So many ticks- what to do?
- Thread starter skittledoo
- Start date
The issue I've seen in the area is that typical preventatives aren't enough. For me at least - it's not that we don't use flea and tick preventative. It's just that when we take walks in the woods during the spring/summer months, it's as if she'd never seen a tick preventative in her life. I've honestly been on walks where it's not uncommon to pull 50 ticks off of the two of us. One day I think she must have stepped in a nest because I was petting her legs and found a bunch of tiny bumps - I checked her out and ended up spending about an hour and a half pulling these:
off of her. There must have been 100. Each of those dots is a tiny tiny (bloated up because I didn't catch them soon enough) tick. So anyways, sometimes the ticks are so bad that normal preventatives just don't do the job alone.
off of her. There must have been 100. Each of those dots is a tiny tiny (bloated up because I didn't catch them soon enough) tick. So anyways, sometimes the ticks are so bad that normal preventatives just don't do the job alone.
oh my gosh, that picture is horrible!
Same thing happened to us once when we made the mistake of taking our Aussies for a romp in the woods. When we came back, I wondered, "What is that black patch on Sassy's skin?"
It wasn't a black patch...it was thousands of ticks. Her skin was literally covered, head to tail in ticks! :yikes: You couldn't even see her pink skin.
I've never seen anything like it since and only take the dogs into the woods in the dead cold of winter.
Same thing happened to us once when we made the mistake of taking our Aussies for a romp in the woods. When we came back, I wondered, "What is that black patch on Sassy's skin?"
It wasn't a black patch...it was thousands of ticks. Her skin was literally covered, head to tail in ticks! :yikes: You couldn't even see her pink skin.
I've never seen anything like it since and only take the dogs into the woods in the dead cold of winter.
Ugh... I haven't found anything that works for ticks...
We are in tick heaven, by early March I had already pulled two off of me, and one off of each kid and of course the dogs too. Poor Breez had one in the corner of her eye - attached! That one was a pain and a half to get off!
We have tried both essential oils, frontline, advantix, chanting... Nothing works. And to top it off, the topicals really bother Bates. To the point that he'll go hide in a corner and shiver after we put it on. Not doing that to him every 4 weeks.
The only solution I've decided is a nightly tick check. Everyone gets checked before bed. Dogs & kids. It's a routine now, brush your teeth, check each other for ticks like a bunch of apes LOL!
Fortunately the dogs have minimal hair so it's not that big of a deal. We've already had a bout with ehrlichia, and from what I gather, most tick diseases need days to transmit, so if you make sure to get the tick (even if attached) in the first few hours, you should be okay.
Interestingly, we do really well with fleas. The dogs get MSM and I swear that keeps them down. No flea issue here in years. Bates did pick some up at a show over the summer and I dosed everyone with comfortis, and haven't had any issues since. *Knocks on wood*
We are in tick heaven, by early March I had already pulled two off of me, and one off of each kid and of course the dogs too. Poor Breez had one in the corner of her eye - attached! That one was a pain and a half to get off!
We have tried both essential oils, frontline, advantix, chanting... Nothing works. And to top it off, the topicals really bother Bates. To the point that he'll go hide in a corner and shiver after we put it on. Not doing that to him every 4 weeks.
The only solution I've decided is a nightly tick check. Everyone gets checked before bed. Dogs & kids. It's a routine now, brush your teeth, check each other for ticks like a bunch of apes LOL!
Fortunately the dogs have minimal hair so it's not that big of a deal. We've already had a bout with ehrlichia, and from what I gather, most tick diseases need days to transmit, so if you make sure to get the tick (even if attached) in the first few hours, you should be okay.
Interestingly, we do really well with fleas. The dogs get MSM and I swear that keeps them down. No flea issue here in years. Bates did pick some up at a show over the summer and I dosed everyone with comfortis, and haven't had any issues since. *Knocks on wood*
That picture...omfg I feel like I'm going to die! EWWWW!
I cannot stand ticks, I have a real phobia of parasites (inside and outside the body) and I even get panicky if I THINK ticks will be somewhere. We haven't ever seen a flea or tick since moving to this house and I am SO glad. We don't use anything on the dogs unless there is a problem, then we would probably use frontline or advantix-whichever was available at our vet's.
The rose oil stuff sounds really interesting though, is it expensive??
I cannot stand ticks, I have a real phobia of parasites (inside and outside the body) and I even get panicky if I THINK ticks will be somewhere. We haven't ever seen a flea or tick since moving to this house and I am SO glad. We don't use anything on the dogs unless there is a problem, then we would probably use frontline or advantix-whichever was available at our vet's.
The rose oil stuff sounds really interesting though, is it expensive??
Ticks creep me out big time. I'll pick up a snake and spiders do nothing, but show me a tick and I'll vanish quickly. I have been wanting to take Ro out for some mild hiking at a nearby state park with tons of beautiful wooded, rugged areas but I hesitate because I don't want to pick ticks off either of us.
I have been pretty lucky up until last year we never had any bug problems. Then Last year Desoto seemed to end up with ticks every time he went outside for even a minute and Radar picked up fleas EVERYWHERE he went. So I quickly got over my fear of using poisons on the dogs. The weather here means I can get away with only using it for a few months anyways, everyone is getting dosed this year.
