The Dreaded Tick: What You Need to Know to Protect You and Your Dog

Living in the 3^rd worse county in the country for Lyme’s disease, ticks are a big concern for us in the spring and summer months.  Dogs are very susceptible to tick bites and tickborne diseases. Vaccines are not available for all the tickborne diseases that dogs can get, and they don’t keep the dogs from bringing ticks into your home.  And believe me, when you’ve seen someone suffer or yourself have suffered from something like Lyme’s disease or Rocky Mountain fever you know how serious it can be.

For these reasons, it’s important to use a tick preventive product on your dog.  But determining what to use and how to deal with it is not always easy.  So, we’ve done some research and compiled information from reliable sources like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), PetMD and others.

To reduce the chances that a tick will transmit disease to you or your pets:

1. 
   Learn about ticks in your area.  Ticks are parasitic arthropods that feed on the blood of their hosts. They are attracted to warmth and motion, often seeking out mammals – including dogs. Ticks tend to hide out in tall grass or plants in wooded areas waiting for prospective hosts. Once a host is found, the tick climbs on and attaches its mouthparts into the skin, beginning the blood meal. Once locked in place, the tick will not detach until its meal is complete. It may continue to feed for several hours to days, depending on the type of tick. Most species of ticks go through four life stages – eggs, larvae, nymphs, and adults. All stages beyond eggs will attach to a host for a blood meal (and must do so on order to mature). Depending on species, the life span of a tick can be several months to years, and female adults can lay hundreds to thousands of eggs at a time. The following types of ticks are among the most common seen in North America: Deer tick, Brown dog tick Lone star tick and American dog tick.


2. 
   Understand the dangers ticks pose. Though they are known vectors of disease, not all ticks transmit disease – in fact, many ticks do not even carry diseases. However, the threat of disease is always present where ticks are concerned, and these risks should always be taken seriously. Most tick-borne diseases will take several hours to transmit to a host, so the sooner a tick is located and removed, the lower the risk of disease. The symptoms of most tick-borne diseases include fever and lethargy, though some can also cause weakness, lameness, joint swelling and/or anemia. Signs may take days, weeks or months to appear. Some ticks can cause a temporary condition called “tick paralysis,” which is manifested by a gradual onset of difficulty walking that may develop into paralysis. These signs typically begin to resolve after tick is removed. If you notice these or any other signs of illness in your dog, contact your veterinarian as soon as possible so that proper testing and necessary treatments can begin. The following are some of the most common tick-borne diseases: Lyme disease, Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Anaplasmosis and Babesiosis 
   

1. 
   Check your pets for ticks daily. After a romp outside in areas where ticks could be lurking, be sure to carefully check your dog for ticks. Look between the toes, inside the ears, between the legs (in the “armpits”), and around the neck, deep in the fur. If you find any ticks before they have had a chance to attach and become engorged, you may have prevented serious illness for your pet.
   


2. 
   Remove ticks right away. If you find a tick on your dog, removal should be done immediately and carefully, making sure to get all parts of the tick’s body removed from the skin. Tick bites on dogs may be hard to detect. Signs of tickborne disease may not appear for 7-21 days or longer after a tick bite, so watch your dog closely for changes in behavior or appetite if you suspect that your pet has been bitten by a tick. For instructions on removing ticks check out this video:  or steps from ASPCA: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/pet-care-tips/how-to-remove-a-tick-from-your-pet.aspx.


3. 
   Ask your veterinarian to conduct a tick check at each exam. And, talk to your veterinarian about tickborne diseases in your area.
   


4. 
   Reduce tick habitat in your yard. Keeping your lawn, bushes, and trees trimmed back will help reduce the population of fleas and ticks in your backyard. If there are fewer areas for these parasites to live and breed, there will be fewer of them to be concerned with. If you still have a problem, consider using one of the various household and yard sprays or granular treatments that are available from your veterinarian, pet store, or local garden center. Just be careful when using these products, as they can be harmful to animals, fish, and humans. If you have a severe problem or you are concerned about the proper handling of these chemicals, you might want to consider hiring an exterminator to apply yard and area sprays to control the ticks and fleas.
   


