Ticks!

[queenwinniesmom]

I am freaking out! When Joey, our last foster, came to us, we did see a few ticks on him, even though he'd been Frontlined, sprayed, bathed, etc. We thought it was under control. Until we started seeing ticks on Calvin, who shared the bedroom with Joey. Then we saw more. And more. We have NEVER had ticks or fleas in the 21 years that we have lived here, and we are feeling pretty stressed. All the dogs and the 3 cats have been Frontlined---the dogs will get another treatment. We have bombed the 2 bedrooms where the dogs sleep, and the family room where their crates are. We've thrown out some bedding and crate pads and washed the rest. We've washed all dog bed covers. We've vacuumed and sprayed the whole rest of the house. We've washed the blankets in the van and sprayed it. We're treating the small yard today---I guess we should have done that sooner. We've found the most ticks on Calvin, but I got a bunch off of Tess, a few off of Lydia, and today, 1 engorged one off of Polly. The amount is decreasing, but the damn things are still showing up!

 

Are we doing something wrong? Are we doing ANYTHING right? What more can we do?

[Feisty49]

I have no advice but lots of sympathy. I'd be freakin' out!!

[Guest KsFrets]

We walk our dogs on the golf course, and have gotten in the habit of staying away from tall grass and bushes and shrubs... where they hang out just waiting for a warm dog to come along. During heavy tick season I've gotten them in my socks and shoes from our walks. We've also gotten in a habit of a tick inspection before letting them back inside after walks. At one time we were bummed about our back yard turning into dirt, and the bushes and grass dying from dog pee etc... but have come to realize that the more barren the back yard is, the more tick free it is back there! At one time I thought they were multiplying in our house, but have come to realize they were hitching a ride from outdoors. The diligence is paying off, and our house has been tick free since last spring.

Edited September 22, 2011 by KsFrets

[HoundHeavenAZ]

Ew! No advice here either, but I feel your misery. Found the first tick on Saturday on any of my dogs since '93 !! Saw the vet yesterday and she reminded me that they can become infected with erlichia within 48 hours. My last girl died from it. She said I may want to switch to interceptor, etc. and frontline if they continue to appear. We use revolution and have just started using lavender baby powder too due to the recommendation of friends that have 6 tick free hounds.

 

I can' imagine how miserable it must be to have a house full of critters - I only have two and I"m freaky about it. Good luck.

[Guest eaglflyt]

Preventic collars have been excellent for keeping ticks off of our crew. They last 3 months and are safe for sighthounds. They also kill any attached ticks within about 24 hrs. I can highly recommend them.

 

We use Comfortis for fleas. This has to be purchased at our vet since it is a prescription drug.

 

Both of these products have been much more effective for us than the use of topicals.

 

Good luck!

[Guest mountain4greys]

We never had a problem with ticks here until 2 summers ago, and haven't had a flea problem. When we saw the tick problem, we started using the Preventic tick collars. They work great!!! And it's not harmful to the dogs at all. I got mine at Amazon.com.

 

As a matter of fact, mine are wearing theirs now, and no ticks.

[oldrunners]

Ticks can often lurk in trees. I have been told that they sense the carbon dioxide that mammals exhale, and let go, hoping they will land on a nice juicy host, whether it be man or beast.

[GeorgeofNE]

Ticks lurk in any kind of brush--

 

Frontline doesn't repel ticks--it only kills them once they've started feeding off your dog!

 

Preventic collars are your best bet for that kind of bad problem.

 

It gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about your problem! I hope you've gotten most of them by now!

[Guest Nuthatch]

I was looking at tick treatments yesterday due to a similar problem (isn't it revolting?) and realised that in the small print on some of the products it protects against fleas for one period of time e.g. 6 weeks, one type of tick for another period of time e.g. 4 weeks and another type of tick for yet another period of time e.g. 3 weeks. Not very helpful.

 

Could it be the same there?

Edited September 22, 2011 by Nuthatch

[cello]

We have just been through tick "hell" as well. What worked was Preventic Collars - get them on Amazon. My DH also sprayed the yard with this product that we got from the expert guy at Do It Yourself Pest Control. He said that this was one of the worst years for ticks in our area. You need to apply this stuff for four weeks in a row.

 

Wisdom TC Flowable

 

Active Ingredient – Bifenthrin

 

Cost - $89.90 per 1 quart bottle.

[Riverhound]

Yuck!!! Get the dogs groomed, throw all your stuff away, buy new cars and MOVE?!?! I'm shuddering & feel itchy just thinking about it.

[cleptogrey]

don't let anyone tell you that ticks only are in the tall grasses, dh was peeing behind a tree...looking down...tick on the back of his neck. i was there, i know he wasn't rolling around in the grass. i too have had them in my hair attached to my neck, i swear they are falling out of the trees or being blown around...

 

sounds like your house needs a bombing and the yard spraying then you can work on the dogs. the early spring and fall are the absoutley best time for those bugger...HATE THEM

 

(get the car vacummed really really well and spray it up, i use frontline and remember to change your vacumme cleaner bags after vacumming, that helps)

Edited September 22, 2011 by cleptogrey

[4My2Greys]

Nancy I had this problem last year when I took Nadir walking at a local park. A big ugly nasty tick with a gazilllion eety bitty baby ticks managed to catch a ride on him. I tried the Preventic collars and they did absolutely nothing at all. I never found any dead ticks. The ones I found that had fallen off him did not seem the least bit impaired. What finally worked for me and it only took 1 good application to see immediate results was Adams Plus Flea and Tick Mist. I followed up and sprayed all the dogs down again about a week or so later and never had any more problems.

[queenwinniesmom]

Thanks for the replies---and sympathy! We are feeling totally overwhelmed, but I think we're at least making a dent. We will basically try anything and everything.

The yard is the main order of business right now.

Judy, we have some Adams shampoo. We LOVE Adams products. We used them all the time in Florida, and they worked on Florida's industrial strength bugs! Doug is getting some spray as we speak.

We've bombed, but the vet at work said the bombs don't do that much good because they go UP, and you need something that goes down into crevices and under furniture. I thought bombs DID that. Well, I don't think they hurt, and we have seen less on Calvin since we bombed.

We are a work in progress. Sigh. It's a good thing Doug made some money last week-end selling at a flea market (pun unintended). We're spending it all on ticks.

[Feisty49]

Each time I read another post about ticks, I thank my lucky stars that so far (and ya never know when something like this will hit) I don't have them. A few fleas I can handle. For an infestation of fleas or ticks, I'd hire a professional to do the house. A few years, when my husband was still alive, we had a minor infestation of fleas and he did the work of bombing while I washed stuff.