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What are chiggers 

Chiggers are tiny mites of red color that belong to the Trombiculidae family. They are found in different parts of the world there they are also renowned as bed bugs, red bugs, hives, or scrub itch mites. Besides, these could habitat in different kinds of habitats as they could live both in moist or dry areas but always love to live in highly grassy areas. No doubt these chiggers cause irritation or itching but are not involved in the transmission of diseases.

Symptoms of chiggers in dogs

Symptoms of chiggers in dogs could be variable that depend upon particular conditioning of it. But some of these are here that are being observed in most of them:

  • The sensation of itching, discomfort, or scratching in different parts of the body.
  • The part where it bites could be red or swollen.
  • The formation of bumps or scabs could also happen in the infected area.
  • Hair loss is one of the most observed symptoms of chigger’s bite in the case of dogs.
  • In some rare cases, the infection could also happen where it bites. But it happens when the dog bites excessively on the infected area.

If you are observing any such symptoms in your dog, then it is good to take your god to the veterinarian immediately because if the dog continues scratching or itching in the infected area there are more possibilities of infection at that spot by which conditions could be complicated.  

Main causes of Chiggers

There are a lot of ways by which your dog could be in the exposure to chiggers. These are mentioned here for you to keep these in consideration to take proper care to have good health of your pet:

  • It happens when your pet walks or plays in some grassy area. Or some kind of infested areas where there are chances of the presence of chiggers.
  • If your pet is not well groomed, you couldn’t train your pet to follow all the instructions given by you.
  • Lack of hygiene as if there is no proper cleaning regularity or fur is increased a lot. It is one of the main reasons why many kinds of mites including chiggers could bite.
  • If there is no flea or tick control there, then these mites could be the host of these by which breeding of them increases. In this way chances of a chigger’s bite reach the maximum.
  • If you are not following all the preventive measures for the good health of your pet. Then there would be a lot of possibilities of chiggers happening there.

Ways of diagnosis 

There are a lot of ways by which diagnosis of chiggers in dogs could be done as:

  • In most cases, it could be done by physical examination as the presence of redness, swelling, itching, the sign of infestation, and some other kind of inflammation on a particular part of the body.
  • Use of microscope to find the presence of any kind of microorganisms on the skin. It is done in the case where scraping occurs on the body of your pet.
  • The biopsy is one more way by which the presence or bites of chiggers in the body of dogs could be known.
  • Another way by which the presence of chiggers could be known is by a blood test. In which a sample of blood is collected and taken to the laboratory for the conformation of chiggers there.

How to treat Chiggers?

If the presence of chiggers or its bite is diagnosed, then there are a lot of ways by which it could be treated:

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Home remedies

Here are some home remedies by which chiggers in dogs could be treated:

  • Give a bath to your dog, which will remove chiggers from their fur, and all kinds of feelings of irritation, and discomfort will be removed.
  • Use a cool compress, to do it wrap ice in a piece of cloth and apply it on the infected area for a while this will remove all the feelings of discomfort, irritation, and burning.
  • Mixture a bit of baking in water. Make a thick paste of it and apply it to the infected area to give a soothing effect.
  • Make a mixture of apple cider vinegar with water, make a paste of it, and apply it on the fur of your dog. After its application in a while you will observe some positive effects on the infected area and the possibility of infection will reduce to the minimum.
  • Make a trimming in the fur of your dog by which the presence of chiggers in the dog’s fur could be eliminated.

Medications

The 28th Medical Support Squadron pharmacy is located in the foyer of the 28th Medical Group and safely provides medications to more than 33,000 beneficiaries a year. Prescriptions are first provided to the pharmacy electronically, faxed or brought in in paper form, and are activated by checking in at the counter or calling in. Once activated, labels are printed off for processing and dispensed prior to being put into a bottle. Finally, the pharmacist verifies that the number of pills inside the bottle coincides with the quantity annotated on the label before storing it for pickup. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Hailey R. Staker/Released)

The medicine you use for the treatment of chigger’s bite is condition specific. Here are some of the few which are being used in most of the cases:

  • Use of steroids to reduce inflammation and itching.
  • Use of antihistamines to reduce the release of histamines
  • Topical medicines including some kinds of cream or ointment
  • All kinds of antibiotics could be used
  • Medications to reduce the risk of infestation

Preventive measures 

Here are some measures that could be taken by which chiggers biting on dogs could be avoided.

  • Avoid walking dogs in grassy or wooded areas.
  • Flea or tick prevention medicine is good to be adopted
  • Proper trimming of a dog is important for its good health.
  • Different kinds of chigger’s repellents are available in the market now.
  • Inspection of the dog after every walk.
  • Taking care of proper hygiene.

Conclusion

In case of chiggers in your dog, then all the descriptions after proper medical research work are available here. By which you can get all the detailed information from symptoms to diagnosis and all the ways to treat it. Go through to find what is needed and make your nerves relaxed relating any kind of medical issue to your pet due to chigger bite.

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