How to Remove Ticks on Dogs and Cats

Ticks can transmit deadly diseases to a pet within as little as 24 hours of latching on, so swift removal is important for minimizing their exposure to disease.

While removing a tick may seem like a self-explanatory process, you’ve probably heard some myths about tick removal that can actually do more harm to your pet. Here’s the best way to remove a tick from a dog or cat safely.

What You’ll Need to Remove Ticks on Pets

Before you start the actual removal process, these are the supplies you should have on hand:

• Tweezers (pointy ones work best)

• Latex or rubber gloves

• Rubbing alcohol

• Antiseptic wipes (optional)

• Jar or container with lid

• Treats (for distraction)
  

How to Get a Tick Off Your Pet

Follow these steps to safely remove a tick from your dog or cat:

STEP 1: PUT ON YOUR GLOVES.

Ticks carry infectious agents that can affect both humans and dogs, so it’s always better to play it safe and wear protective gear.

STEP 2: STEADY YOUR PET AND KEEP THEM CALM.

When you’re getting ready to remove the tick, you’ve got to keep your pet calm. Any unusual poking or prodding tends to make dogs and cats nervous. If there is another person available, have that person help keep your dog relaxed during removal.

You may find it helpful to distract your pet with lickable dog treats. You may also use treats as rewards for cooperative behavior during the tick-removal process.

Never try to force your dog or cat to stay put. If your dog resists during the tick-removal process or becomes scared or aggressive, you should enlist the help of your veterinarian.

STEP 3: POSITION YOUR TWEEZERS.

Take a pair of tweezers—fine-tipped, pointy ones work best—and grasp onto the tick as close to your dog’s skin as possible. Grabbing close to the skin is the best way to get a tick head out.

Be careful not to pinch your dog’s skin.

STEP 4: PULL OUT THE TICK.

Using steady, even pressure, pull the tick straight out. This is the best way to remove a tick from a dog.

Do not twist or jerk the tick because you want to avoid leaving any part of the tick’s mouth or head behind. Also, make sure not to squeeze or crush the tick, since its fluids may contain infectious material.

Although you may have heard that you can remove a tick with a lit match, this is a dangerous myth! Doing so can cause a tick to release toxins or diseases into your pet.

After removing the tick, examine it to make sure the head and mouthparts were removed. If not, take your pet to a veterinarian to remove any remaining tick parts.

STEP 5: KILL THE TICK.

Kill the tick by placing it in a container with rubbing alcohol.

Once the tick is dead, most veterinarians recommend keeping it in the container with a lid in case your pet begins displaying symptoms of disease.

There are many types of ticks, and each tick carries different kinds of diseases, so keeping the tick can help your veterinarian make a proper diagnosis.

STEP 6: DISINFECT THE BITE SITE.

You can use triple-antibiotic spray or wipes to disinfect the bite site, or you can use over-the-counter chlorhexidine solution to clean the area.

Keep an eye on it for signs of infection. If the skin remains red or becomes inflamed, see your veterinarian right away.

STEP 7: PROTECT YOUR DOG.

Start your pet on effective flea and tick prevention to keep them safe. If you already have your pet on flea protection, read the label to make sure it also protects against ticks. If it doesn’t seem to be working, ask your vet for recommendations for an effective flea and tick treatment.

Make sure to keep a close eye on your dog or cat over the next few weeks. You should be on the lookout for any strange symptoms, including a reluctance to move (joint pain), fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, swollen lymph nodes or swelling at the tick bite site.

If your dog displays any of these symptoms, take your pet to your veterinarian immediately.

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Related: We have more information under our cat health + dog health + client care categories.

Does my indoor cat need to visit a vet?

There are myths and conflicting advice surrounding indoor cats and what is best for their health. Though cats have been domestic pets for more than 9,500 years, keeping cats as “indoor-only” pets has only risen in popularity in the last 100 years or so. As our cities expanded, so did urban and sub-urban dangers to free-roaming cats, and caring cat owners learned the best way to keep their cats safe was to keep them indoors. This may be one reason why what is best for an indoor-only cat’s health is still the subject of differing opinions and debate. One of the biggest concerns potential pet parents have about cats they adopt is their health.

So, if you adopt a healthy cat and keep them as an indoors-only, cat do they ever need to see a vet?

Well, even if your cat is strictly an indoor cat, it’s very important for all cats to receive regular veterinary care—including a complete checkup and screening tests at least once, yearly. One important factor to consider when determining your cat’s vet visit frequency is its age or stage of life. If your cat is a senior (11 years of age or older) or experiencing ongoing health issues, visiting the vet twice a year should be common practice. This allows the vet to assess your cat’s overall health and catch any conditions that often surface as a pet ages.

Indoor Cat Health & Happiness Tips

There’s no question that cats who live indoors-only live longer, healthier lives. Since health is directly related to happiness and lack of stress, and it is up to us cat caretakers to always be adding new hunting, watching, chasing, pouncing, sniffing, hiding, and listening enrichment to their indoor environment.

One way to keep your indoor-cat entertained is to give them lots of interesting and changing things to look at from their safe haven.

