I guess it's tick season

nddons

nddons

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Stan
We have a 7-month old chocolate lab, and he is picking up ticks almost daily. (We have him on all the meds, etc.) And even working in the yard (my property is about 2 acres prarie/brush/woods, 1.5 acres lawn) I've found more ticks on me than the last two years combined.

Is there a tick explosion in Wisconsin and elsewhere? I'm not usually overly concerned about bugs, but these things are starting to creep me out.

Is anyone else seeing this?
 
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Permethrin

It works -- buy it at Tractor Supply by the quart and add it to water and spray.

I used to spray my BDUs before stuffing them into wet weather bag -- I never had a tick on me in 11 years (and the army has a knack for picking tick-infested locales).

We've used it on two beagles for years. It works.
 
Where I grew up, they were all over the place. Just unavoidable. For pets, there are a variety of pretty effective treatments - but ask your vet if he/she has any recommendations, as some can have adverse affects.

But, I'd highly recommend some kind of treatment for the pet, and some precautions when you're working outside. Things like Lyme Disease, along with all the other nasty crap that ticks can carry, bleeping suck. Fortunately, I don't think that it's too prevalent in Wisconsin. But still....

And...lab puppies are the cutest. :yes:
 
My Dad just got nailed big time - he's feeling pretty bad. Started the abx a week ago, so feeling bad makes sense as the abx kill the little bastards.

Definitely be careful.
 
Obi Heed Kenobi said:
Where I grew up, they were all over the place. Just unavoidable. For pets, there are a variety of pretty effective treatments - but ask your vet if he/she has any recommendations, as some can have adverse affects.

But, I'd highly recommend some kind of treatment for the pet, and some precautions when you're working outside. Things like Lyme Disease, along with all the other nasty crap that ticks can carry, bleeping suck. Fortunately, I don't think that it's too prevalent in Wisconsin. But still....

And...lab puppies are the cutest. :yes:
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We have him on Vectra from the vet - it's supposedly much better than Frontline, and they guarantee treatment if your dog comes down with Lyme or other nastiness. He's also received a Lyme vaccine, and everything else advised by the vet.

Deer ticks do carry Lyme disease in Wisconsin, but most of what we've seen are dog or wood ticks.

As for your last comment - I'll add a picture when I get home. :D
 
nddons said:
We have a 7-month old chocolate lab, and he is picking up ticks almost daily. (We have him on all the meds, etc.) And even working in the yard (my property is about 2 acres prarie/brush/woods, 1.5 acres lawn) I've found more ticks on me than the last two years combined.

Is there a tick explosion in Wisconsin and elsewhere? I'm not usually overly concerned about bugs, but these things are starting to creap me out.

Is anyone else seeing this?
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I never picked a deer tick off myself ever until just yesterday. Lots of ticks out here in Jersey, but not much difference from the last few years YET...
 
dmccormack said:
Permethrin

It works -- buy it at Tractor Supply by the quart and add it to water and spray.

I used to spray my BDUs before stuffing them into wet weather bag -- I never had a tick on me in 11 years (and the army has a knack for picking tick-infested locales).

We've used it on two beagles for years. It works.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I noticed that Permethrin is the largest active ingredient in Vectra, which is what we apply to our dog every month - now every 3 weeks due to the amount of ticks around.

I love the idea of spraying my clothes with it.

We asked our vet about spraying our property for ticks, and he said no, because such insecticides are neurotoxins, and could be harmful. Yet, Permethrin is in Vectra, even though it's a neurotoxin itself. Odd. Better talk to my daughter the biochemistry major.
 
and he said no, because such insecticides are neurotoxins, and could be harmful. Yet, Permethrin is in Vectra, even though it's a neurotoxin itself. Odd. Better talk to my daughter the biochemistry major.
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I like the idea of getting additional info on this because most common insecticides that actually work do indeed work on the nervous system of insects. Used properly they are not going to hurt your animals. However there is some risk to desirable insects and possibly to fish/birds.
If one of these yard sprays or the chemicals used by pest control folks were causing repeated or serious harm I think we would be hearing about it.
Follow the precautions and use as directed are good recommendations to avoid problems especially in this arena.
 
We have him on Vectra from the vet - it's supposedly much better than Frontline, and they guarantee treatment if your dog comes down with Lyme or other nastiness.
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It is not well known but for many products (heartworm prevention, vaccines, parasite control) if you buy from your vet and do the required testing (ref heartworms), follow instructions accurately, quite often there is a very good warrantee provided. Not so with items purchased from Petsmart and on the internet.
/commercial plug for vets :)
 
nddons said:
Hmmm. I noticed that Permethrin is the largest active ingredient in Vectra, which is what we apply to our dog every month - now every 3 weeks due to the amount of ticks around.

I love the idea of spraying my clothes with it.

We asked our vet about spraying our property for ticks, and he said no, because such insecticides are neurotoxins, and could be harmful. Yet, Permethrin is in Vectra, even though it's a neurotoxin itself. Odd. Better talk to my daughter the biochemistry major.
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Check with your daughter. Bug neurotoxins aren't necessarily mammal neurotoxins, although that doesn't guarantee safety in mammals or other species. DDT, for example, opens sodium channels in insect neurons but not in other species (but may have other effects (endocrine) in mammals). In birds, DDT is famously noted for egg shell thinning.
 