5. 
   Keep Dog(s) Indoors. While you do have to take your dog outside a few times a day, it is probably not a good idea to allow him to stay outside for extended periods during the height of tick season. Preventing your dog from roaming through wooded areas where ticks are likely to be lying in wait is a very effective way of keeping your pet safe from exposure, but you will still have to check your dog over thoroughly, even after short walks through grass and brush. You may still have a few ticks wandering around your yard, but if you keep things tidy and use preventives for when your dog does go out and check your dog over for any rogue ticks that might have attached themselves, your dog should have minimal risk of becoming a meal for ticks this summer.
   


6. 
   Use tick treatments or preventives on your pet. There are a wide variety of options to use both as preventatives or to kill ticks on dogs, including topical treatments, oral medication, powers, dips, shampoos, collars, powers and sprays.  There are some alternative natural options out there too.  Below provides more details on the options available and some of the pros and cons (source CDC).

Kill Ticks on Dogs

A pesticide product that kills ticks is known as an acaricide. Acaricides that can be used on dogs ,include dusts, impregnated collars, sprays, or topical treatments. Some acaricides kill the tick on contact. Others may be absorbed into the bloodstream of a dog and kill ticks that attach and feed.

Pros: Helps reduce  ticks in the environment, Prevents tickborne disease

Cons: 

• Tick bites can cause a painful wound and may become infected.

When bitten, a dog may become infected with a number of diseases. This depends on the type of tick, which diseases it is carrying (if any), and how quickly a product kills the feeding tick.

Examples of topically applied products (active ingredients):

• Fipronil


• Pyrethroids (permethrin, etc.)


• Amitraz

 Repel Ticks on Dogs

A repellent product may prevent the tick from coming into contact with an animal at all or have anti-feeding effects once the tick comes into contact with the chemical, thus preventing a bite.

Pros: Prevents bite wounds, possible resulting infections and tickborne disease

Cons: Will not reduce the number of ticks in the environment (doesn’t kill ticks)

Examples of topically applied products (active ingredients): 

• Pyrethroids (permethrin, etc.)

Have suggestions or comments? Share your story or what remedies have worked for you.

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Dog Tick Season

We found our first Dog Tick (sometimes called Wood Tick) of the season this past Saturday. The warm weather has brought them out early this year.

On our property, this has been the only species of tick we have encountered. Fortunately the dog tick does not carry Lyme Disease.

Dog Ticks are about 3/16″ long.

The experts at Michigan State University has this to say about the pests:

Their bites rarely result in serious disease in Michigan, but like other wood ticks, dog ticks are a known carrier of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia. The cases of Rock Mountain Spotted Fever reported in Michigan have been from primarily southern counties, particularly those located directly north of the Toledo Airport.

Hmmmm… that comment about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever being found in the counties “directly north of the Toledo Airport” doesn’t give me too much comfort. I guess the lesson to be learned is that you need to check yourself and pets for ticks after spending a day walking or working in an area with tall grass or shrubs.  The ticks crawl up onto tall grass or shrubbery and wait for a likely host to walk by, usually a dog or cat (or raccoon or other wild animal). They don’t use trees for this purpose.

I spend a lot of time outside, sometimes in areas like those described, and do find a tick now and then. The most I’ve ever found on myself at one time was five ticks. That was several years ago. It was a bad tick year and  I spent the whole day working out in an area with tall grass.

If you find the ticks right away, they are easy to remove. The longer they stay on, the harder it is to get them off. The ticks have barbs on their mouth that they use to dig deeper and deeper into your skin until they find blood.  It takes them a few hours before they actually start “sucking blood” so usually you have plenty of time to get them off.

The recommended procedure for removing ticks is to use a pair of tweezers and grab them right at the surface of your skin then lift them straight out without twisting them. Avoid squeezing them to keep their “saliva” from being squirted back into your or your pet’s skin.

If left on too long, they will continue to feed on blood until they get “big and juicy” looking something like a disgusting, brown grape…yuk.  Don’t let them get to that point!  Sometimes you can find a tick starting to swell from feeding on a long-haired dog. This is  because when the ticks are small they are easily hidden under long fur.

Be aware that the ticks are out now and check your pets often.

Bob

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Insects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

How Does Frontline Kill Ticks?

It is high summer, you and your dog are back from running through the woods. You also may have just have spent time in your backyard which has high grass. You sit down in your easy chair and reach down to pet your dog. You feel a hard bump on his skin about the size of you fingernail. You look further and see a roundish brown insect on your dog. It is attached to the skin. Your dog has a tick. You know you must get rid of it. Ticks can carry bacterial diseases such as the debilitating Lyme disease. You call your veterinarian. The veterinarian recommends Frontline Plus for dogs. You may wonder how this product works and how it will kill the tick.

