Daily Examination is Important!

 

Even if your dog doesn’t need daily grooming, check his or her thoroughly to make sure she has no cuts, sores, fleas, rashes, bumps, ticks, or hitchhikers in the coat or dirt in her ears. Remove fleas with a fine-toothed comb and drop them into a container of soapy water. Remove embedded ticks with tweezers or protected fingers and drop them in a vial of alcohol. (Grasp the tick body, rock it back and forth, then pull firmly.) Carefully remove vegetative matter such as grass awns, seed casings, or thorny twigs with fingers or comb.

During this daily exam, your dog’s feet and ears, look at his or her teeth, and feel for cuts or tumors.