Maine Black Fly Bites on Dogs Look Super Scary, should You Worry?

My dog's favorite thing is to lay on the deck, in the sun.

I don't think that's something that's unique to my dog. Most dogs love a good solid spot in the sun. It makes me jealous actually. Often, all I'd love in this whole world, is a nap in a sunbeam. But instead, I usually just get stuck with doin anything but napping. But these days, my boy is getting eaten alive on the deck by black flies.

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Although, you wouldn't know it in the moment. But I remember a few years ago when we got him, he came in from his relaxation segment out on the deck, and I was petting his belly. When I rolled over, I almost screamed in horror at all the red marks covering his belly. They were about as big as a dime, and the color of blood.

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A quick Google search soothed my mind a bit.

Naturally, I thought he'd contracted some scary rash. But soon enough, I found out it was black fly bites. On a dog, they're absolute nightmare fuel. On people, they're notB really that impressive. Although, sometimes if you get one on a softer part of your body, you'll break out similarly.

But these little bite marks are basically harmless. Although, you may want to keep your eye on them. Just like with people, if dogs scratch them too much, they can get kind of infected. If they do get a little infected, just care for them like any wound, with a bit of soap and water and keep an eye on it for a few days.

Can you stop the flies from biting in the first place?

There are a lot of natural/homeopathic remedies out there. I'd certainly examine those before I'd start spraying OFF all over my dog or something like that. So short answer, yes... there are definitely some options out there for protection. You'll have to make the call as to which is best for your pet.

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But yeah, if you didn't know what these little lesions were, you'd probably straight-up freak out. That was pretty much my reaction. But it's nice to know that Spot isn't really suffering any more than you would, if you had bites. The bites suck even more than flies do, and that's literally their job. I wish Mother Nature would just get rid of them, hahaha.

Some of these aren't what you think they are...