The ticks aren't too bad mid-state. I have only picked one off so far this year, after working in the brush. North of Appleton, I guess they're really bad.
 
alright - why am I itching now after reading this thread? :(
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Any idea which abi?
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Probably doxycyline. Recommended course at first sign of target rash. There's a reliable test for dogs, treated with doxy as well. One of our standard Poodles got hit last year. Doxy fixed her right up, but it was a long protocol.
 
that's why I asked, I read about a guy that went blind while they tried to decide if it was Lyme (not Lyme's....please) disease or not - he was on amoxicillin. Got some vision back but with appropriate abi it never would have turned out that way.
 
nddons said:
Hmmm. I noticed that Permethrin is the largest active ingredient in Vectra, which is what we apply to our dog every month - now every 3 weeks due to the amount of ticks around.

I love the idea of spraying my clothes with it.

We asked our vet about spraying our property for ticks, and he said no, because such insecticides are neurotoxins, and could be harmful. Yet, Permethrin is in Vectra, even though it's a neurotoxin itself. Odd. Better talk to my daughter the biochemistry major.
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Most repellents are actually something plus Permethrin (including collars and Advantix).

My former BN CO was a chemist/bug expert PHD type and when I told him about my method one mosquito-filled night near a swamp in Virginia he laughed and said, "The most effective repellent we've devised so far..."
 
nddons said:
Is anyone else seeing this?
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Yes! One of my horses is a tick magnet. I find 2-3 a day! I don't think it was nearly this bad last year.

On top of that, she's also allergic (?) to mosquitoes. Or something like that. The site of those bites swells up to be as big as a hand. We've had a lot of rain rather recently, too.
 
My Border Collie was just diagnosed with Anaplasmosis. I took him in to get his teeth cleaned and a routine blood test showed an abnormal cell count. He'd been acting a bit more stiff after playing but he's getting old so that's what I thought was up. He'd just been to his spring annual for all of his shot updates (including his Lymes booster) but I didn't have the tick test done. I'd recommend it.

Now he's on 30 days of antibiotics -- 3 pills a day. The vet said he should be fine and that his stiffness will probably go away.

Nasty ticks!
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
It is not well known but for many products (heartworm prevention, vaccines, parasite control) if you buy from your vet and do the required testing (ref heartworms), follow instructions accurately, quite often there is a very good warrantee provided. Not so with items purchased from Petsmart and on the internet.
/commercial plug for vets :)
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Understood! My daughter starts Vet school this summer.
 
I buy my ivermectin from the feed store and dose by weight for heartworms.

My yards flea pop exploded a few weeks ago and I'm about to go with pro treatment. Previously I'd done permethrin and IGR but it's just not cutting it. Likewise going to go with the latest and greatest from the vet for flea control.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I'd like to know more about that. Are we talking about Lyme Disease? This summarizes what I understand about it...that testing is often not clear-cut.
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I think it called a canine C3 SNAP test. Tests for titers. Good for initial infections, not so much for subsequent as the titers would already be present in the blood from the first go round.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
I think it called a canine C3 SNAP test. Tests for titers. Good for initial infections, not so much for subsequent as the titers would already be present in the blood from the first go round.
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Correction. 3dx or C6 SNAP tests.
 
Correction. 3dx or C6 SNAP tests.
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Ok, that is the older test, we are using the Idexx 4Dx now. I think if you were to poll most practicing veterinarians you would find they agree the test is not reliable in determining if a dog is currently infected or not. The snap test is an antibody test (the heartworm portion is an antigen test) - it only detects the dog's production of antibodies to the organism. We have seen many dogs in the throes of a terrible tick fever infection but the test is negative because they have not started to produce measurable antibodies. Conversely about 25% of our healthy patients are positive, but not infected. And once positive, we have seen them stay positive for 10 or more years. So you can see it is not a perfect situation with regards the state of the art tests.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Ok, that is the older test, we are using the Idexx 4Dx now. I think if you were to poll most practicing veterinarians you would find they agree the test is not reliable in determining if a dog is currently infected or not. The snap test is an antibody test (the heartworm portion is an antigen test) - it only detects the dog's production of antibodies to the organism. We have seen many dogs in the throes of a terrible tick fever infection but the test is negative because they have not started to produce measurable antibodies. Conversely about 25% of our healthy patients are positive, but not infected. And once positive, we have seen them stay positive for 10 or more years. So you can see it is not a perfect situation with regards the state of the art tests.
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Absolutely. Thank you for clarifying.
 
A few years ago my German Shepherd nearly died from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. One day he fell over and couldn't walk. Long story short, he took doxycycline for three or four months, can't remember which, it took a month before he could walk again, and six months before he was almost normal. A year later he died of hemangiosarcoma, a blood-borne cancer of the spleen, liver, and heart, that two vets suspect was at least linked to the RMSF.

Ticks are nasty.
 
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