Ever seen a tick on your dog, cat or horse? Most likely, you’ve seen at least one tick crawling on you or your pet.
Where do you find ticks on your pet(s)? Let’s discuss the most common places to find ticks on your beloved animals!
If you own horses (or are curious), check out our last blog about your horse’s risk of different tick diseases!
Side note: this is a great thing to know if you are a pest control professional! Clients may worry about their animals and discussions to check their pets for ticks is essential. For the pets and for the people – pest control professionals are the superheroes to stop tick-borne diseases!
Places Ticks like to Hide on your Pet
There are common places you can look for ticks on your pets and farm animals! However, you may find a tick in odd places, every once in a while.
It is important to look over your animals if they live outdoors or have been playing outside (in your yard, while hiking, etc.). Why is this? From personal experience, and witnessing this happen on animals that spend a lot of time outdoors, it is easy to miss a tick. Most people may not even notice a tick until it has become bloated with your pet’s blood. You know, the green, squishy looking ticks..
The earlier you detect or remove a tick, the better! Ticks carry many diseases that may harm not only you, but your pets!
Finding Ticks on your Dogs and Cats
It is always best to look through your pet’s fur to check for ticks. Of course, awareness of these pests is key to provide your pet with a successful removal and/or prevention. However, here are a few common areas that you may want to check first.
- Their ears.
- Check behind, under and on top of the ears.
- Behind their front legs (armpits)
- This area can become moist, a perfect place for a tick to nestle.
- Groin area.
- This may not be a place you think a tick will be, but double check this area.
Finding Ticks on Horses and Other Livestock
As said in another blog, horses can be susceptible to tick-borne diseases just as much as other animals and humans. Since they live their whole life (mostly) outdoors, it is vital to check them for ticks! Here are common places to find ticks on your equines and other livestock:
- Under their tail.
- Lift your horse’s tail up and check around the area. Ticks like to embed here and on the end of the tailbone.
- Their underside of their flank.
- The groin area is very popular for ticks. Your horse may have rolled around in grass or maybe grass came up to their belly. Always check this area!
- Behind their front legs.
- Like with small animals, the girth area is another popular place for ticks.
- Near ears/forelock.
- Ticks may be behind or in front of the ears, as well as in the forelock area.
It is good practice to check your horse, cows, etc. for ticks after trail riding or even the day after! Horses on grass pastures should also be checked often for ticks.
Make Sure to Check for Ticks!
Although you may not see them, they are there. Remember to always check yourself AND your pets for ticks! Nobody wants to get a tick-borne disease, not to mention it is uncomfortable!
Also, don’t forget about utilizing your local pest control professionals to make sure your yard is tick-free! Check out natural products that are safe to use around your yard that won’t harm your furry friends.
