# tick season



## pippa31

Ticks seem to be pretty bad up here in MA these days...every time we head up in the woods off-leash I am pulling ticks off of Pippa....which is almost every day! 

We Frontline Plus her once a month and I check her at the end of each walk...my question is "Is there anything else I can be doing to keep her safe?" I am looking into cedar oil (which I have heard can help), but is that okay to use while also using Frontline Plus? Guess I will call and ask the vet. She is not old enough for the Preventic collar. 

I've also heard brushing can help, but to be honest, Miss Pippa's hair is so short, I wonder if an extra brush-through is helpful? 

Essentially I am just wondering how paranoid to be through this season. Thanks!


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## gunnr

IN all honesty you're doing about as much as you can at this point. 
You may want to get a flea comb to make it easier on you pick off ticks. I live in Connecticut, so I understand where you're coming from.

A funny story aside about flea combs.
A few years back our horse got a case of Rain Rot. 100's of small nasty blistery lesions. The way to get these off is to pick at them with a lice or flea comb and then apply Preperation H to the sores.
So there I am in a CVS buying A flea Comb, a lice comb, a couple tubes of Preperation H, along with two tubes of KY Jelly for sheath cleaning horses.
Talk about embarassing. :-[


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## pippa31

HAHAHAHAHA. That is hilarious! ;D


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## threefsh

Ticks are becoming a problem for us in CA around the southern San Jose and Morgan Hill areas because there are so many grazing cattle. We went to Santa Teresa park a little while ago and Riley emerged from some tall grass with *at least* 20 ticks crawling all over her little body. Thankfully, I was able to pick them all off, but now I'm paranoid about missing one. The vet is cautious to give her drops with tick repellent, but I'm worried about her getting Lyme disease or something worse. Any tips/advice?


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## Ozkar

An old woman told me this and swears black and blue it works.

Mix normal mouthwash 50/50 with water and then add a few drops of lemongrass oil. Pop into an atomiser (I think you guys call it a Squirt bottle) and spray on the coat. It will keep off not only ticks, but mozzies and other biteys too apparently. So the story goes anyhoo, as we don't have too many tick issues down south here in Melbourne, I am yet to try it, but if I move north I certainly will.


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## threefsh

I picked up a bottle of tick repellent spray that is made with oils. I have read that it's dangerous to use oils if you have cats, which we do.  Is it the danger of them eating the oils? We can try washing Riley off with some wipes before we bring her in the house.


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## harrigab

I do like Ozcar's solution, although I've not tried it, but I will in autumn when the ticks start nipping here in the UK, but on a side note, as a kid we were brought up with ferrets, and rabbits were our main source of protein ( 7 kids), so basically when our ferrets picked up a tick, we'd just pinch the ferrets skin and pull the ticks, this normally removed the ticks head too.


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## kellygh

My limited understanding of oils & toxicity to cats amounts to cats not being able to metabolize oils effectively; therefore, the oils/residue can build up in their system and cause liver (sometimes very serious) damage. I have always heard this includes the "essential" oils but especially pine, orange, tea tree, lemon, and maybe eucalyptus?


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## texasred

The best thing I have found to keep ticks off my dogs is a Preventic Amitraz tick collar. Certain times of the year the ticks seem to be thick in the woods. I started using these collars and haven't found a tick since.


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## redbirddog

> The best thing I have found to keep ticks off my dogs is a Preventic Amitraz tick collar.


TexasRed,

I'll try one. The ticks are going to be thick this spring. It has been a warm winter on the west coast. Pulling three or four off each walk.

RBD


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## texasred

I think you'll be happy with the way they work. You can't get them wet ( little rain is okay) so I take the collar off when the dog are working in water and put them back on when the dog dries and have still found no ticks on them. I live in Texas and know of two dogs that have a tick disease right now. One has posted on this forum as SinperJohn. His beautiful vizsla Blaze is extremely sick but putting up a good fight against the disease with the help of two vets.


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## anne_wilcrest

@TexasRed or any other Preventic collar users -

I just got this collar from my vet and he made a note that I could take it off and store it in the fridge when not in use - after hikes, etc.

However, the box says it takes 24hrs to take effect.

Perhaps he meant put it on the day before going out in the field and remove it afterwards (ie: Sunday night  )

*If you use this collar, do you leave it on them always? (minus water exposure and baths)
Does anyone only use theirs part time?*


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## redrover

TexasRed said:


> I think you'll be happy with the way they work. You can't get them wet ( little rain is okay) so I take the collar off when the dog are working in water and put them back on when the dog dries and have still found no ticks on them. I live in Texas and know of two dogs that have a tick disease right now. One has posted on this forum as SinperJohn. His beautiful vizsla Blaze is extremely sick but putting up a good fight against the disease with the help of two vets.


Oh no! Blaze is such a beautiful dog, and I love SniperJohn's posts--the pictures are always beautiful, and the stories interesting. I hope she beats the disease! Keeping them both in my thoughts.


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## texasred

My dogs are in the woods 2-3 times a week so I don't know. If the box states 24 hrs then you should be good putting it on her/him the day before.
If you do decided to store it in the fridge I would make sure there is no way it can contaminate anything else.

Redrover
Blaze started having symptoms on Jan 15Th. John reported that she was tired and sore but had been hunting and and thought it could be from that and her getting up in years. Two days later she started not eating or drinking, became neurotic, shaking all over, hiding in dark 
places behind furniture, and panting so hard it looked as if she was having 
trouble breathing. She was very 
defensive to inspecting her mouth and gums and it appeared she was having 
pain to her mouth or throat. She was rushed to a ER vet.
During the illness she also started having some atrophy in the muscles of her face and temporal area. A quick run down is she was tested and treated my multiple vets. It was determined that she had tick disease and the test for MMM came back negative. She was kept on meds to fight the disease along with meds for the pain. Put on special food that she could eat and given hydration therapy. On the 8Th of this month she started drinking on her own again. She started acting more like her old self and hopes are high for a full recovery. She has a wonderful loving family that has spared no expense to help her win this fight.


