Tick diseases

ACampbell

Ok now I"m curious about tick borne diseases...we don't have ticks in my part of the country, and heartworms that kind of thing are very rare. So since I'm moving to NY, what kind of things do I need to do for preventative measures and what do I look for or should notice about tick borne illnesses?
I've only seen wood ticks before, on one dog, a long time ago...never on any of mine...so I'm kind of naive when it comes to parasitic illnesses...

briteday

Just in a general check of my state health department resource, NY state seems to be very concerned about lyme disease which is carried by the deer tick, and is statewide. I'm sure there are many kinds of ticks in the NY area. And that is something I would be certain to add to your list of vet questions when you get there and establish your pets with a vet.

Here's a link to their lyme disease site:

http://www.health.state.ny.us/diseas...fact_sheet.htm

ChrissyBz

Here's a couple really good sites. The third site is the one I've referred to a lot in my research and consequent monitoring of my dogs.

http://www.mirage-samoyeds.com/tick.htm

http://www.workingdogs.com/doc0038.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~hawkeye87...sis%20Page.htm

Pray your dogs never get this.

ACampbell

Thanks for the links...
It's been so much going on and I have so many concerns already...I've never been around ticks myself, like I said, I've seen them on a dog once and someone had to tell me what they were...kind of like my incident with grits - my hubby had to tell me what they were...lol.

I hope I can find a good vet up there...mine here is rather silly...she asked me some seriously obvious questions...more than just the "is your dog altered" question, lol.

So now I have things to ask about...so I have more questions for you folks.

Where do ticks reside? Cool dark areas? In the sunshine? I really have no idea. Can they be avoided by steering clear of thick brush, or am I kind of SOL in my own yard? Do they have a pesticide for them you can spray on your lawn/foundation of the house to kill them that's safe for pets?

If you can't tell, I have this really big thing against anything that's life purpose is to suck my blood (this includes most lawyers, hehe)...and I'm a little freaked out at the fact that there's so many more bugs there with so many more diseases...
Rabies is our big disease down here...doesn't bother me because you can vaccinate against it. But it appears that a lot of the crap you can get in the Northeast can't be vaccinated against...creepy.

echo8287

I live in the South and ticks have always been a problem.

"Where do ticks reside? Cool dark areas? In the sunshine? I really have no idea. Can they be avoided by steering clear of thick brush, or am I kind of SOL in my own yard? Do they have a pesticide for them you can spray on your lawn/foundation of the house to kill them that's safe for pets?"

Ticks frequent wooded areas,low lying brush, fences,trees,scrub bushs etc. They like to get where they can drop onto hosts. I find they are down in the leaves(in winter time) in wooded areas and in grassy areas on the sides of roads. There are different kinds in the South. We have these nasty little seed ticks down here too, kind of like chiggers. Here is a link to some different kinds>
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pccommonticks.htm

Its best to keep some sort of tick/flea control measures for your dog(Frontline, Advantix and others). It doesn't keep them from biting them but kills them if they do. I have to check my dogs frequently. I pulled one off today as it has been a mild winter so far. They can leave a nasty little whelp on the dog till it heals. You can spray your yard using an insecticide, but you have to keep pets and children off the yard for a brief time. You can also get other sprays that ticks find offensive and will vacate that area. If you have a nice finished yard and keep the grass mowed you will have less problem. I live in a heavily wooded area and thats where they get the ticks. In the yard around my house they don't get ticks. David

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Dana1384

The ticks in tennesse where deer ticks, and they looked like little tiny crabs to me. I had both my dogs on frontline down there and still I would have to check them for ticks everytime they came in and before bed. I personally noticed them more in the tall grass, and near wooded areas. When you look for them on your dog, I noticed they like to get in the ears on the end, between their legs, pretty much the warm spots. You also have to make sure you pull the head out also because if you leave the head, they tick will grow back. They are nasty little things, and hated it. We went out to a shrimp boil at a camp. I was helping my brother put his tent up. In the 2 months I was in tenn I managed not to get one on me. I go to the boil and got one on the back of my knee in the soft spot. You would never think something that small could hold on so tight. It felt like I got stung by a wasp! Good luck!!

ozzy

I live on the east coast and I have had lyme disease myself and my dog got very sick from some kind of tick disease (not one of the big known ones) recently so you definitely need to be careful. I use frontline but again he still got sick so besides taking preventive measures I would just watch for them very carefully. I have never actually seen a tick on Ozzy though but they can still get them. I think ticks like tall grasses and brush. I would check the dog thoughly after being those kinds of things or any woods.

