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Each year as the warm spring weather approaches, Pug owners should be increasingly apprehensive about those blood-sucking, disease-carrying ticks, otherwise known as “Rhipicephalus Sanquineus”. This dangerous creature can infect man with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, cause paralysis, and can even kill Pugs and Pug puppies.

Referred to by most everyone as “ticks”, these parasites are blamed for carrying the micro-organism that caused the death of so many British war dogs in Singapore several decades ago. And during the Vietnam war, more than 300 U.S. war dogs had died mysteriously from tropical canine hemorrhagic syndrome, and canine hemorrhagic fever. Intensive studies resulted in the finger of guilt pointing directly at the ordinary tick.

There are several different species of ticks, from wood tick to brown Pug tick and many more. Unfortunately, ticks in general are pretty resistant to chemical insecticides, so they are really challenging to control in the wild.

It’s amazing but a female tick can lay up to five thousands eggs! Usually these eggs are places in the cracks of a kennel, under the carpet or hidden away out of sight. Interestingly, eggs are never laid upon the host, whether a Pug or a person. The eggs hatch into larvae after about a month or so. Next, the tick larvae will look for a host, such some blood and then fall off to rest.

The tick continues to grow up and changes into what are called nymphs, the tick equivalent of a surly teenager (without the acne!). And the first thing a tick nymph does is seek out a new victim to grab some more blood from, at which point they’ll fall off and go hide once again. Finally, after another two weeks or so, the nymph changes once again into a fully grown adult tick. The adult tick will then look for a host to really suck some blood, and this could be your Pug, another dog or even a child.

Adult ticks can live for up to 2 years without eating…which is really bad news for Pug dog owners, as this means you can have ticks lurking in ambush.

A tick outside will look for a hunting ground, which means getting up into some low-hanging branches or into a pile of leaves. This becomes the launching pad for the tick when an unsuspecting Pug dog comes along for a potty break or just running by in play. The tick will literally launch itself and jump up to several feet to land onto its victim.

A tick inside a home will hang out in dark, hidden places awaiting a chance to latch-on to a host. Here’s a shocking fact, but a tick inside the house can hang out for up to three months lying in wait for a Pug or person to walk by. And when the trap is sprung, and your dog or you walk by, the tick can instantly “wake up” and spring onto the victim in a blink of the eye.

Tags: Dogs

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