Ticks - Help

[Guest Clawsandpaws]

Whatever product you end up using, spray/wash in between the toes and such, pay a lot of attention to those nooks and crannys, even near the hoo-hoo dilly, since it's warm down there!

 

PLEASE check his ears for ticks too, a lot of people miss those. Dudley is on a preventative and still gets ticks/fleas it sucks!

[Guest carriej]

The one I found was between his toe, it's looking a little irritated in there today.

 

The ticks are scary , I am so worried he is going to get babesiosis or some other terribad thing. I now have myself convinced that is what happened to Kowalla...

 

I am nervous

[Hubcitypam]

Please calm down and don't create worst case scenarios based on internet reading. I kind of do the same thing myself for my human ailments. I've self diagnosed with what seems like everything short of beriberi and scurvy based on internet searches.

 

Dozens and dozens of hounds with every known tick borne disease have come through my house and lived to tell the tale. It is just part of life in this part of the world. Of my personal hounds Little Girl, Bella and Rex had Eherlichea (sp) and Harley had RMSF. Just get the dog(s) tested and treated if need be instead of worrying yourself silly.

 

Not dismissing your concerns at all, But lots and lots of dogs with hundreds of ticks have come out just fine. Test. Treat. Relax. Last I remember the SNAP test didn't cover babesia and it was quite a lot extra. Ask your vet if there is a company that provides full tick panel testing sending off a sample...like this place. http://protatek.com/reflab/index.html I can't remember the # of "The greyhound special".

 

As an aside Dr. Stack told me that years ago when you sent any sample to Protatek you marked it "Canine, feline, bovine, equine...or greyhound". Several of the vet schools here do full testing too. Ask your vet.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Hubcitypam

[Neighsayer]

The ticks in the house probably just came in on the dog.

We have a major tick problem here, but they seem to like me better than the horses or dogs! There were days that I pulled five or more off me, but the critters had none. Don't panic! It's not the end of the world! Treat your dogs and check them every day.

Good luck!

[ahicks51]

Does diatomaceous earth work on ticks?

 

In an attempt to control a tick infestation here, we put several live ticks in a Mason jar with a spoonful of "Safer's" brand diatomaceous earth from Home Depot. We'd shake it up daily so they were constantly coated in the stuff. A week later, they were still alive, dusted- coated, crusted, swimming in DE- and showing no signs of weakening.

 

The only thing that worked were tick collars with amitraz, given to us by the local adoption group. We took ~200 ticks off of 4 dogs, checking them 3x/daily, and still had no idea where they were coming from- we'd check them before and after going into the yard, and they had no more coming in. Plus, it's Phoenix: ticks bake alive in 110F heat. The yards are separated by gravel and 6' tall concrete block walls. We figured one may have hatched out eggs in a dog bed, so we froze the dog beds >24 hours in a casket freezer at -20F.

 

The Preventic collars with amitraz were what did it. The Adams stuff (sold as Spot On Defense- same company, here in Phoenix, same ingredients) did absolutely nothing.

[Neighsayer]

I use the preventic collars on my dogs, and often consider getting one for myself. Nothing else seems to work.

[Guest carriej]

All very interesting.

 

I bought some 100% food grade DE (diatomaceous earth), on recommendation from my vet who said it would kill the ticks. She said that it essentially dries them out, as they move around it's supposedly cuts into their exoskeleton and turns them into tick jerky.

 

I also bought tick killer. However it scares me as it's not pet safe and I have a lot of aquariums and it cautions around them.. So that will only come out if I find more ticks (which I have not - yet)

 

Maybe it doesn't work; but I picked up two packs. She told me to make sure it was food grade.

[Guest carriej]

SIGH.

 

Found another one today.

 

I thought for sure they were gone... Another adult, non engorged. It was attached, but barely. I kept this one; as I am going to take it to the vets with me.

 

I am getting very discouraged... These beastly 8 legged horrors should never be here

[TwiggysMom]

This may be out of left field, but do you have firewood in the house? Maybe some that was not harvested locally?

 

I've heard that ticks sometimes sort of "hibernate" in cold weather outside, then when they are brought into a warm house, they become active and start exploring. Might explain why you've been finding them roaming the house, instead of exclusively on the dogs (and not engorged).

 

I should mention I have no experience with this, so it may be totally off-base, but I've heard this from a couple different people locally.

[NeylasMom]

Uggghh

 

So he had some on him, between his toes... I am so discouraged. He has been on treatment since before we got him and during... Why has it not worked to kill the ticks? He still has another 10 days or so before he is due (every 30 days)...

Were they engorged or flat? Flea & tick preventatives don't generally keep the ticks from attaching to the dog, they kill them once the tick starts feeding. I find live ticks on my dogs all of the time after hiking. Obviously I remove all of them that I can find, but I occasionally find dead ticks later either still attached or on their bedding. So it's entirely possible that the ticks just hadn't been there very long. If you suspect otherwise, then it's time to pick a different preventative. Frontline Plus is still working well for us and you can get it relatively inexpensively from deadfleaz, an Australian website.

 

Otherwise, until you can clear them out of your house, just check the dogs and remove any ticks you find daily. If they aren't attached for long, they can't transmit disease. And keep in mind that just because a tick is attached, it doesn't mean the tick is carrying or will transmit disease.

[Guest carriej]

Nope, no firewood.. Nothing I can think of either... However I do remember finding a small one (and thinking it was a bed bug at first which was terrifying) in my bedroom during the summer when I had a foster here. Then my house was dogless for a few months...

 

I am concerned that they will/are biting my cats. My cats are not as easy to search; I have been brushing them daily but cats are next to impossible to control and check if they don't want to be. I can check the dog twice a day, no problem.

 

However - I am assuming I would have started to see symptoms of illnesses by now if there was an issue. I have yet to see an engorged one; they have all been flat even when attached (although still alive I may add).