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Dog ticks can be a persistent problem, because it isn’t enough to get rid of the ticks present on your dog. Ticks will lay their eggs wherever your dog goes and so you also have to treat carpets, chairs and dog bedding to ensure you deal with the problem completely. Otherwise, you may eliminate the ticks that you can actually find on your dog’s body, but then find that soon enough your dog has ticks again. This is because the eggs that you failed to get rid of, mature and seek out a food source; namely your dog.
Hard to remove
If there is one thing that evolution have taught ticks, that is how to stay on your dog, forever. It is not surprising that if you try to brush them off or manually remove them off your dog, you see it is not as easy as you think. Thankfully, we have an arsenal of chemicals that can ‘tickle’ the ticks off your dog.
Multiple ways to get rid of them
You may find that it takes a combination of treatments to successfully get rid of a tick problem. To get rid of the ticks that are present on your dog, there are various shampoos, powders, sprays, collars and tablets that might be able to eradicate the adult ticks that are feeding on your dog, causing your dog to scratch. The effectiveness of each will depend on how bad the tick infestation is and how likely it is your dog will come into contact with ticks again. Even when you treat your house with tick-specific products, you can’t prevent your dog from coming into contact with other dogs that might have ticks.
Dog shampoos
It takes time for all the ticks to die and so you have to be vigilant. If you see your dog scratching, you may have to examine the dog and squeeze the offending tick between your fingers. Obviously, this isn’t a long-term solution to the problem. You could try washing your dog with tick treatment, but most dog shampoos are not strong enough to actually kill the ticks. They may leave your dog smelling pleasant, but the chances are you will find that the blood-sucking ticks are still bedded into your dog’s skin.
Dog tick collar
Similarly, the effectiveness of tick collars is limited. They usually have a distinctive smell that ticks apparently dislike. However, ticks are tough creatures to get rid of and, often, a scented tick collar is unlikely to do anything other than annoy your dog who, if not scratching because of ticks will be scratching because of the collar!
Things that work
Sprays, creams, lotions, drops and powders seem to have more success at killing ticks, depending on which you go for. Adding a couple of tick drops between the shoulder blades of your dog can reduce the number of ticks living there and eventually kill them, though you may still find the odd one. Similarly, oral treatment can prove successful, though you will have to take a trip to your vet in order to get the necessary tablets. After taking a tick tablet, the ticks will no longer be able to breed on your dog, thus bringing the tick infestation to an end.
Tick eggs
There are also sprays that you can use on carpets and furniture and powders that you can sprinkle on to carpets before vacuuming them, which will also help to remove tick eggs. Although you may not be able to get rid of every single tick, you at least reduce the likelihood of him or her becoming a major problem. A tick infestation isn’t particularly pleasant for your dog and it can be inconvenient for you. Although ticks feed mainly on dogs, you may sometimes discover bites around your ankles. Thus, even if you didn’t notice your dog scratching, bites around your ankle should give you a clue that your dog has ticks.
It doesn’t stop there
You can’t ignore a tick problem, because it will only get worse. Unfortunately, you are never going to completely get rid of ticks, especially if your dog is active and enjoys going outside, but you should be able to prevent the tick population from spiraling out of control.
More on dog’s health
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