Learn
How to remove a tick from a dog
Straight out, no twisting. The whole job takes under a minute.
What you need
- Fine-tipped tweezers or a tick hook
- Disposable gloves
- Antiseptic for the skin
- A sealed container or bag
Gloves matter here more than people sometimes expect: handling an attached tick with bare fingers, especially if you end up squeezing it while trying to part thick fur, is one of the more common ways people get fluid on their skin.
Four steps
- Part the fur. Expose the skin so you can see exactly where the tick meets it. On a heavily coated dog this is the fiddly part, so work slowly rather than tugging at fur near the bite.
- Grip at the skin. Take hold of the tick’s head, as close to the skin as you can. Do not squeeze the body.
- Pull straight up. Slow, steady, even pressure. No twisting or jerking, and no sudden yank if your dog moves.
- Clean and watch. Disinfect the site, and check it daily over the next week or so for swelling or redness.
If part of the tick stays in the skin, leave it. It usually works its way out. Digging for it causes more damage than the fragment does, and an anxious dog makes digging for a fragment even riskier.
Regional differences
The steps above are the standard approach for a dog or cat almost everywhere, and most veterinary guidance treats mechanical removal as the default for pets specifically, because a vet or owner can act quickly and is not typically waiting on an allergy history in the same way a human bite requires.
United States & Canada
Grip the attached tick with fine-tipped tweezers at skin level and pull straight up with steady pressure. This is the standard method for pets and is what most vets will show you.
Australia
Australia is a partial exception, and one worth knowing if you live there or in a paralysis-tick area. ASCIA's "do not grasp and pull" caution for adult ticks is written for human bites and the risk of a severe allergic reaction in sensitised people; it is not a pet-specific rule. For dogs and cats, the bigger Australian concern is tick paralysis itself, which can be a veterinary emergency regardless of how the tick is removed. If your pet is showing any weakness, wobbliness, or altered breathing, treat it as urgent and call your vet immediately rather than focusing on removal technique.
UK & Europe
The same tweezer-and-pull method applies: grip at skin level, pull straight up, no twisting.
If you are in a paralysis-tick region of Australia and your pet becomes weak, wobbly on their legs, or has trouble breathing, this is an emergency. Get to a vet, and do not wait to see if it passes.
Call your vet if
- The bite site swells or oozes
- Your pet becomes tired, lame, wobbly, or off their food
- Your pet’s breathing or bark changes
- You cannot remove the tick yourself
Keep the tick in a sealed bag or taped to a card: it helps your vet identify it if symptoms appear later, and TickSentry’s tick identifier can help you get a head start on what species you are dealing with from a clear photo.
After the tick is out
Kill it properly rather than dropping it loose: see how to kill a tick for a method that works for the tick you pulled off your pet just as well as one from a person. Log the date and where your pet had been, in case a vet asks later, and keep half an eye on the bite site for the following couple of weeks.
See also: where ticks hide on pets, tick disease signs in pets, and are ticks dangerous to pets.