You might be shocked to learn this, but a recent study has found that nearly 50% of dog owners do not know that ticks can give their pets potentially deadly diseases. Now, that seems incredible!

Recently, veterinarians have been calling on dog owners to check their pooches for these disgusting little external parasites. It turns out that, according to the same study, about 54% of dog owners also said they did not know that canines can get Lyme disease. Apparently, they thought it was a disease that affects humans only!

As it turns out, Lyme disease is really serious. In some really extreme cases, it affects the entire nervous system, in addition to joints and the heart can be affected. These symptoms are often misdiagnosed as things like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

However, symptoms can be pretty light and nearly undetectable. For example, a person or dog that gets bitten by a tick can feel like they have the flu. This makes it additionally tricky to recognize when it’s time to go to the doctor after getting bitten by a tick.

Tick live typically live in long grass or undergrowth. The way they attach themselves to humans or dogs is by first attaching themselves to deer, foxes, badgers, mice or even birds in the wild. They then detach in more populated areas, where they look for their next victim in the form of a dog, cat or human. Or just about any other household pet for that matter. Well, maybe not snakes or reptiles.

It’s interesting to note here that this is why most people usually get bitten below the waist.

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