Uh oh, first tick of the year

Get out the Frontline! I just pulled a little tick off of me. I wish they had human Frontline.

I've often said the same thing about Frontline for me. We get ticks and fleas here something awful because of all the fields around us.

I have developed a severe allergy to tick bites thanks to all the ticks. I now spray the entire yard with bug spray early in the spring and again late in the summer. It's the only solution I've found that really works. Even using Frontline, Advantix and collars on the animals doesn't work with this many.

I get the bug spray that attaches to the hose and spray everywhere I can reach with the hoses. That really makes a difference.

I hate to tell you, but my good friend from Annapolis, who is an avid gardener, and whose 1/2 acre yard is visited on a daily basis by deer, came down with Lyme Disease last fall - they thought it was the flu at first, but when she developed Bell's Palsy in her face, the doctor immediately began treating her for Lyme Disease. 6 weeks of antibiotics. She was really down hard for quite a while, and still has some lingering effects. Scary stuff...

Also, for the record, she told me she got her first mosquito bite of the season over the weekend. I haven't seen any here in No Va, but she usually gets them first.

hart, what bug spray do you use? If it's effective, I'll pass that information along to my friend. Thanks!

Barb

Yikes, definitely "Scary stuff"! We found the first ticks on Phoebe over a month ago :( Frontline not working? And finding them that early in the year? Are they becoming resistant to the Frontline AND the freezing temperatures?

Hi Guys!

We've had our first ticks too and decided a year or so ago to supplement the Frontline on our dogs with Preventic collars. With the two together we saw no ticks on Emma and Brinkley even at the height of the summer. Preventic lasts 3 months and you can get them from EntirelyPets.com for about $20 for a pack of two.

Bulbs are coming up like crazy now and I had lunch on Monday at a cafe that had daffs in bloom!

Best -- Vic

Need to garden on a budget? Follow The Frugal Gardener at http://www.myfrugalgardener.com. Tired of bending and kneeling to garden? Visit http://www.garden-rack.com to learn more about GardenRack, the customized raised bed gardening system.

By the way, re my vet that I saw last week and got refreshed on, Frontline is better for ticks but Revolution kills ear mites better, so for my cats I might change out with Revolution in mid summer.

Barb, the first year I did this, I used the yard flea and tick spray you find in the pet section. Last year, I used one of the name brand kills everything outdoor sprays. Both come in a bottle that screws onto the hose for application. Anyway, I forget the brand. It was either Ortho or Bayer. It seemed to work a lot longer than the flea and tick spray.

Liquid Sevin might work too and it also comes in a bottle that attaches to the hose. Just tell her to check the label and see if it kills ticks and fleas.

Thanks very much, for the information, hart! Needless to say, she's going to be incredibly vigilant about ticks now. She'd always sprayed repellent on herself for mosquitoes, but that spray didn't "prevent" ticks.

When they're really bad like they are here, nothing really works except to try to at least make a dent in the population. I've found the repellents only do so much, Frontline only does so much, Frontline plus collars only do so much.

She's very lucky to have gotten a diagnosis so quickly. She should read about poor Amy Tan's experience with Lyme.
http://amytan.net/LymeDisease.aspx

I'm sure there are plenty on the net but when I get home this evening I will post the pic of DD's (my youngest DD - Makwa's "owner" that works at the vets) Lyme's from last year. Just remember (which I'm sure ya'll know already) that the frontline only guards against the ticks for a month - fleas 3, I believe. It's got to be put on monthly - and preferable not right before or after bathing them. We get a lot of the Texas Lone Star ticks which are easily identified by the very apparent white spot on the center of their body. Here is a great article w/pics (if you can weed through the advertisements) of both the deer tick and the lone star tic plus a graph explaining which ticks can carry which diseases. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://heartspring.net/images/lone_star_tick_identify.jpg&imgrefurl=http://heartspring.net/deer_tick_identification.html&h=275&w=500&sz=34&tbnid=g41WPoaUi9nZ_M::&tbnh=72&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLone%2BStar%2BTick&usg=__9rQlDuH7s_07ntnkS3XpoxmH34g=&ei=YhS4SYXxB4vltgfms_i9CQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=3&ct=image&cd=1 Please remember safe Tick removal!! Do not use the old ways i.e. burning them out or smothering with oil - stressing the tick can cause them to regurgitate. You DO not want their regurgitation into your system. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/ehrlichia/Prevention/Prevention.htm
Here's CDC's entire listing: http://www.cdc.gov/NCIDOD/DISEASES/insects/special_topics.htm

This message was edited Mar 11, 2009 3:51 PM

hart, I think you're right, and she has no idea how bad the population really is, since she was never aware of being bitten by a tick at the time. But the constant presence of deer, plus the minute size of the ticks, makes her really nervous now, as you can imagine!

