Tick Season Again!

Dr. Kathryn Miller MRCVS

It’s tick season again, so time to start thinking about protecting your pets from these pesky pests.

Ticks are small parasites that attach to your animal’s skin and feed from their blood. Often animals will not show many signs of being bothered by ticks, but a large tick infestation can cause anaemia and some ticks carry potentially fatal diseases which they can transmit to a pet as they feed.

How to prevent tick diseases:

1. Check your pet each time they come in from outside. Ticks look like little warts in the skin but look closely you will see wiggling legs. Animals that spend time in woods and long grass are most at risk.
2. If you see a tick then this needs to be remove carefully – it is important to ensure that the head (which is burrowed under the skin) does not detach as this can cause infection.
3. Prevention is always better than cure! There are many tick products available. Some will kill a tick within 48 hours – however this is plenty of time for the tick to transmit disease. Better products repel the ticks to stop them attaching in the first place.

Speak with your vets for advice on which product is right for your pet.