Pet Owners, Can You Help With Important Tick Research?

Pet owners can now help researchers to gather information on the hitchhikers that are often found on their pet pooches. It’s common for your dog to pick up ticks when you take it out for a walk, so not only is it important to check them thoroughly after an outing, you can also contribute to important research when it comes to tick borne diseases by entering details on line as to the type of tick you’ve found. Here’s an article with more information.

Pet owners help university track ticks through new online tool

University of Guelph scientist has created a new online reporting system called the Pet Tick Tracker. It asks pet owners and veterinarians from across Canada to enter details about ticks found on dogs, cats, horses and other domestic animals. Information such as where the tick was picked up, how many were found and the type of tick — photos are provided to help the untrained eye.

This can help us all to be pro-active when it comes to tick prevention and enable scientists to track tick activity in the areas that data is available (the data provided by the pet owners). This is great because it can help in identifying species and any potential threat of disease.

If you do have a pet then it’s worth taking note that you are subject to a higher risk when it comes to tick borne diseases, due to the possible exposure from your four legged friends.

6 Places to Look for Ticks on Your Dog

Tick season is upon us, and these bloodsucking pests are showing up all over the place. Tick prevention should be taken seriously, and not just because these arachnids make many people squeamish — ticks actually carry quite a few deadly diseases. Some of these diseases are lifelong, with no cure, so being diligent in checking for and removing ticks is important.

Do you know how to check your pet for ticks? If you don’t, then it’s time you found out how. Just a few minutes of checking can save you from exposing yourself to these tiny, harmful creatures.