Of course, my worse fears were realized tonight. Its 12 am and I am downstairs on my computer next to Toby's crate and he got up so I let him out and started to cuddle with him. Then I found a tick on the corner of his ear. I took him right up to my parents bedroom and woke my dad up and forced him to remove the tick. Toby was screaming and started biting. That must've really hurt him. I feel so awful. It was this ... tiny little black thing. I have no clue what kind of tick it is. :X
The spot was so red and that we ended up disinfecting it and putting some stuff on his bump so hopefully it heals okay. I'm honestly really worried now. My parents took him camping to a campground that is nothing but WOODS last weekend. With no protection at all. I would've rather he stayed in his crate all weekend versus going camping, to be honest.
The spot stays red, esp if the head is still in there, and there is a bump for a good week or 2, but as long as he doesn't irritate it, it goes away.
I'm sure he thoroughly enjoyed camping, though! One tick vs. tons of fun isn't so bad. A week before they go next time they should at least give him a treatment of something, Frontline Plus is only like $15/application, BioSpot is less (Hachi uses this with great results). These certainly aren't the cure all though, just precaution.
Also, buying one of those "Ticked Off" tick removers will save you lots of stress and energy! They work fabulously, - just pluck and flush - no dad required
Our tick count is up to 8 now, and its only the end of April - its going to be a bad tick season I think, in Pennsylvania at least... I'm not going to stop hiking though, its just something that comes with the activity!
Yea, looks like MN is going to have a bumper crop of ticks this year, too. In spite of the Frontline application about 2=3 weeks ago, Josephine is up to about 6-8 of them I think. They are no doubt from the farm in northern MN, and most likely the dog park here in town, and maybe even the yard and neighborhood grasses! Whats up with the Frontline stuff, though? Seems like maybe some of the MN ticks are developing an immunity?
In this area we need to keep a watch for Lymes (carried by the deer ticks), too, but all the doggies are vaccinated against it these days. Like everything, I'm skeptical that the vaccine is 100% effective, though.
I haven't vaccinated for Lymes. If you can get your hands on Dr. Pitcairn's book, he does a great job of explaining the disease signs and prevalence in the canine vs. the human, and why he believes the vaccine to be unnecessary. I agree.
In PA, we have a lot of deer, and wooded areas. All of the ticks I found were deer ticks at a young (nymph) stage. I assume its only going to get worse. I truly believe Frontline Plus is not the same product it might have been a few years ago, not that they changed the formula (which they may have but say they haven't), but I think perhaps ticks are gaining immunity or dogs' skin is gaining immunity. Its poison, either way, some sort of immunity/non effectiveness is happening.
Yesterday we went hiking, it was about 80 degrees, and before going out I sprayed myself with Cutter Naturals, and I cut a lemon, squeezed out the juice from the skin and flesh, and rubbed it on my dogs. We only came back with one non engorged tick. I did have them romp in the lake before we went home, and then I rinsed them both with water when we came home. Only one live non engorged tick! And it was on my pants! Not the dog! I'm going to try the lemon thing again next time to see if we get the same results. I've heard eucalyptus has the same effect, but I'm hesitant to rub it into the dogs fur.
Well, I ended up going out and buying some K9 Advantix and then putting our cat in a room separated from Toby for the night so that they wouldn't play or anything with the stuff on Toby.
Already got two ticks off Piglet this season. She is so good about having us take them off. Doesn't even flinch. Sooooo gross. The ticks I have been finding are HUGE. That is the good part, totally not deer ticks.
Comments
http://k9-advantix-learning-collection.com/bayer_k9_advantix.htm
The spot was so red and that we ended up disinfecting it and putting some stuff on his bump so hopefully it heals okay.
I'm honestly really worried now. My parents took him camping to a campground that is nothing but WOODS last weekend. With no protection at all. I would've rather he stayed in his crate all weekend versus going camping, to be honest.
I'm sure he thoroughly enjoyed camping, though! One tick vs. tons of fun isn't so bad. A week before they go next time they should at least give him a treatment of something, Frontline Plus is only like $15/application, BioSpot is less (Hachi uses this with great results). These certainly aren't the cure all though, just precaution.
Also, buying one of those "Ticked Off" tick removers will save you lots of stress and energy! They work fabulously, - just pluck and flush - no dad required
Our tick count is up to 8 now, and its only the end of April - its going to be a bad tick season I think, in Pennsylvania at least... I'm not going to stop hiking though, its just something that comes with the activity!
In this area we need to keep a watch for Lymes (carried by the deer ticks), too, but all the doggies are vaccinated against it these days. Like everything, I'm skeptical that the vaccine is 100% effective, though.
In PA, we have a lot of deer, and wooded areas. All of the ticks I found were deer ticks at a young (nymph) stage. I assume its only going to get worse. I truly believe Frontline Plus is not the same product it might have been a few years ago, not that they changed the formula (which they may have but say they haven't), but I think perhaps ticks are gaining immunity or dogs' skin is gaining immunity. Its poison, either way, some sort of immunity/non effectiveness is happening.
Yesterday we went hiking, it was about 80 degrees, and before going out I sprayed myself with Cutter Naturals, and I cut a lemon, squeezed out the juice from the skin and flesh, and rubbed it on my dogs. We only came back with one non engorged tick. I did have them romp in the lake before we went home, and then I rinsed them both with water when we came home. Only one live non engorged tick! And it was on my pants! Not the dog! I'm going to try the lemon thing again next time to see if we get the same results. I've heard eucalyptus has the same effect, but I'm hesitant to rub it into the dogs fur.