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Will Alcohol Remove Ticks From Dogs?

| Updated August 11, 2017

When a tick embeds his head in your dog's skin and starts to feed, you need to remove him as soon as possible -- the longer he's there, the greater the chances of him infecting your dog with an illness such as Lyme disease. While isopropyl alcohol may play a role in destroying the tick, by itself it will not force him to dislodge himself from his feeding spot on your dog.

Alcohol's Role Is After

To remove a tick from your dog's skin, you need to forcibly extricate him with a pair of tweezers or a mechanical tick remover, which you'll find at a pet supply store. Applying alcohol to the tick isn't enough to force him out of your dog's skin -- instead, you have to grab the tick with your tool of choice and yank him out. Once you've removed the tick, drop him into a jar of alcohol and seal it shut to kill the parasite. Take the tick and your dog to the veterinarian to be tested for disease.

By Tom Ryan


About the Author
Tom Ryan is a freelance writer, editor and English tutor. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in English writing, and has also worked as an arts and entertainment reporter with "The Pitt News" and a public relations and advertising copywriter with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.