The warmer weather in front of the window encourages walks, including those with dogs. Guardians often accompany their pets to forests, parks and grasslands. This is also the period when ticks become more and more active. These parasites can carry serious and dangerous diseases for our little ones.
It is extremely important to carefully inspect not only yourself, but also your dog after each walk. Dogs love to sniff grasses and bushes, which are the habitat of ticks. Usually, they bite at several specific places on the animal’s body, one of them might surprise you!
Where to expect ticks on your dog?
The first rays of the sun make not only people but also nature more active. Ticks are also an integral part of it. It’s every pet owner’s nightmare who lets them out in the yard or likes to walk around overgrown areas together. Especially during this period, they should carefully monitor their animals after each outing, since these parasites are often carriers of serious diseases that are very dangerous for animals.
Upon returning from a walk or play in the yard, all owners should check their pets to make sure they haven’t brought an unwanted guest in the form of a tick. These creatures most commonly bite around the abdomen, ears, eyes, crotch, tail, and armpits. However, very often they also choose a place under the collar, which opens the fur and can be very easily overlooked during inspection.
Ticks transmit dangerous diseases, including babesiosis
Some ticks carry diseases that are very dangerous for both humans and animals. These include Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis and babesiosis. Although these parasites may seem inconspicuous, they pose a serious threat that can be associated with major health problems and, in the worst case, even lead to the worst.
Babesiosis attacks the red blood cells of the body and leads, over time, to their complete breakdown, and therefore to anemia and hemolysis. In some infected people, this can cause multiple organ failure and, as a result, even death.
Its symptoms are unusual, and in the initial stage it is easy to confuse them with the usual weakness of the body. The patient is accompanied by apathy, lack of appetite, then high fever, muscle and joint pain. It is very important to diagnose it as soon as possible, so if the guardian observes something disturbing in his animal, especially after being bitten by a tick, it is best to consult a veterinarian immediately.
When do ticks come to life?
Although these pests are most active in the spring when the temperature begins to rise above freezing, they can actually be active all year round. When the mercury columns begin to read around 7 degrees C in any month, this is to be expected especially in forests, orchards, meadows and parks, and even in your own backyard.
– If the temperature exceeds the freezing point, ticks can be dangerous. There are no safe places today. Wherever it is green, there can be ticks: in cities, in the countryside, in forests and parks, even on the green belts of roads, and certainly in allotment gardens – warns Dr. Ing. Anna Wierzbicka of Poznaล University of Life Sciences, in a statement for PAP.
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