Frontline and Frontline Plus can be used on dogs off all sizes and there is also a version for cats. Make sure you get the proper one for you pet. They come in distinctive colors on the packaging. It is safe to use to treat puppies and kittens as young as 8 weeks old. Lactating, breading, and pregnant dogs and cats can also be treated.

Frontline is manufactured by Merial. Merial also makes well known medicines to treat heartworm. They are a reputable company. Frontline is part of a newer type of insecticides called synthetic insecticides. They are known to be very effective. The type of insecticide used in Frontline is called an artheterocycles.

Fipronil is the most common ingredient in these synthetic insecticides. The artheterocycles prevent the passing of chlorine through cells in the nervous system of the insect. This results in the paralyzing of the tick. Paralysis means the tick is unable to move. The tick is unable feed. If they cannot feed on blood, they die. The fipronil in Frontline Plus will kill the ticks in their younger stages, like the nymph stage, as well as when they are adults.

In Frontline and Frontline Plus the fipronil is dispersed by the sebaceous oil glands. It becomes spread efficiently and relatively shortly throughout the fur of the pet. This will kill ticks quite effectively. It is reputed to kill all the ticks within 12 hours of treatment.

The treatment is applied by a supplied applicator to the base of the neck. It does not need to be spread manually all over the animal to kill the ticks. It is recommended to wear gloves. The tick does not have to be attached to feel its effects.

After treatment, you will want to check for dead but attached ticks. They may be removed using tweezers. Be careful to not crush the body and release any infected fluids onto yourself or the animal. Drop it and any ticks you suspect are still alive into rubbing alcohol to insure you have killed them.

Frontline Plus will continue to kill ticks for up to one month of application. You can then safely treat them again for another month of protection. This gives a pet owner piece of mind.

Keeping Ticks Out of Your Yard

Deer ticks are most abundant in the woods where hosts for the tick flourish and ticks find high humidity levels necessary for survival. On lawns, most deer ticks (82%) have been recovered within 9 feet of the lawn edge, especially areas adjacent to woods, stonewalls, or ornamental plantings. Fewer ticks are found in the sunny, manicured areas of the lawn. Ticks may also be found in groundcovers such as Pachysandra.

Create a tick safe zone by altering the landscape to increase sunlight, reduce tick habitat and discourage rodent hosts. Create a clearly defined, manicured border. A dry wood chip, tree bark, mulch, or gravel barrier between woods and lawn can reduce tick migration into the lawn. The removal of leaf litter at the lawn perimeter also can help reduce the number of I. scapularis nymphs on the lawn. Landscape modifications include:

• Keep grass mowed.


• Prune trees, mow the lawn, and clear leaf litter and brush, especially along edges of the lawn, stonewalls, and driveways.


• Move play sets away from the woodland edge.


• Restrict groundcover in areas frequented by family.


• Adopt some landscaping practices such as gravel pathways, mulches, decking, stone, tile, and other hardscapes around the home.


• Wildflower meadows, herbal gardens, etc. have very few ticks and may be an acceptable alternative to grass in some areas.

Treating the yard and outdoor kennel area, if any, is an important tool in the arsenal against ticks. There are products containing fenvalerate, that can be used to spray the outdoor area. According to the CDC, Fenvalerate is not harmful to the environment, it is however, toxic to animals, pets, and people, so please use common sense.

Dogs and Ticks | Crozet Gazette

Dogs and Ticks

Posted by Editor on 6/09/09 • Categorized as Gazette Vet •

By John Andersen, DVM

“Claude” is a six-year-old Labrador mix from Crozet. He hit the jackpot when he was adopted from the SPCA into a loving family who spoils him and takes him hiking regularly. One Saturday morning, I got a call from Claude’s mom:

“Claude is really sick. We noticed he wasn’t quite right a few days ago, he was a little sore on one of his front legs and didn’t eat well that night, but we had gone on a long hike and I thought he just overdid it a bit. But yesterday he seemed stiff all over and refused dinner, which is totally unusual. Now this morning he won’t even get up and he just looks like he’s dying.”

