How to Check a Dog or Cat for Ticks

The Touch Test

Your pet isn’t some art museum, so go ahead. Look and touch. It’s the best way we know how to check a dog or cat for ticks.

Feel for any small bumps on your pet’s skin by running your fingers through their fur. If you do feel a bump, take a closer look. A tick bite looks like a mosquito bite, i.e., a small red bump.

Unexplained scabs could also be tick bites. A severely swollen or oozing bump or scab means the wound is probably infected. If you think it’s an infection, call your veterinarian at once.

The Eye Test

Good things come in small packages—except for ticks. They’re tiny and look like dark brown or black bumps on the skin. If they’ve been feeding on your pet for a while, they’ll appear light brown or gray instead. Tick larvae have six legs while tick nymphs and adults have eight.

Knowing what they look like, here’s where to check for ticks on dogs and cats:

• Head and ears. Pay special attention to inside their ears. If your dog or cat shakes its head and/or scratches around their ears a lot, that’s a good sign they have a tick.

• Eyelids. Be on the lookout for skin tags and eye discharge.

• Beneath the collar. Pets should wear their collars with ID tags almost all the time; however, take the collar off to check for ticks. It’s a good place for them to hide.

• The “armpits” and between the back legs. These areas tend to be dark and moist. The kind of place ticks like to set up camp.

• Between the toes. Check the pads at the bottom of their feet as well. Chewing or licking at their feet is also evidence that a tick is or was there.

• Around the tail area. This dark area is a good hiding place for ticks.

• If you see a tick in your home, look for them on your pets immediately.

Small Victories: How to Remove a Tick on a Dog or Cat

You don’t need a bat utility belt to be a pet’s hero. A pair of flat or curved forceps or tweezers will do.

To safely remove a tick:

• Part your pet’s fur.

• Get as close as you can to your pet’s skin with the forceps or tweezers.

• Grab the tick without squeezing it.

• Gently pull the tick away in a straight upward motion. Do not twist it away.

• Clean the tick bite with soap and water, then disinfect the area with rubbing alcohol.

You can also use a tick removal hook. They’re like a two-pronged fork. You put the tick in-between the prongs then twist it away from your pet’s skin.

After removal, fight the temptation to crush the tick between your fingers.

To be safe:

• Flush it down the toilet.

• Put it in a sealed bag or container.

• Wrap it up in tape.

• Drop it in some rubbing alcohol.

You should also wash your hands and disinfect the tweezers or removal hook.

Tick-Related Diseases: More Than Skin Deep

Once attached to your pet’s skin, a tick will feed for several days. Once it’s done, the tick crawls away. Unfortunately, the effects of tick-related diseases can show up weeks, even months later.

Tick-borne disease symptoms include weakness or tiredness, fever, pale gums or difficulty breathing. The most common tick disease in the U.S. is Lyme disease. Its symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, depression, swollen lymph nodes and renal failure. Contact your veterinarian immediately if you see any signs of a tick-related disease.

To find ticks on your dog or cat, think like a tick. Look where they’re known to hide and feed; because when it comes to relieving your pet’s pain and preventing a tick-borne disease, location is everything.