Recently a short video has been making the rounds of a woman who has dogs as well as chickens and she was lying down with the dog and running through the dog's fur with a chicken nearby and the chicken would calmly eat all of the ticks off of the dog's fur.
When I saw this video, and you can see it too if you want to I had to admit that I had never thought of this because normally on the farms I have been to the chickens and the dogs aren't generally comfortable enough around one another for this to actually happen. Dogs do regularly kill chickens so around here at least, the farmers tend to keep them separated. There is also the question of the roosters getting very protective of the hens and believe it or not, a rooster is very capable of causing a dog great harm if they decide to fight.
Ultimately, in an actual fight a dog would obviously win but since dogs are so easily spooked that the dog would likely back off if a rooster were to fly into their very fast-paced rage. Roosters are, sorry, powerfully stupid animals that act only on instinct and don't really consider the consequences of their actions or whether or not they actually can win. This is what makes them such effective protectors, they are absolutely fearless.
Anyway, most people are not going to have access to friendly hens that will calmly consume ticks and fleas off of a dog's fur so for the rest of us there are a wide variety of edible products that we can feed to the dog that will get the job done a lot easier.
In the top-right of this picture you can see a close up of what engorged ticks look like on a dog's fur and if you live in an area outside of a city, you have likely seen this on a dog's fur before.
Ticks can be very dangerous to a dog because they carry a lot of disease that lead to internal blood problems for dogs, so it is important to do something about this if and when you notice it. Simply picking the ticks off of the fur is a good start, but unless you are going to eat the ticks like the hen does, they will simply come back and attack again. Edible medications are a better solution and they are really cheap.
Some of the products are meant to taste good to the dogs and they will eat them just as they are out of the package. But if you have a fussy dog like the one featured here, a spoonful of something wet and delicious can help to sweeten the deal and get the dog to eat the medication. Afterwards in just a few days you can check the dog again and you will notice that the ticks have all or mostly all fallen off. This is because it makes the dog's blood poisonous to ticks and other parasites while also not harming the dog. I do not understand how this science magic works, I just know that it does work and that is good enough for me.
Ticks might not seem like a big deal because in the jungle, all the dogs end up with ticks and it is unavoidable. In most cases it isn't going to cause a dog any problems other than discomfort but if you can give a dog relief from this discomfort for just a few dollars, why not? If you notice a dog with ticks in your neighborhood I strongly encourage you to get one of these products and feed it to them. It will only cost you as much as a coffee or sandwich, and it will make the dog's life so much better. The best news is that one application lasts up to 4 months!
If you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
Krabi Animal Welfare is a charity run entirely by volunteers and are a registered non-profit organization in Thailand and the U.K.. We aim to relieve the pain and suffering of dogs and cats within Krabi Province.
เป็นผู้สนับสนุนรายเดือนหรือบริจาคครั้งเดียวได้ที่:
http://krabianimalwelfare.org