Shalva

Ticks are cool weather creatures preferring early spring and later fall..... we don't generally see alot of ticks in the heat of summer.....

they prefer old dead wood..... they like high grass..... but they will not cross borders.... I know of several people with young children who have created a mulch (I think) barrier at the edge of their yards and that helps prevent the ticks from actually coming into the yard....

Lyme disease is highly treatable and most vets here do a simple snap test when they do the heartworm check in the spring.....

a positive lyme test means exposure but not necessarily active disease.....

most dogs in this area do have positive lyme exposure tests.....

I do not give the lyme vaccine to my dogs.... I have found that treating for lyme is better and easier than to give the vaccine which can have significant side effects.....

if you are moving to NY then you want to watch for ticks.... the most common type of tick in this area is the "dog" tick which are larger.... the deer tick which is the one that carries lyme is harder to see as they are smaller about the size of a poppyseed.....

you won't have to worry during the winter but we generally will start seeing ticks in april..... and yes there can still be snow on the ground when the ticks show up.... they prefer cool.....

treatment of lyme is fairly straightforward with six weeks of doxycycline....

our protocal that we use here
we feel our dogs all over .... remember that ticks tend to go the highest point so we generally see them on face, chest, neck, ears, head.......
they almost always move up up up ...... so we feel our dogs daily.... we have a good tweezer used only for tick removal and listerine to clean the area once the tick is removed......

we remove the tick and my husband will burn them up in the woodstove and I will flush them.....

then our motto is not to worry until we see a positive exposure test

once we see a positive exposure test .... we run a full tick panel..... for lyme, erlichia, RMSF, and whatever else..... if that comes out as having active disease we treat with doxycycline and then retest ......

if there is no active disease we don't worry and as long as we don't see symptoms of active disease, ie. lameness we don't worry......

then we will do the snap test and if it comes out positive we start all over.....

lyme nephritis caused by the vaccine is NOT treatable..... and as such I would rather deal with lyme disease itself which is easily and highly treatable.... than a possible disease that is not treatable.

I have personally had lyme..... and so has Kaelyn..... we are both fine now..... although untreated lyme can be a huge huge problem..... and very dangerous and as such it is the reason we do the tick panel yearly to make sure there is nothing active happening.....

NY does have ticks ..... our farm is in NY and we are always pulling ticks off the dogs out there.... disgusting creatures.....

S

ILuvCanines

Hi ACampbell, and welcome to NY (when you get here). Ticks are very common here in NY, but of course it depends entirely on where you are moving. If your dog is not going to be in the woods then perhaps you wouldn't need it, but flea treatment I would recommend, and since Frontline has a combination of flea and tick treatment (my vet says that is the only kind he will use) I would use that as a preventative.

As far as Heartworm treatment---a definite here in NY. My dog had them when I adopted her, and it is a horrible treatment for them to have to endure. They have to inject arsenic into them to kill the adult worms and it is dangerous (although not as dangerous as it use to be) and very expensive. Fortunately she did fine when she had her treatment, but that little chunk of Heartguard that she loves is certainly worth it.

There is a simple blood test for both Heartworm and Lyme Disease (which is caused by ticks) that they usually do on a yearly basis when their anual check up comes due.

As far as other precautions, I can't think of any that are specific for this part of the country, but if you're from a warm climate--I hope you and your dog like snow (or at least cold weather).

When and where are you moving in NY?

Here is a link to NY's site with all kinds of info on Ticks http://www.health.state.ny.us/diseas...unicable/lyme/



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