Like mosquitoes, ticks suck blood out of a dog’s body by stinging it. Ticks live and survive on the body of the dog. These parasites are usually the carriers of many contagious diseases. In America these diseases are not only confined to dogs but also infect human beings. Some contagious diseases like Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Ehrlichiosis are caused due to the ticks that your pet dog may have. It’s very wise to get some high quality spa dog shampoo to keep the ticks and fleas away.

The Life Span of a Tick

Ticks normally live on the dog’s body and treat it as a host. They live off the blood from your dog’s body. Like other parasites, ticks too have to go through three stages of life. The first stage is the larvae, the second is the nymph and finally the third stage is the full grown adult tick. In all the three stages this parasites survive by sucking the blood from your dog’s body. When a tick stings your dog once, it is more than enough to cause irritation in the skin that surrounds the sting.

As mentioned earlier, a tick has to go through three physical changes in its life time. In the larvae stage the tick has 6 legs and is living on the dog’s body for 2 to 3 days. The next stage is the nymph stage, here it has eight legs. The nymph stays on the dog’s body for 7-10 days and finally it turns into another male or female adult tick capable of breeding and spreading the infestation. Be sure to view these elevated dog feeders for your pet.

The female tick conceives when it is on the dog’s body. It remains there for three weeks and during this time sucks so much blood out of a dog’s body that it becomes difficult for the tick to sustain its weight and so it falls down on the ground and lays its eggs immediately. The females are the ones that you will find on your dogs body. They drink so much blood that they become big and turgid and become conspicuous to the human eye. You will need to get many different types of dog supplies online for your dog to prevent infestation.

How to remove a tick?

If you notice that your dog’s body has been invaded by ticks and they are sucking his blood, your immediate reaction should be to remove the ticks from the dog’s body as soon as possible. Use a pair of tweezers to remove the tick because if you use your hands to pluck it there are chances of its body breaking into two parts, the head and the mouth part and the body part. So always use a tweezers. Once the tick is removed just check if you have managed to remove the entire tick because if its head and mouth remain attached to your dogs body it may cause inflammation and irritation to your pet.