Some cats are “alpine explorers” who like to climb and get up as high as they can! They are the ones you’ll see at the top of the cat trees in a shelter’s communal cat room, who can nap on the back of the couch or on the narrowest bookshelf edge way up above your head. You can celebrate their mountaineering skills by creating indoor alpine kitties skyways and penthouses for their enjoyment. Here’s one idea: DIY Window Cat Perch.

Some cats are “cave dwellers” who like to hide in closets, under beds, and in cardboard boxes. Well, pretty much every cat I’ve ever met likes cardboard boxes! You can enrich your indoor cat’s life by helping a friend move and then recycling those boxes, or DIY a cardboard box cat castle like in this video.

Some cats love treats and really enjoy being treated for doing tricks! Tricks-for-treats training is a great way to provide mental stimulation for an indoor cat. Some tricks cats enjoy doing are coming when called, jumping up onto something on command, sitting, and sitting up.

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Pet Poison Prevention: Toxins in the Living Room

While your living room may be one of your pet’s favorite places to hang out, it can also be one of the most dangerous! Be cognizant of these common living room dangers and make sure to follow these helpful poison proofing tips.

Learn about your plants! Some common household plants may be toxic to pets (and not people). For example, lilies (Lilium and Hemerocallis spp.) are especially poisonous to cats, so quickly eliminate them from any bouquets. The ingestion of just 1-2 petals can be fatal to a cat. Always consult our Top 10 Poisonous Plants list before buying new plants for your home.

Keep home fragrance products, such as simmer pots of liquid potpourri, well out of reach. These products may cause chemical burns if ingested.

Never spray aerosols or any heavily fragranced products around caged birds. They are especially sensitive to any airborne products.

Keep ashtrays and smoking cessation products such as nicotine chewing gum or patches out of reach. Even cigarette butts contain enough nicotine to cause poisoning in pets.

Be careful with batteries! Dogs enjoy chewing on batteries and battery-containing devices such as remote controls and cell phones. If ingested, they can cause serious chemical burns.

Hang up your purse! Pets love to dig through purses and backpacks which often contain potential pet poisons such medications, cigarettes or sugar-free gum with xylitol.

Even with the best planning and intentions, our pets will occasionally be exposed to toxic substances in the living room. If you suspect your pet has had a toxic exposure call your veterinarian or Pet Poison Helpline immediately as time is of the essence. It is not always safe to induce vomiting or administer other home remedies. Seek counsel before taking action.

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Pet Poison Prevention: Toxins in the Bathroom

Keep medications such as over-the-counter and prescription pills, inhalers and dietary supplements, safely locked up in secure cupboards. Do not leave them on countertops or tables or store them in plastic zippered baggies, which are easily chewed through.

Never medicate your pets with human products without first contacting your veterinarian. Some common human medications such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil) are extremely poisonous to pets.

Always check the container before giving medication to your pet to make sure it’s the correct medication. Also, it is best to store your own medications separately from your pet’s. Pet Poison Helpline receives many calls from people who accidentally gave their own medication to a pet.

Keep pets away from cleaning products. Shut them out of the room while spraying bathroom cleansers or other products.

Close toilet lids to keep pets from drinking the water, especially if you use automatic chemical tank or bowl treatments.

Even with the best planning and intentions, our pets will occasionally be exposed to toxic substances in the bathroom. If you suspect your pet has had a toxic exposure call your veterinarian or Pet Poison Helpline immediately as time is of the essence. It is not always safe to induce vomiting or administer other home remedies. Seek counsel before taking action.

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Pet Poison Prevention: Toxins in The Laundry / Utility Room

The utility room is an area of the home intended for the storage of many household items and products. It is also very often the laundry room of the home. It can often become the “junk drawer” of the house and for that reason can contain a variety of substances and items that could be toxic or harmful to your pets if exposed. Armed with the knowledge of what items may be dangerous to your pets, you can organize the room in such a way that keeps hazards are out of your pets reach.

If you have dogs but not cats, keeping dangerous items up high can be an easy prevention action. Adding locked or difficult to open cabinets can help to minimize exposures. Preventing access to the room all together may seem extreme but can sometimes be the best and easiest answer.

Common dangers for pets found in Utility/Laundry rooms include:

Laundry Products

Products such as laundry detergent, softener, bleach, and dryer sheets all have the potential to cause significant irritation to your pet’s skin, eyes, oral, respiratory, and GI tracts. Some products may also have the potential to cause corrosive injury to these physiological systems.

In addition to possible toxic potential, dryer sheets can pose a risk for a foreign body obstruction in the GI tract if ingested. Injury from laundry products is not always immediately evident but those products with a more basic pH can cause serious and at times life-threatening injury that may not be seen until several hours or more after exposure.

Laundry pods can also be harmful in more than one way. In addition to having GI irritant potential, the fluid inside of them is under pressure and when bitten into the contents often burst with force into the pet’s mouth which can cause inhalation/aspiration to occur. When this happens chemical pneumonia, which can be life-threatening, can occur.

