Tick season: the veterinarian gave advice on how to protect pets 9 March 2025
Kyiv • UNN
An expert talked about different methods of protecting animals from ticks and their effectiveness. Tips were provided on the proper use of drops, tablets, sprays, and collars, as well as instructions for removing ticks.
With the arrival of warm weather in Ukraine, the danger from ticks for pets is increasing. Veterinarian Eduard Kotlyarov told UNN how to protect animals and what to do in case of a tick bite.
Details
How to protect animals from tick bites
To protect animals from tick bites or even if not from bites, but from infections carried by ticks, they need to be treated. The first and probably the most popular method that everyone knows is indeed the drops on the withers. They are applied to the skin and they all have effectiveness for up to four weeks. Importantly, it is not a month, not three weeks, but up to four weeks. Then there is also a tablet form. It probably gained popularity a little later than the drops. Then there is also a spray form, which is also quite popular. There are also collars, which are used more for dogs than for cats
He notes that tick tablets have a much smaller variety than drops. According to him, the effectiveness of tick medications is determined by the correctness of their application.
Because even good quality medications that could be quite effective, if used incorrectly, people often then consider them to be ineffective. And that is why this leads to a somewhat distorted experience. Then it is often believed that this is bad, this is good. So, if comparing the effectiveness between drops, for example, and the same tablets, there is no such thing as drops being more effective or tablets being more effective. Firstly, tablets have different active substances, just as there are different active substances in drops. And if used correctly, knowing the nuances of those specific drops, they will be just as effective as tablets
According to him, sometimes it is believed that tablets are more effective because they are simply a bit easier to use, because drops have nuances where certain substances do not act for all four weeks, but for two weeks. The veterinarian notes that the action of drops can "break down" under the sun, temperature, or if the dog was wet, caught in the rain, etc., then for a certain time it will be unprotected, because "these drops are washed off the surface of the body and need to be produced again through the glands on the skin".
Collars will also be great, effective, but only if worn correctly, if they are put on tightly so that they rub against the skin. If they just dangle on top of the fur, and the fur is something like, for example, a Laika, or Husky, Malamute, something like that, then their effectiveness will be zero, because they need to rub against the skin
He emphasizes that for long-haired dogs, if collars are planned to be used against ticks, it is necessary to shave a strip on the neck where the collar is planned to be worn, so that it rubs against the skin.
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Sprays will also be effective, but you need to know how to apply them correctly, in what quantity, not just spray from a distance like women do with hair spray, for example, but they need to be applied specifically against the direction of the fur, doing it with a certain frequency of presses on the surface of the body
The doctor notes that during the period of tick activity, it is recommended to combine medications for animals.
If you combine drops, for example, with the same tablets, that would be great. You can combine tablets with everything and not worry at all, because the active substances will not overlap. But if, for example, you combine a spray and a collar or a collar and drops, then there will be active substances that may overlap
How dangerous are tick bites
According to him, tick bites are dangerous mainly due to infections.
In dogs, this is mainly babesiosis - which most often affects the blood, borreliosis or Lyme disease - which affects both the joints and internal organs. (...) For cats, in principle, ticks are also dangerous, although cats get these vector-borne diseases from ticks much less often than dogs, they are less susceptible to this, less sensitive to it. And plus, if it is a small animal, a kitten or a puppy, if it gets bitten by many ticks… one tick can drink up to a milliliter of blood, so, roughly speaking, they can drink all its blood, it can die from anemia
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How to remove a tick by yourself
In principle, if a person is confident that they can do it (remove the tick by themselves - ed.), then it can be done. Nothing critical will happen. In principle, if a person is confident, they want to do it, they can do it themselves if they cannot seek help from a veterinarian. I immediately say that pouring oil or something else on it does not work, because the tick… people think that if they pour oil on it, the tick will start to suffocate and will fall off. No, that will not happen. It gets oxygen from the blood it drinks. It is absolutely indifferent to what is poured on it. It does not breathe through the little hole it made, but it gets everything it needs inside when its head is in the vessel and it drinks blood. Therefore, there is no sense in smearing it with something. The tick needs to be removed mechanically
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According to him, a tick can be removed by oneself using special tweezers, but they need to be not sharp, as this can be dangerous.
It is better to remove the tick as quickly as possible, because some diseases are transmitted when the tick is attached for a certain time, a certain number of hours. That is, if it is pulled out earlier, it will not transmit this infection. Therefore, it is advisable to remove it as soon as possible, if possible. The only unpleasant thing is if the head remains, then theoretically it will be there longer, because it is harder to get out from there, and from it this infection can be transmitted, because it transmits the infection through its salivary glands. Usually how? They try to get the tick out, tear off its back, the front remains, and then this front stays there until they reach the veterinarian. For example, when at the dacha. This can be in three days, and in three days this infection can be transmitted from the tick to the animal
You can remove a tick from an animal by lifting it with tweezers or twisting it out.
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