Dog Care: How to Keep Ticks Away

It’s important to keep ticks away for your dog’s health and safety, but also for a sanitary apartment. You don’t want ticks to jump off your dogs and bite you or your children. Ticks carry diseases that can affect your dogs and transmit diseases to the people your dog comes into contact with. Use natural or chemical treatments to keep ticks away, depending on your preferences.

Tick Collars

A flea and tick collar will keep ticks away, as well as fleas. Simply put one around the dog’s neck, and ticks won’t be interested in biting your dogs much anymore. It’s easy to find these, even at grocery stores, and they’re affordable. One popular brand of tick collar is Preventic. However, many of these tick prevention collars are toxic to dogs when (not if) they chew the collars. If you’ve owned a dog for a long time, you know their propensity to chew everything when they get a chance. A toxic tick collar is no exception.

Topical Drops

Treat your dog monthly with topical drops, placed on the back of his neck. Although tropical drops are used once a month, the treatment works the entire time to keep ticks away. The three leading topical drops for tick removal are manufactured by Frontline, Advantage and ProTicall. You might have a hard time finding this at a store, and may need to get it through your veterinarian as a prescription. If you do find it at a store, it will probably cost a lot more.

One concern about the use of some topical drops is that the medicine is absorbed into the bloodstream. If you don’t want that, consider the use of natural remedies instead.

Vitamins

A natural remedy to keep ticks away is the use of vitamins. The following list of vitamins provide a negative environment for ticks, such that they won’t bite or “hang on” to your dogs:

• Vitamin B
• Omega 3
• Omega 6 fatty acids

Mix the supplements with their meals and give it to them. These will help to fight ticks from the inside out, and are easy to find at grocery and pharmacy stores.

Limit Exposure to Ticks

One way you can keep ticks away, is to keep your dogs away from ticks. Wooded areas and grass are perfect places for ticks to reside. However, it may be tough to keep your dogs away from grass if you keep them outdoors. The best defense is to keep your grass cut and use one of the other remedies described to control ticks.

Pull Them Off

Check for ticks regularly, and pull the ones off that you find on your dog. Tweezers work best for the job. Try not to directly touch the tick. Develop the habit of checking for ticks after you take your dog for a walk. If you keep him outside, develop a schedule to check him every few days.

You’ll have a healthy and happy dog when you work hard to keep ticks away. The efforts you make will also protect the health of your family as you enjoy your pet.