Light Bulbs

Light bulbs pose an injury hazard to your pet from sharp glass if they are bitten into or broken and walked over.

Fluorescent bulbs can also contain small amounts of mercury. Although the amount that your pet could be exposed to from a broken bulb or two is not anticipated to cause significant health risks these types of exposures are best avoided. If your dog ingests some of a broken light bulb call your veterinarian to discuss the risk of injury from the broken glass.

Some LED lights may also contain small amounts of heavy metals.

Cleaning supplies

Cleaning supplies can contain a variety of ingredients with a range of toxicity potentials. Some common ingredients include bleach, ammonia, quaternary ammoniums, and other substances. Like laundry products, some of these cleaners can cause GI distress, while others have corrosive injury potential. Depending on the chemical other toxic effects may also be possible.
When stored in utility rooms these products are often in their concentrated forms making toxic potential more significant than when diluted for use in the home. Keep these items tightly closed and locked away where the containers cannot be knocked over or chewed open by a pet.

Batteries

Batteries come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on their application. Several types of household batteries pose significant corrosive injury risks. Some also contain heavy metals that can be toxic if ingested. Additionally, when batteries are fully, or partially ingested, foreign body obstruction can occur.

When batteries are punctured and ingested there is very real potential for life-threatening corrosive injury. The damage from the battery contents can be so severe that there can be perforations to the GI tract and trachea. When punctures of batteries occur, we take these exposures very seriously.

Commonly used Alkaline Dry cell batteries (AA, AAA, C, D,1.5 vol and others) are found in most homes. They can be punctured or ingested (most commonly by dogs) or pets can be exposed to leaking fluid from old or corrosive batteries.

Disc or Button Batteries: These types of batteries are commonly used in small household items such as watches, cameras, or hearing aids. They can have different ingredients including Silver oxide, zinc, mercury, and cadmium. Their small round appearance may give the impression of benignity but they can pose insidious hazards when ingested as their small, flat shape can promote lodging in the folds of the GI tract where they can corrode over time causing electrochemical burns that lead to perforation injury and possibly massive hemorrhage. For this reason it is imperative that treatment to remove the battery from the GI tract be initiated swiftly. Symptoms can appear long after you assume your pet has passed these little objects.

Rechargeable batteries: These batteries are used commonly for electronics as well as scooters, wheelchairs and other mobility devices. These can contain lead, lithium, nickel, cadmium all of which may have toxic potential for your pet when ingested.

Each battery exposure is an individual scenario, but we take them all seriously given their potential for harm to pets. Battery ingestion is almost always an emergency. If you are aware of a recent battery exposure rec gently flushing your pet’s mouth for as long as tolerated up to 15 minutes or offering water with broth. The next step is to immediately seek veterinary attention or call Pet Poison Helpline for assessment and recommendations.

Insecticides

Although many insecticides may be more commonly stored in outbuildings, some household type insecticides (example ant or roach killer spray or bait stations) may be kept indoors in the utility room. Most indoor insecticides are in low concentration and contain ingredients that in general have a wider margin of safety such as Fipronil or pyrethroids. Ingestion of most of these products is likely to cause GI irritation and less likely to cause systemic toxicity. The plastic from bait stations when ingested can also pose a risk for GI irritation and foreign body obstruction (blockage in the GI tract).

Regardless of their general over all potential for less severe toxicity, the GI irritation caused by these products may at times become persistent requiring DVM evaluation and care. An additional hazard with aerosol spray cans that these products may be housed in is that if the can is bitten into by a pet, the contents under pressure can be blasted into the respiratory tract causing irritation and possible aspiration.

Rodenticides

People may store rodenticides in their utility rooms or place them there to keep rodents out of the area. The three most common types of rodenticides (anticoagulants, bromethalin, and Vit D 3 can cause internal bleeding, neurotoxicity, or kidney failure, respectively. Other, less common types such as strychnine or zinc phosphide, can although pose a risk for severe toxicity. Using a protective bait station may help reduce pet exposures, although large dogs may be able to break into “pet resistant” bait stations.

Keep your pets safe by ensuring that you place the product (blocks, pellets, worms, etc.) where your pets cannot access it. Store your rodenticides in a secure cabinet or closet. Better yet store these items outside in a locked shed if at all possible or choose less toxic options. There are non-toxic rodenticides currently on the market.

Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)

Antifreeze products are extremely toxic and, unfortunately, have a sweet taste that is appealing to pets. Choose propylene glycol-based antifreeze as a safer alternative. If antifreeze is spilled, clean it up immediately or dilute it with several gallons of water.
Keep all automotive products, such as windshield cleaner fluid or brake fluid, away from pets as they may contain methanol, a toxic alcohol similar to ethylene glycol antifreeze.

The utility room is a valuable space in your home. A little safety planning to protect your pets from what you store here can go a long way to keeping your animal companions happy and healthy.

Even with the best planning and intentions, our pets will occasionally be exposed to toxic substances. If you suspect your pet has had a toxic exposure call your veterinarian or Pet Poison Helpline immediately as time is of the essence. It is not always safe to induce vomiting or administer other home remedies. Seek counsel before taking action.

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