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Does your dog scratch, nibble and lick his paws and belly after walks? Then it may well be that he has caught grass mites! They are tiny, lurk in grasses and their bites can cause itching that can be maddening. Grass mites are in high season, especially in warm temperatures.
Fighting grass mites in dogs
If grass mites have taken up residence in your dog, this can cause your four-legged friend a great deal of stress. The intense itching of the infested areas causes them to constantly bite and scratch. Secondary bacterial infections can also occur if the four-legged friend licks and scratches open wounds again and again. The areas of the dog's body most frequently affected are the thin-skinned areas: the spaces between the toes and the crook of the arm and thigh, the belly, but also the eye arches and eyelid margins, the edges of the ears and ear folds and the bridge of the nose.
To protect these sensitive areas in the best possible way and to rid your four-legged friend of pests, there are various parasite products - based on essential oils or as conventional insecticides.
Side effects of conventional insecticides
Special insecticides, so-called acaricides, are prescribed by vets for grass mites in dogs. These are chemical agents that have a killing effect on insects. They act as neurotoxins on the nervous system of the parasites and cause a fatal overexcitation of the central nervous system. Many insecticides are used in agriculture in particular, quite a few of which are controversial.
The disadvantage of these toxic agents is that they can also cause severe side effects in dogs. According to the German Veterinary Journal, they are the drug group with the most reports of adverse drug reactions. Effects on the nervous system and local reactions are among the most common side effects in animals. Many insecticides are classified as acutely toxic, carcinogenic, neurotoxic or endocrine-disrupting. Some of the approved parasiticides are not even permitted for food-producing animals, for example.
Natural remedies against grass mites
Due to the numerous side effects and the fact that many dog owners do not want to have nerve toxins on their pets' bodies, more and more animal lovers are switching to natural alternatives. These are very gentle, as they contain no synthetic poisons and the effect comes from the essential oils. The mites are deterred by the smell alone and avoid the host.
If you would also like to protect your dog from grass mites in a gentle way and avoid unwanted side effects, we recommend our AniForte® Grass Mite EX Spray. Our veterinary practitioners and animal nutritionists have developed this formula especially for gentle use against mites in dogs.
Your four-legged friend is reliably and effectively protected, while at the same time it is ideal for thorough cleaning of the affected areas. The spray repels these pests in a purely natural way without burdening the animal's organism with toxins. It also contains evening primrose oil and lavender to soothe irritated skin, so it also has a caring and soothing effect on itching.
Tip: When you return from a walk with your four-legged friend, regularly clean his ears with a mild ear mite oil to prevent the harmful grass mites from multiplying in the auricle.
Recognizing grass mites in dogs
Grass mites belong to the arachnid family. They are very small and have a reddish-brown color. They are difficult to spot in your dog's coat. The insects are active during the day and can be found in rural gardens, meadows and forest edges. Grass mites come out of the ground with the warmer temperatures in spring, usually lay their eggs in June and remain active in their development until late fall. Warm weather provides the best conditions for them to spread.
The extremely unpleasant itching is caused by the larvae, which are up to 0.4 mm in size. When biting, the larvae secrete a saliva secretion into the dog's skin, which leads to reddening of the skin, pustules and wheals. They are then recognizable as orange-red crusts on the surface, where hair loss can also occur. However, grass mites do not feed on blood but on cell sap and cell fluid.