I guess she was diagnosed fairly quickly, given the vague nature of the lyme disease symptoms, and lack of the bulls-eye rash, but it took about 2 months of feeling exhausted, thinking it was a flu she couldn't shake, THEN when half her face became paralyzed, that sent her right back to the doctor, who did a blood test and bingo. Six weeks of doxycycline, and no guarantee of immunity afterwards.

I think we'd both been aware of Amy Tan's experience, but only vaguely - thanks for the link.

Chantell, thanks for your links too - great information on a very scary subject!

Lone star ticks are being found in central MD now also. I had one last year- lucky us

UGH - Lone Star Ticks and Asian Tiger Mosquitoes - the plagues are upon us! I guess these creatures serve SOME positive purpose, but I have no clue what it might be...

Since moving inside the Beltway, I see fewer ticks than I did when we lived on a horse farm in So. P.G. County, MD. Back then, we had numerous ticks year-round. I picked up Lyme's disease there, too, but I was lucky that it was knocked out quickly following a month of heavy antibiotics, and I have no known lingering effects.

We use a combination of Frontline Plus and Advantage (staggered at 2 wk increments) on the dog, per my vet's recommendation and Advantage on the cats.

Yes, very scary...here is the "rash" she'd called me about at work...hard for HER to see it since it was back of neck shoulder region but when I SAW it...she was in the Doc's the next day...ugh

wrightie, so glad you were able to get treated quickly for your Lyme disease! My friend still has a light sensitivity in the eye on the side of her face that had the palsy, and when she's tired, I can see a difference in blinking, but it's not too obvious. She's not sure that will ever go away. Still, a minor side-effect when you consider how insidious that disease is.

Chantell - WOW - glad your DD got to the doc quickly - that's an amazing picture. Glad she's OK now too!

About 8 years ago, I had the classic bulls eye show up on my left arm. Like wrightie, mine was knocked out quickly with a month of antibiotics and I have had no lingering side effects either. Terri

Terri, I'm glad to know that your Lyme disease got treated and resolved so quickly. I guess my friend's "problem" was that there was no bull's eye rash, so it dragged on a bit longer before being diagnosed. She said the symptoms (until the Bell's Palsy on her face) were just like the flu. Scary.

I think I'm going to buy a hazmat suit for when I'm out in the yard!

Yes as if it's not scary enough to get it w/o the tell tale signs...I can't even imagine

Thanks for all the excellent information as tick season starts to get into full swing!

I've had ticks on me from either working in the garden or brought in by the dog. When this happens, my doctor's office told me to use either rubbing alcohol or clear finger nail polish on a kleenix and apply it to the area where the tick was found. The awful smell makes the tick release its grasp on your skin. Then carefully remove the tick by turning the tweezers in a counter-clockwise direction. Try to make sure that the head of the tick is extracted and not left in your skin. Put the tick in a plastic baggie (the kind that seals) and bring it with you to your doctor. Not only did they draw blood from me which they sent to the lab, but they also sent the tick to the lab too. Thankfully, the tick did not carry Lyme Disease or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It's better to be safe then sorry!

Hi everyone! I REALLY hope you can help me, even though I'm not in the mid-Atlantic region. Both my parents found ticks on themselves today (while sitting in their recliners, in the living room) & we believe my friend's dog may have brought them into our house. I've never seen a tick before, but my parents have. My dad said he even had one in his skin, many years ago. But these ticks had hard shells (which surprised my parents) & it was really hard to kill them. Luckily, neither of my parents were bitten, but now we're afraid our house might be infested with them & we don't know how to get rid of them!

I'm already afraid of bugs & the fact that ticks carry diseases really worries me. Could they have fallen off the dog & onto our carpet? And can they BREED in our carpet?! How do we get rid of them? I've read the links provided above & in one it said they can infest your window & door mouldings, baseboards, etc. But it doesn't tell how to GET RID OF THEM! Please help us! We're worried & don't know what to do. We're going to vaccuum & clean the entire house as well as we can, tomorrow. I suggested washing the carpet, but I saw in one of the links that ticks love moisture, so we won't be doing that now. My parents were wondering if there was anything (powder or spray) we could put onto the carpet that would kill them? My mom wanted to spray insecticide all over the carpet, but I have an African Grey parrot in that room & am pretty sure that would kill him, too! Please help us!

