant situation may be the wrong actions of the owner. Do not twist the insect's body or pull it out with force, trying to pull out the bloodsucker in one second.

Do not forget

The main recommendations for those who want to learn how to get a tick from a dog and remove the parasite from a pet without unpleasant consequences are as follows: act carefully and under no circumstances rush, and if you are not confident in your abilities, take the animal to the veterinarian.

Often, after a tick bite and subsequent removal of the insect, the dog is left with a lump - a reminder of the recent attack. It indicates the onset of inflammation or an allergic reaction and requires contacting a professional. The veterinarian may:

• open the abscess;

• using special tools, remove foreign particles (for example, tick legs) from under the skin that cause inflammation;

• prescribe a medicine that will reduce itching (if we are talking about allergies).

Above, we discussed what needs to be done if your dog is bitten by a tick, and you do not have the opportunity to go to the clinic so that a professional can get the pest. Now let’s talk about the consequences that await an animal that does not receive proper help in time and becomes infected.

Treatment of piroplasmosis

After making an accurate diagnosis, the veterinarian prescribes an individual treatment regimen. First of all, it is necessary to rid the dog’s body of microscopic parasites. For this purpose, highly toxic drugs are used:

• Imidosan;
• Pyrostop;
• Azidine;
• Berenil.

After the administration of drugs, the pet may experience a deterioration in its condition due to poisoning of the body with dead parasites and destroyed blood cells.

At this time, it is very important to support the function of many organs that are working hard (liver, heart, kidneys, immune system).

Maintenance therapy is required using:

• hepatoprotectors;
• saline solutions;
• vitamin complexes;
• cardiac drugs;
• glucose solution.

In especially severe cases, plasmapheresis and blood transfusion are used. Due to the high cost, the blood purification procedure is not carried out in all veterinary clinics.

The sick animal is prescribed a special diet that reduces the consumption of fats and protein, as well as raw vegetables and fruits. It is necessary to introduce fermented milk products into your dog’s diet. Biochemical examination of blood and urine is carried out every 2 weeks in order to monitor the dynamics of the animal’s condition.

How to do a smear for piroplasmosis?

Capillary blood is collected from the animal’s ear as follows:

• shave the hair from the inside of the ear
• treat the skin with a disinfectant
• make a small skin incision
• a drop of blood is placed on a glass slide
• form a smear
• the preparation is dried and stained with Diff-Quick
• cover with a cover glass
• study the sample using a microscope.

The results of the analysis for piroplasmosis can be obtained at the first appointment

How does infection occur?

Babesia canis is transmitted transovarially, that is, through the laid eggs of ticks, from which the larvae then hatch. Subsequently, piroplasms that enter the body multiply in the red blood cells of the animal. Insects go hunting as soon as it gets significantly warmer outside. They can attack a dog while walking in a summer cottage, in a forest belt or in the city.

In the spring there are the most infected animals, so it is at this time of year that owners should exercise increased caution: treat or vaccinate in a timely manner, and carefully examine a pet that comes in from the street. In the fall, the number of cases is not so high. Most often, piroplasmosis occurs in purebred dogs - mainly hunting and service dogs. However, mestizos also suffer from it, so every owner should take care of safety in advance and not forget about mandatory seasonal prevention.

photo from website: www.topelection.org

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