I’ve seen a ton of posts lately asking “What is this on my dog?”—and in most cases, it’s clearly a tick. I get that not everyone lives in areas where ticks are common, but it still surprises me how unfamiliar some people seem to be with such a widespread parasite. The number of posts I’ve seen leads me to believe this is an unpopular opinion.
There’s usually plenty of information actively shared from adoption agencies, rescues, humane societies, and especially vets when you get a pet.
It just seems like one of the most basic aspects of pet ownership to me. Even if you’re not going to purchase preventative products, at least know what they look like so you can get them out.
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How about any bugs on your dog just go ahead and take them off. Boom no need to know what a tick looks like.
Way too specific.
Will knowing what a tic looks like help you? If you see a bug on your dog, you take it off and make sure there isn’t anymore anyway.
Nah, I think it’s better for dogs to get adopted out of a shelter rather than stay and get put down because their potential owner had to google a thing they weren’t familiar with exactly one time.
Who the fuck doesn’t know what a tick is? These people exist for real?
I haven’t seen any of those posts, but ticks who have been feeding look way different than a newly attached tick.
It’s also pretty hard to find newly attached ticks unless you are carefully combing through your dog’s fur, but you can find a fed tick with casual petting.
I grew up in a valley where we did not have them. I had heard of them, but my first sight of one was in North Dakota when I went there for work. Went to play disc golf after work and found three on my legs after walking through some tall grass to get a disc…
So, maybe I was ignorant, but I’d also never had a dog of my own to need to learn it
Bro, you posted that you would be taking your dog to a vet over pigment changes around their nose. As someone who grew up with pets, I opine that if you don’t grow up with dogs to know what this is, then you shouldn’t have a dog. Call it unpopular…or just dumb
I agree it’s a helpful thing to know. Though thanks to climate change ticks are appearing farther north than they used to, so I’ll bet a lot of people are encountering ticks now who never or rarely saw them before.
Ticks are everywhere, except maybe a free range chicken farm.
Is this an unpopular opinion?
There are people who don’t even know that male dogs have nipples.
This is like when I be on the cat subreddits and someone asks if Lillies are poisonous to cats. I don’t even have a cat and ik lillies are toxic to them. It kinda grinds my gears when people get pets and they don’t know what is deadly to their pet 🤦🏽♀️
To be fair, ticks that just attached and ticks that have been stuck on for a while look wildly different. It’s one thing if they can’t tell it’s a tick and it’s still small and resembles what a tick looks like. A big fat tick that’s 5 times its original size? They get a pass. They can get HUGE and look nothing like what it did when it first attached.
Where I live I have only ever seen two not fed ticks, both of which were when I was out camping. When helping do breeding soundness exams on a farm in a nearby state I saw a lot of fed ones, but other than that I rarely see them. But, I know what they are and what they look like, but that’s mostly because of camping, in suburban areas I haven’t seen any ticks in my area.
I think this really is more dependent on where you live and where you let your dogs run around. I live in a major metropolitan concrete jungle and my dog does not really get exposed to areas ticks might be found so honestly it’s not something I need to really worry about. Now if I were to take a trip out to the mountains and go camping I would be checking him, and myself every day.
If it’s not a tick it’s a nipple 😅
Once you get a dog you learn real quick what a tick and a flea is.
That’s like saying no one should go outside without knowing what every bug is.
Dumb
I would extend that to having children
AGREEEED I’ve seen so many people posting pictures of ticks lately on the pet subs
People are unfamiliar with millions of things now. It’s sad how ignorant of everyday objects, writing a proper sentence, driving, cooking and just life in general people are now. Spelling edit.
Knowing what a picture looks like and identifying it in a practical setting are two different things.