~Kristy

Kristy, I suppose ticks could infest your house but I doubt it. We have an awful problem with ticks here every summer but I've never found any living inside the house, just on us or on one of the animals. The ticks most likely jumped on your parents outside.

Get a good yard bug spray - you can get the ones that are specifically for fleas and ticks in the pet section or any of the complete sprays that also kill ticks. I use the ones that say they kill for three months. Spray as much of the yard as you can. Spray again in three months. I'm not crazy about spraying insecticide all over but it's better than having ticks all over us and the animals.

If you think they came from your friend's dog, get your friend to treat the dog for ticks. But even the dog picked the ticks up somewhere outside. It's much more likely your parents got the ticks outdoors than from a fairly casual contact with someone's dog.

With all due respect to your dad, ticks don't have hard shells. It may have been something else. Or if they really stayed attached a long time and got fat they would seem hard, you can't crush them easily. They usually don't stay on people that long.
Even using Frontline, . we find them crawling or attached on the cats. Hart has good advice. They won't populate inside your house.

Thanks so much, guys! I'm glad to hear that the ticks won't populate in the house. I wasn't sure if they could - cause they need blood to live, right? So if they don't get any blood, they should die out. One website said they could infest the wood in your house - but that sounds really odd to me. Today we vaccuumed the whole house really well, anyway, though.

Yeah, I talked to my friend & he said his mom put the flea & tick medicine on his dog just a couple of weeks ago. He said he'd look her over, just in case. I don't want his doggy getting sick! So the dog shouldn't have had any on her. It just seemed like such a coincidence because we'd never seen any by our house (I've never seen one) & then both my parents found 1 on themselves when they were in the living room - a few days after the dog was in the living room. But we do have a small woody area behind our house & my mom gardens out there, so she could've gotten it from out there. And I read on one of those sites that Illinois is seeing a big increase in ticks, so I guess now they might be in areas they weren't before. I'll tell them to get some tick spray for the yard (you attach it to the hose, right?) Thanks again for your help!

~Kristy

Oh yeah, I forgot to say that both my parents had been outside that day, but they had been inside for quite a few hours - so that made them think the ticks were already in the house. But they just might not have noticed them for that long.

Tick populations can vary considerably from year to year. They seem to be showing up pretty early this year so I'm assuming it's going to be a really bad year. Bad for us, good for ticks. LOL

You often won't find them until hours after you picked them up. Just spray the yard and you can use bug repellents that include ticks when you work in the garden too.

My aunt used to swear by Skin So Soft bath oil from Avon in the original scent, which isn't flowery so a man can use it too. I don't know if it repels ticks but it definitely works on other bugs like mosquitos.

That's funny you mention Skin So Soft, hart. We have some of that & I've used it before - but I find it too oily. But I did read recently that either on the set of LOST or Survivor that they swear by it. I might have to try it again. My dad uses it, sometimes. But Mom & I usually use OFF & that works well. Even when I'm crawling around in the forest preserve, if I use Deep Woods OFF, I don't have a problem. It just doesn't smell as nice as Skin So Soft. ; )

~Kristy

I am sure you can get ticks just by gardening.
I went on a birding walk last year. The ranger warned us the ticks were really bad, and halfyway thru, pointed out several on his pant legs. I didn't see any on mine at all. Later after my shower, I had two or three clinging to my lower legs.
DUNH DUNH DUNH DUNH--like the shark, and AAAHHHH like Psycho

EWWWW I hate ticks...I had to have one cut out by a surgeon because we could not get it out with tweezers, it was embedded in the back of my neck, after cutting it out he had to cauterize the wound.
K9 Advantage is said to be better than frontline.
My brother in law swears by skin so soft, he used it when training with the marines down at Paris Island.
Cutter spray wroks wonderful for me.

Kristy, Avon used to have the Skin So Soft bar soap. Probably doesn't work quite as well as the bath oil but it wouldn't be greasy. You're better off with real bug repellent, though, I'm sure.

I think Advantix and think it works a lot better than Frontline. Of course that's only for dogs. They don't have a cat version.