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## city_dog

Ozkar said:


> An old woman told me this and swears black and blue it works.
> 
> Mix normal mouthwash 50/50 with water and then add a few drops of lemongrass oil. Pop into an atomiser (I think you guys call it a Squirt bottle) and spray on the coat. It will keep off not only ticks, but mozzies and other biteys too apparently. So the story goes anyhoo, as we don't have too many tick issues down south here in Melbourne, I am yet to try it, but if I move north I certainly will.


hmmm. may have to try this... plus - he'll smell minty fresh!


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## redbirddog

Ticks are out again in our area. Pulled one* out of my thigh* yesterday and I'm off to the doctor this afternoon to have it checked out. Lyme disease is nothing to take lightly. Friend of mine has had it for 10 years. If they imbed into your skin, go get checked out.

http://www.aldf.com/

This website was developed by a lady who got a bad case of it. Scared me after I heard her talk on PBS radio about a month ago.

Not only check the dogs when you come back in from the woods but yourself.

Map of areas of Lyme Disease tick areas of the U.S.: 

http://www.aldf.com/usmap.shtml

RBD


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## hotmischief

Sounds awful, hope you are ok Rod.

Is there a vaccine against Lymes Disease?


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## harrigab

I was watching a programme on tv the other day, apparently ticks have to be embedded for 12 hours before there is a chance of contacting Lymme Disease.


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## flynnandlunasmom

RBD, we have them out in full force here in New England right now. Fortunately, we usually catch them before they're embedded, but over the past few weeks we've all had to have at least one pulled off after it embedded (all = me, my husband, Flynn and Luna). The dogs are Frontlined so even if they embed into them, they die right away. My husband and I are not quite so lucky. We *think* we always catch them in under 24 hours of exposure, which usually means Lyme is unlikely but it's still very scary!


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## flynnandlunasmom

Hotmichielf, there is a Lyme vaccine for dogs (apparently there was one in development for humans but it was not approved by the FDA). 

Luna gets the Lyme vaccine but Flynn can't get it anymore because he has auto-immune issues and vaccines can supposedly trigger his ITP again. After he was really sick last year our Vet advised us not to vaccinate him anymore. Now we just get him tested for Lyme periodically.


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## texasred

I started spraying my cloths with deet before entering the fields. I haven't found any on me since. 
Rod there is a good chance your fine. Although I do understand wanting to take measures to insure your health.


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## hotmischief

FlynnandLunasmum, that is really interesting about the vaccination triggering Flynn's auto-immune issues. I was told not to vaccinate my Dane as he has had a mast cell tumour, which although not directly linked it is thought that we over vaccinate our dogs and it really damages the immune systems of some dogs and mast cell tumour are related to allergies and the immune system.

It leaves me with the dilemma as to what I do next March when my Vizsla need his yearly vaccinations.

So this Lyme vaccine is okay for dogs but not humans? Don't think I like the sound of that.

I found a tick that had dropped of my Dane a few months back - it is very unusual that I hadn't noticed it earlier. I just wonder how long it had been on him that it was fat and full so fell off? Again because of the cancer I don't frontline him, only the Vizsla.

Is Lyme Disease very common in dogs in the US? It is winter in the UK now so they are not a problem, thank god.


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## redbirddog

99.8% sure I'll be fine. Worth the $40 co-pay and an hour of time to make sure. Taking advantage of being able to see a "personal physician" the same day. Thinking those days are limited. 

I know he will remind me to get a certain test done that I have been procrastinating about getting. Figure it will give him a chance to force my hand and make that appointment. Hate probes. 

Darn ticks. Happy trails anyway.

RBD


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## flynnandlunasmom

Hotmischielf, Lyme Disease is pretty common in the U.S. and as far as I know, more-so in New England, but I may be biased because that's where I live. There are other tick-born diseases that are more common out West that are less common here. 

As for vaccinations, the Vet said there's no concrete evidence that vaccinating Flynn had anything to do with his ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenia which basically means his body was attacking his platelets and his count was dangerously low) but that there is a link to vaccinations and autoimmune issues so it was better to be safe.

Flynn had never had any problems with vaccinations before but he had exhibited other autoimmune problems over the years (hives, allergies etc.). The ITP came on suddenly at age 6.5. They tested him for certain tickborn diseases and ruled out certain cancers and basically, by default, determined it was caused by autoimmune problems because he responded to the steroid treatment. 

So, no more vaccinations (including rabies, lyme, parvovirus, bortadella etc.). We can do titer tests going forward to determine if he has the antibodies necessary.


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## flynnandlunasmom

PS - How is your Dane? How long has he had the mast cell tumor?


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## Denaligirl

I also live in New England (Lyme Disease central) and am in the woods almost every day. In the past several weeks I have pulled out two embedded ticks from myself (one was in my neck, yuck!). I have also pulled several ticks off of Denali while we are in the woods (luckily they are easy to see at first), although she is also frontline protected. I am not worried though since I don't think they were there long (I read they have to be embedded for 24-36 hours and also feed- swell with your blood). It's gross but comes with the territory I guess. I actually prefer ticks to gnats & mosquitoes which are luckily gone now!

Oh and good luck with that probe RBD!


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