Ick, ticks.

Beanie

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#1
Took the boys out for a walk yesterday to a park - Payton's first "real" walk anywhere besides our neighbourhood. I don't think this park is particularly wooded, but I guess I still should have checked the boys REALLY well for ticks afterward. I just found a dead one at the foot of my bed. Actually it was dead there this morning, but I didn't look at it that hard when I was getting ready for work - I just now picked it up before we got into bed to go to sleep. Then I started looking and found another dead one on the floor outside Payton's crate.

Yuck. Both boys have now been carefully line brushed and I didn't see any more, or any craters where it looked like they had been bitten. I'm guessing Payton is the one who picked them up because he kept venturing into the weedy stuff. The ticks were really small - I've actually never seen one in person before. Much smaller than I expected. I don't know what they would look like "engorged" but since they were SO little I'm thinking they probably weren't engorged. Like I'd know when I saw them if they were engorged? So I'm hoping they didn't actually get bitten.

I know what I'm doing tomorrow night though. MAJOR cleaning of my bedroom and the office where the dogs sleep to see if there's anymore that climbed off then died and I just don't see them. Ick ick ick!
 

JacksonsMom

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#2
I hate ticks with a passion. We have, like, a gazillion of them here usually. Jackson typically gets at LEAST 15 per spring/summer. Although there was one winter where he got them a lot too. Frontline, most of the time, seems completely ineffective here. So I use Advantix with better luck and can spread it out a bit more too. I always make someone else pull it off - I can't do it - too squeamish with that kind of stuff! He had a HUGE one attached to his eye lid once and when my mom went to pull it off with tweezers, it exploded right when she touched it!
 

Shai

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#4
Supposedly they are going to be awful this year due to the mild winter. I believe it...I've pulled 2 off my dogs already this year. UGH :(
 

SarahHound

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#5
Yuck. :mad:

I found one crawling on Katy last night, rigth beside me on the sofa. Thankfully it hadn't bitten. Yucky. Guess its time for flea and tick stuff to go on them.
 

Snark

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#6
Been pulling ticks off the horses all winter, found a few on the dogs (they're on Frontline but the ticks have to bite for it to work) and a couple on me (usually after working around the gardens - ewwwwwwww!) We do 'tick patrol' every evening.
 

Southpaw

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#7
You'd definitely know if it was engorged. They balloon up like grapes lol. Nasty.

My dogs just don't seem to get ticks. We've ran through the woods a few times this year already with nothing. I keep meaning to put their Certifect on them...
 

Beanie

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#8
You'd definitely know if it was engorged. They balloon up like grapes lol. Nasty.
That's what I figured. Gross. LOL. They were all tiny and flat still so we should be good.
I found a live one this morning... don't know if I somehow missed it last night and it fell off Payton, or if it fell off the night before and just now crawled out of wherever it was hiding and it was a coincidence. (He was sitting on the floor and it was behind him.) Bleh! Those things are hard to kill too, especially because I don't really have much in the way of fingernails. I should have just flushed it down the toilet, it would have been faster and easier than stabbing repeatedly with my practically non-existent fingernails. ;P

I think it is going to be a really bad tick season. Last year was bad too so I bet this year will be worse... already bad and then no deep freeze to kill stuff off... ugh. =/ I have a natural spray that is supposed to help repel them, I should have sprayed them with that beforehand. I didn't think this place had ticks though, and definitely not so bad that the boys would bring several home! I went running there all the time last year in shorts and never came home with anything. I can't imagine what it will be like when I actually take them to the woods for a walk... bleh. We'll be sitting in the parking lot for hours looking for ticks in all their coat!

Snark, Frontline says they don't have to bite for it to be effective - just coming into contact with it on the dog's coat will kill 'em. But it can take 48 hours for them to die after coming into contact with the Frontline.
 

Shai

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#9
Yeah I ended up crushing mine on the bathroom counter with a mascara tube lol.

If this keeps up I'm going to need a tick jar like several friends in more tick-infested areas have...lidded jar with rubbing alcohol in the bottom...just toss tick in and seal back up...
 

ACooper

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#10
*shivers* too much like spiders...........they freak me out!

I don't want a bad tick season :( I haven't seen or pulled a tick since my 19 year old daughter was in 3rd grade and I pulled 2 off of her neck after a hike but Phoebe was clean, ROFL!
 
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#11
The authorities say that it is going to be an especially bad year for ticks and fleas.. yuck, wish they had frontline for people. I've already been bitten by two, but Tyler has had none. I'm outside alot so I alway check my self before bed.
 
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#12
This has been the worst season we have had in memory where I live. I am usually able to avoid having to use flea/tick preventatives in the boonies. But Desoto picked up several in under a week and he had not even been out in the fields or tall grass where the deer path is and I usually see them. Ewwwww. I removed them and bathed him and he is now checked even when he goes out for a quick pee. I used Advantix on him for the first time and seems to be doing good so far.
 

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