How to Protect Your Dog from Ticks
Nature is blooming, it’s getting warmer again, and you and your four-legged friend are drawn to the woods to enjoy the good weather. Every year, pet owners face the same issue: ticks, that lurk in meadows and trees and want to get to your four-legged friend. We’ll share our tips for tick season so you can enjoy your walks without worry!
What are Ticks and Where Do They Live?
Ticks are ectoparasites; they live for a while on animals or humans and feed on the blood of their host. Once they have had enough blood, they drop off. They usually lurk in grass, bushes, or on trees and reach their host this way. It becomes dangerous when an infected tick bites your four-legged friend - because they can transmit life-threatening →diseases like Lyme disease during the bite.
Good to know: The term "tick bite" is also common; ticks insert a kind of stinger into the skin to fix themselves with their sucking organs.
[TRANSLATION ERROR] Erwischt! Eine zügig entfernte Zecke hat in der Regel keine Zeit, deinen Hund mit Borreliose anzustecken, da rund 24 Stunden vergangen sein müssen seit dem Stich.
My Pet Has a Tick - What Now?
How to Remove Ticks Properly
Especially during the warm seasons, you should regularly check your four-legged friend for ticks and, if necessary, →remove them properly. If you find that your furry friend has a tick, you should never pull it out with your bare fingers. In such cases, often only the back part of the tick breaks off while the head remains stuck.
You should best remove ticks with specially designed tick tweezers or cards. Avoid twisting motions during removal, as this can also lead to the tick being split. If you discover the tick quickly within 24 hours, meaning it is still small and not engorged with blood, the likelihood of infection with pathogens is relatively low.
What Diseases Can My Pet Get?
If a tick goes unnoticed on your four-legged friend for an extended period, the risk of various tick-borne diseases increases. The most well-known disease is Lyme disease, with about 10-35% of all ticks in Germany carrying Borrelia.
While transmission and infection do not necessarily lead to the outbreak of the disease, due to an incubation period of up to 5 months, a disease may not be immediately noticeable. The infection rate for Lyme disease is about 17 to 61%, with only 5-10% of dogs becoming ill. Joint or heart diseases, as well as fever and loss of appetite, can be indications of Lyme disease.
Infections with other diseases transmitted by ticks can also lead to fever, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and vomiting, such as TBE (tick-borne encephalitis) or →anaplasmosis. If you notice that your four-legged friend behaves differently than usual and appears lethargic after a tick bite, you should seek veterinary advice. If the diseases are diagnosed in time, veterinarians usually prescribe antibiotics against the pathogens, and your furry friend can fully recover.
[TRANSLATION ERROR] Traust du dich nicht selbst, die Zecke zu entfernen, helfen dir auch gern Tierärzt*innen dabei.
Prevention: Properly Prevent Ticks
Unlike humans, there is no TBE vaccine for dogs. However, dogs can indeed become infected with TBE and develop symptoms.
There is, however, a vaccine against Lyme disease for dogs. Given the various courses of the disease, it is advisable to protect your four-legged friend against it. Other preventive measures include →various tick repellents. These range from special collars to tablets and drops that are applied to the neck fur to keep ticks away.
Many collars have the advantage of being effective against fleas and working year-round. Drops, on the other hand, are applied locally at the beginning of the tick season.
Various home remedies like →black cumin oil are suspected to be effective against ticks. Although there are no scientific studies on this, many owners report positive effects.
Kleiner Tropfen mit großer Wirkung - unsere Öle für Hunde
Can My Four-Legged Friend Infect Me?
If your four-legged friend has been infected with pathogens through a tick bite, it’s completely normal to worry about your health as well. Good news: No, your four-legged friend cannot infect you. This also applies the other way around. Transmission can only occur from tick to host.