I had them bring Claude in right away. We had to bring out a stretcher to get him into the hospital because he wouldn’t even stand up. His left front leg was swollen, his temperature was 104.2 and he just felt terrible, totally “un-Claude.” As it turned out, Claude was suffering from Lyme disease and was feeling great a few days later.

Actually, I was quite suspicious of Lyme disease as soon as I got off the phone with his owner, mainly because we now see it so frequently, and this is the classic presentation. Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted to dogs and people via the bite of an infected tick. The disease gains its name from the town of Lyme, Connecticut, where it was first diagnosed in 1975. Lyme disease is now the fastest spreading infectious disease in the U.S. and has certainly established itself here in central Virginia. In the U.S., Lyme disease is transmitted almost exclusively by blacklegged/deer ticks. And if you’re not up on your tick life cycles, it’s important to know that it’s in the nymph stage ticks that are most likely to bite and transmit Lyme disease. During this stage of their life cycle, ticks measure about 1/16th of an inch! Try finding that on your Black Lab!

Interestingly, 90 percent of dogs who are exposed to Lyme disease through a tick bite will not get sick. Their body’s immune system will naturally fight off an infection. In the 10 percent that do get sick, the majority will present just like Claude with fever, lethargy, and aching joints/lameness. These signs often develop over just one or two days and can become quite severe. As sick as they are, most dogs respond rapidly to a course of antibiotics. They are often dramatically improved in 24 to 48 hours.

Diagnosing Lyme disease often proves difficult in both people and pets and ultimately becomes a judgment call based on history, clinical signs, and lab tests. Most veterinary hospitals have a quick in-house blood test available (which, incidentally, is a combination test with the heartworm test), which is very sensitive at detecting antibodies to Lyme disease. This test often causes confusion however, because being “positive for Lyme disease” does not mean your dog actually has Lyme disease.

Uh … what?

Well, when your dog is “positive for Lyme disease,” it means that your dog was naturally exposed to Lyme disease via a tick bite. His immune system was exposed and made antibodies that will persist in his bloodstream for years. Remember, 90 percent of dogs who are exposed do not ever develop illness. But they will have a positive antibody test.

It has now become prudent protocol in otherwise healthy dogs who have a positive antibody to simply discuss Lyme disease signs, tick prevention, and simply do nothing. And of the 10 percent who do become ill, 90 percent of those will respond rapidly and completely to a simple course of antibiotics. But there is just no way to know which dogs who have antibodies actually have the Lyme organism hiding in their body, waiting to cause illness in a few weeks or months. So again, it’s a judgment call. So far this spring, I’ve been seeing and treating about one or two dogs sick with Lyme disease per week, which is much more than just five years ago.

How can you prevent Lyme disease from becoming a problem with your dog? It’s all about tick control. Products like Frontline and Advantix are great. They kill ticks, but only after they’ve attached. Hopefully the tick dies before it has had time to transmit the disease. But at day 28 of a once-monthly treatment, things can happen. There’s really nothing better than just doing a tick check after you’ve been out in the woods, both on your dog and your kids and yourself. If your dog has had Lyme exposure, there are Lyme-infected ticks where you’ve been, too, and you should always call your doctor if you suspect a family member is showing any signs of Lyme disease.

So, although it should garner a bit more fear than the Crozet Cougar, don’t stop going into the woods or going on walks for fear of Lyme Disease. Just put the Frontline on your dog, do a good tick check, and happy romping!

Contact Dr. Andersen at cvillevet at aol.com.

Tagged as: dogs, Gazette Vet, Lyme disease, ticks, veterinary medicine

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Fleas on Dogs? Think of The Pet Protector Medallion – Give protection to Your Dog For 4 Years by Johnny Currie

Ticks - external parasites in dogs

At the beginning of warmer spring allow the emergence of a threat to our dog: tick. Along with other external parasites, dog tick can transmit various diseases, with serious consequences. How we react to this danger, they are fighting against ticks and how to keep their dogs healthy and protected? We further propose to make a brief infestation of ticks and dog ticks implications and to suggest remedies against diseases. After all, we want to have healthy and happy dogs with which to fully enjoy the spring.

