Parasites are the least glamorous part of dog ownership and among the most consequential. Ticks transmit disease, fleas colonise a flat within weeks, and both are easier to prevent than to remove.
Ticks: not a summer problem
The seasonal model most owners carry in their heads, ticks in July, nothing in January, is out of date. Ticks become active once ground temperatures rise above roughly seven degrees, which in this region means activity from early spring into late autumn and on many mild winter days. The peaks are spring and autumn rather than midsummer.
The habitat matters more than the month: long grass, leaf litter, woodland edges and the transition zones between path and undergrowth. The valley paths and forest tracks around Luxembourg City are exactly that kind of ground, which is why a dog walked in the Grund or in the woods above the city needs checking rather than a dog walked on pavements.
Checking properly
Run your fingers through the coat after every walk in vegetation. Ticks prefer thin-skinned, sheltered areas: ears and inside the ear flap, around the eyes, under the collar, the armpits, the groin, between the toes and around the tail base. An unfed tick can be the size of a sesame seed, so this is done by touch as much as by sight.
Removing one
Use a tick hook or fine-pointed tick tweezers, not household tweezers. Slide the hook around the tick at skin level and twist gently as you lift. Do not squeeze the body, do not burn it, and do not apply oil, alcohol or petroleum jelly: those methods can make the tick regurgitate into the wound, which is precisely what you are trying to avoid.
Afterwards, clean the area, note the date, and watch the site for a couple of weeks. If a small part of the mouthparts remains, it usually works its way out like a splinter, but a spreading red area, swelling, or a dog that becomes lethargic, feverish, lame or off its food in the following weeks is a reason to see a vet and to mention the bite and its date.
Keep a tick hook in the coat pocket, one in the car and one by the door. The removals that go wrong are usually the ones improvised with whatever was in the drawer.
Why it matters
Ticks can transmit several diseases in Europe, including borreliosis, more commonly called Lyme disease, and other tick-borne infections whose distribution varies by region. Prompt removal reduces the risk, because transmission for several of these diseases requires the tick to remain attached for a period of hours.
There is a human dimension too. A tick carried indoors on a dog can attach to a person, so the check after a walk protects the household as well as the animal.
Fleas: a problem in the building, not on the dog
The adult fleas on your dog are a small minority of the population. The rest, eggs, larvae and pupae, are in the carpet, in the dog's bed, in the sofa and in the gaps between floorboards. In a heated apartment they breed all year, which is why the winter assumption that flea season is over is wrong in a modern flat.
Signs: scratching, biting at the base of the tail, small dark specks in the coat that turn rust red on damp paper, which is digested blood, and sometimes small red bites on human ankles. Some dogs are allergic to flea saliva and react dramatically to a very small number of fleas, with hair loss and inflamed skin along the back.
Treating an infestation
Treat every animal in the household, not only the one that is scratching. Wash all bedding at sixty degrees. Vacuum thoroughly, including under furniture and along skirting boards, and empty the vacuum outside afterwards. A household environmental treatment is frequently necessary, and it should be repeated according to the instructions, because the pupal stage is resistant and hatches over weeks.
Expect the process to take one to three months to resolve fully. Owners routinely conclude that a product failed when in fact the environment was never treated and new adults kept emerging.
Choosing prevention
Products differ in what they cover. Some kill fleas only, some cover ticks, some include mites, and worming is usually separate. Formats include spot-on liquids, tablets and collars, each with different durations and different suitability for households with small children or cats.
Two rules. First, ask your vet which parasites you actually need to cover, based on where you walk, whether there are cats in the house and where you travel. Second, dose by accurate weight, and never use a dog product on a cat: some canine tick treatments are seriously toxic to cats, and in a household with both animals this matters even for contact after application.
Supermarket products are not automatically inferior, but resistance and dosing errors are common, and a product bought for the wrong weight band is money spent on nothing.
Travel changes the calculation
If you take your dog south for the summer, to Italy, Spain, Portugal or the south of France, the parasite picture changes. Leishmaniasis, transmitted by sandflies, and heartworm, transmitted by mosquitoes, are present in parts of southern Europe and are not routine concerns here. Prevention has to be arranged weeks before departure, not at the border, and your vet will advise on repellent products and, where relevant, vaccination or testing.
What a walker should be doing
Anyone walking your dog through grass and woodland several times a week is the person most likely to find the tick first. Ask whether they check and whether they carry a hook. At PAWLY the after-walk check is standard on forest and valley routes, the removal is done with a hook, and the report records the date and the location on the body, which is exactly the information a vet asks for if symptoms appear three weeks later.
The rest of the parasite picture
Worming runs on its own schedule, typically every three months for an adult dog with a normal lifestyle and more often for dogs that scavenge, hunt or live with young children. Your vet will set it, and it is separate from whatever your flea and tick product covers, which is the most common gap in a household's parasite plan.
Check what your product actually treats. Some cover fleas only, some add ticks, some include mites or intestinal worms. Assuming coverage that is not there is how dogs end up treated all year and still carrying something. Put the reapplication dates in your calendar, because almost every prevention failure is a missed dose rather than an ineffective product.
One safety point worth repeating in a household with both species: never use a dog product on a cat. Several are toxic to cats and the consequences are serious.
A simple routine
- Year-round prevention chosen with your vet and dosed to current weight
- A hands-on check after every walk in vegetation
- A hook kept where you actually need it
- Bedding washed hot every one to two weeks
- Dates written down when a tick is removed
- A conversation with the vet before any trip south
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
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