Tell me about hating ticks. I'm extremely allergic to their bites and get huge, extremely itchy and sore welts that don't go away for weeks and weeks every time they bite me. Antihistamines help some but I swear they're worse than chigger bites for me. Never had to have one cut out, though. That sounds horrible.

And the ticks are so bad here I often get some just by walking across the yard. I have my yard spray all ready to go if it will just stop raining long enough for me to use it.

I've already found 2 or 3 ticks in the past month. . More than I've seen in so many years here. Looks like we're off to a pretty bad start to the year, unfortunatelySheesh.

To further comment on Advantix and cats, don't put it on your dogs if you have a cat in your household - that warning was given to me by my vet. Apparently it can kill(?) or seriously harm cats even if you don't put it on them directly.

If spraying synthetic insecticides is not your thing, here are some links on organic control methods:

Some plant-based insecticides: http://www.planetnatural.com/site/xdpy/sgc/Natural%20Pest%20Control/Natural%20Pesticides

http://organicgardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/get_rid_of_ticks

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/2002-08-01/Flea-and-Tick-Control.aspx

!!?? I've been using Advantix on my dogs for many years and I've never seen any harm at all to the two cats. Did the vet say how this harm was to occur?

I think it's going to be a really bad tick year too. It's awfully early to see any and I've seen plenty too.

Okay, I found this on the Advantix website:

Can advantix not be used in dogs and cats which live together?
advantix can be used in dogs which live with cats, as reported in the study by Knoppe (2002), where no adverse effects were found in the cats. In animals which live in close proximity and at any rate basically for the owner's peace of mind, it is a good rule to avoid contact in the first few hours after application, to apply the product in the evening, and to keep the animals separate during the night.

My vet will not sell it to anyone with cats in their household. It's the permethrin in k-9 advantix that is deadly to cats.

From dog.com's description of the product: http://www.dog.com/item/k9-advantix-for-dogs-6-month-supply/

"Safety:
Special precautions for use in animals
Care should be taken to avoid the content of the pipette coming into contact with the eyes or mouth of the recipient dogs.

Care should be taken to administer the product correctly as described under application. In particular oral uptake due to the licking of the application site by treated or in-contact animals should be avoided.

Do not use on cats.

This product is extremely poisonous to cats and could be fatal due to the unique physiology of this species which is unable to metabolize certain compounds including permethrin. To prevent cats from being accidentally exposed to the product, keep treated dogs away from cats after treatment until the application site is dry. It is important to ensure that cats do not groom the site of application on a dog, which has been treated with this product. Seek veterinary advice immediately if this occurs.

Consult your veterinary surgeon before using the product on sick and debilitated dogs.

As the product is dangerous to aquatic organisms, treated dogs must not under any circumstances be allowed into any type of surface water for at least 48 hours after treatment. "

This message was edited May 5, 2009 7:20 PM

Sorry, we cross-posted! I think the main idea is that the cats must not come into contact with it at all. I think this topic was discussed on the Pets Forum a while back as well...

Thanks, Wrightie. I'll be careful to keep the cats away until it dries but I'm sure not going to stop the only thing that works to keep the ticks here from eating the dog alive.

BTW, how's your baby doing? He's such a handsome devil.

Here is a really good thread (if you turn the other way for the mini-drama that occurred) on flea/tick products for pets. It would make for a good sticky, imo. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/899231/
I am alternating between Frontline Plus and Advantage, so this year will be quite a test to see if they keep the creepy crawlies at bay.

The boy is doing well, thanks. We started a beginner agility class a few weeks ago - his favorite exercise so far is the tunnel. He has to crouch to get through it, but he's really fast nonetheless. ;) He also has a penchant for ZOOOMING out of control in our class ... completely embarrassing for me!

I want to see photos of that! Please.

The ticks and fleas too really are horrible here. I started spraying my yard a couple of years ago and that helps a lot but we're surrounded unmowed fields. I found Frontline Plus didn't do much for the ticks but you probably don't have nearly the tick problem we do.

My husband is trying to convince me to buy some Guinea Hens to keep our tick population down. Has anyone tried these?

I would do that if I could! Hart has chickens, I think. It's not just Guinea Hens that eat them, is it?
Someone on Pets or the Equine forum has talked about them; if I can find the thread, I'll post it.

edit: weird - my last two posts are in opposite order from the way I posted them

This message was edited May 5, 2009 8:01 PM