ENEMY - Ticks are parasitic arthropods that feed on blood that infects living creatures. Being attracted to heat and motion, ticks are “clinging” dog fur often moving and rummaging through vegetation. In areas near forests or those with abundant vegetation, ticks appear and multiply especially in early April and the end of September, because not withstand excessive heat of summer or cold winter. These times of maximum danger to our dogs. In particular the onset of spring, and new owners of dogs of different breeds, we are tempted to spend more time in nature with our canine companions.

SPECIES OF TICKS - Most species of ticks will pass through four life stages – egg, larva, nymph and adult. In all stages, except eggs, ticks need a “host” to feed on blood. Depending on the species, ticks can live from several months to several years and females can deposit thousands of eggs at once. In Europe there are tick species: Ixodes (from Belgium and transmit Lymes disease, including humans), Dermacentor (transmit piroplasmosis), Rhipicephalus sanguineus (transmit Babesia canis and Ehrlichia canis).

ATTACK - Refugees in cooler and wetter areas under the lower leaves of the vegetation, fur dog ticks attach and migrate, preferentially to areas with less body hair. Areas of the body most exposed are dog head, skin folds (at the back, neck or chin – depending on the breed of dog involved), ears and interdigital spaces. Instead chose (a strong blood supply area) ticks bite the dog skin and attaches with special tongs made ​​of wound mouthparts. In the next few hours (up to 20 hours, even!) Ticks are blood sucking animal, and increasing up to 8 times the body.

CONSEQUENCES - The most common diseases caused by ticks include: Babeioza, meningitis the Rocky Mountains, Ehrlichioza and anaplasmosis. Not all ticks transmit diseases, but most, unfortunately, are vectors carriers of severe disease that can affect dogs in the highest degree, leading to paralysis, or, in worst cases, death. Transmitted diseases in dogs infested by ticks is installed in the body fairly quickly, given that pathogens are transmitted by way tick feeds directly into the bloodstream and, hence, reach the most important organs of the animal .

The most visible changes in the general condition of the dog attacked by ticks are:

- The dog is persistently scratching neck, head, ears, and even sometimes challenging wounds;
– Dog loses its appetite, become apathetic and without muscle tone;
– Dog present with diarrhea and fever, is seen in orange color of urine;
– Weak, limp, swollen joints;
– Gums fade young dogs (puppies up to eight months, especially for small dog breeds, apartment dogs).

IDENTIFICATION TICKS - Caress your dog all over the body, paying attention to ears, neck and skin folds. Try to identify any unusual lifting of the skin and examine the dog with a strong light source. Depending on the species and stage of life, a tick is the size of a pencil tip as a small grain or bean. If you live in an area adjacent to the forest should check for the appropriate dog ticks at least once a day.

IMMEDIATE - is recommended to benefit from the assistance of a veterinarian if you find ticks installed on your dog’s body and if you have deductions against parasitic insects. If you already have some experience in raising dogs and i want to give first aid to your friend, initiated the removal of the parasite immediately. It is recommended to wear surgical gloves or disposable ones and tweezers (as in cosmetic kits). You have to grab the tick as close to the point where it attached (there is the head with mouthparts, usually buried in the dog’s skin). Be careful not to squeeze the tick’s body (in this case tick acts as a syringe, pumping the blood back into the infected blood). Pull slowly and firmly parasite leather (without turn tweezers). The dog can choose a small wound that may detach and less to the skin, but this is normal. If your dog bleeding lightly on the wound, then disinfect the area with rubbing alcohol (or at least water and soap). Be careful if the insect was completely detached. Sometimes the mouthparts of the tick remain stuck in the dog’s skin and, over time, can give rise to abscesses. Work with patience, finesse and use a strong light source. Believe not cigarette embers burning techniques tick body or “death” / “stunning” them with oil or paint thinner! You can increase stress and even your dog’s injuries. I risky methods and primitive!

PREVENTION - There are alternative preventive vaccination of dogs against the worst diseases spread by ticks, especially if you live in an infested area (climate change in recent years have favored the multiplication of these insects parasitic disturbing). However, your vet will give you competent advice in this regard. Ehrlichioza and Lymes disease is treated with antibiotics to combat Piroplasma specific medication, and Advantage (containing imidacloprid), Frontline (containing fipronil), selamectin and permethrin are effective drugs against ticks (in all three stages of development). You will recognize prescriptions issued and are especially recommended by specialists. Your veterinarian can advise you regarding specific recommendations about the frequency of application of a product or another (depending on geographic area and climate, bathing and swimming habits of the dog, and other details).