Tick season

[brinkleypaw]

Hi All,
Yesterday I took Brinkley romping at a our local golf course. We only have about a week left before the golfers officially stake their claim and shoo me off. He had such a great time running - well doodling 500 warp speed - from green to fairway... This morning as I was giving him his morning hugs and kisses, I felt a lump behind his ear and one on his shoulder blade. TWO ticks had attached themselves which I quickly removed. Since he is almost 5 months now, is it safe to apply a topical tick preventative? Are there advantages one over the other commercial brand - Frontline - Advantix? Your thoughts on the lyme disease vaccine? Do they even still make and do people use those snap flea and tick collars?

I want to make sure that I can protect him from the ticks. He is bound to get more as the weather gets warmer here (wishful thinking...)
Thanks for your help

[evervescent]

Check with your vet and make sure you have lyme disease in your area. My vet informed me that ticks in our area (Indiana) don't carry lyme disease and she would rather pull a couple of ticks off a dog than in her words, "systematically poison them with toxins". Of course she is a holistic vet and every veterinarian has different opinions about that kind of thing. I'm sure the other, more traditional, vet that we use would have a different opinion. And if you travel to a different states, then that changes the equation too.

[evervescent]

I did check and states in the Northeast have a majority of the lyme disease cases so I guess that means you do need to be very concerned.

Advantix is the only topical medication that controls fleas, ticks, and mosquitos. Here's a comparison chart: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/ar...id=176&aid=281

[brinkleypaw]

Thank you Andrea very much for the comparison chart. I am also going to place a call to my vet and inquire about the vaccine pros and cons and see what he says. I don't like the idea of another vaccination but I know that lyme disease carrying ticks can do a number to his joints and over all well being.
thanks again,
chris

[lmtoth2]

We use advantix (our vet said it protected vs more things than frontline). I think we started somewhere around 4-6 mos, but your vet should be able to tell you if it's time. We also pulled a tick out of Dex around that time and it scared us...they analyzed the tick and found it to be harmless, but we started on protection immediately.

[brinkleypaw]

I should have saved the tick so the vet could have examined it. I did not even think that way. I was in such a worry mode that I just wanted it out of his neck!! I will just assume that all ticks are disease carriers and start him on one of these topicals asap. I don't want to chance his health and decide randomly that this tick looks like a good tick - this one looks bad hhehhehe

[Jac]

We use Advantix, and my vet said that since Advantix only works when the tick attaches, and you know you will be in tick country, it is a good idea to put a tick collar on the dog to keep the ticks off. You can remove the collar when you get home. Also, there is a special ingredient that you need to ward off ticks and it is not found in the cheap collars...of course, I can't recall what that ingredient is! But if you buy the most expensive collar, it will probably be the right one. *sigh*
Bayley was covered in ticks when we first got here. (I had no idea what an engorged tick looked like!) The vet gave her a shot of antibiotics just in case.
Good luck!

[ChasP505]

I lived in the heart of Lyme disease country (near the Connecticut/New York border) before moving to New Mexico 18 years ago. I always kept a strong flea/tick collar on my Siberian Huskies, usually supplied by the vet. I never had a problem with ticks, but of course, I was constantly diligent with my dogs and even more so with my young children. We always sprayed the kids' shoes and pants legs with tick repellent.

Remember that the deer ticks which carry Lyme disease are TINY, almost indistinguishable from a speck of dirt. Common dog ticks are much larger, like a smal ladybug.

[brinkleypaw]

I called our vet and he has the expensive ($20) collar that you mentioned. He said it can last three months. I looked on line and found the same collar for less than $10 with no shipping charges. So i am going to put the collar on Brink when I know we are going to where there could be ticks and when I come home - I can remove it. In addition to the Advantix monthly topical and being diligent on checking for them - I think like the jingle says - No fleas no ticks on me.....

thanks very much for your suggestions.

[emilee]

one thing to remember if you like to go tent camping with your dog(s), and use some kind of tick repellent -- it is important to do a tick check each night before going to sleep. ticks that have been carried into the tent but prevented from biting your dog due to the repellent can jump ship and decide the nice warm humans are a tasty alternative!

-em

[brinkleypaw]

Here is a new current picture of Brinkley. The previous picture didn't even look like him anymore. He is growing in leaps and bounds. I will be in awe if he ever catches up to the size of his PAWS.....

[Tink]

I have my dogs vaccinated for Lymes disease because it's SO common in my area. My son, husband and father have all had it at different times. Sadly, there are other tick born problems they can get... and Moses was quite ill last year with one of them. I use a topical treatment besides the vaccine because it's better for the dogs to be protected and it's cheaper to prevent problems than to cure them.

[lmtoth2]

Our dogs received the lymes vaccine too...I know some don't agree with giving it, but our vet recommended it and I agree with giving vaccinations.

[River Rat]

Our vet recommends Lyme disease vaccines but our friend the vet who doesn't practice now does not. He feels that there are too many side effects and compromises with the animal's immune system and that Lyme isn't that hard to treat if the animal contracts it. Since I tend to avoid innoculations myself I was just as happy to forego that particular vaccination for Chouette.

If you do a search for Lyme vaccine on the forum there are a lot of discussions about pros and cons. On one thread I think I posted some links to some interesting articles about it.

By the way, most of our friends who spend any time in the woods (we know naturalists and archeologists) have had Lyme, and my husband came down with Ehrlichiosis, another tick-borne disease, which the doctor at first suspected was acute leukemia! But neither of us has had Lyme so far, although it's very common here.

Leslie

[Shaia]

you can try frontline or advantage, but these are both pretty strong chemicals (i never figured out why it says KEEP OFF SKIN when you are dousing your dog with it!!). they do work wonders tho! when we got shaia, she was covered in fleas, so i used it when she was a baby once to kill the initial infestation. they work for ticks too. however, i hate the idea of using chemicals like this (for her sake and ours). check out dr pitcairn's natural guide to health for dogs and cats. he has some good suggestions (using lavender, feeding brewer's yeast, etc). we went on a hike recently and she came back covered in ticks, so i am in the same boat and need to figure this out for us too!!