Another Lyme / Tick Conversation

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

I was scrolling through the other (2016) tick conversation and it got me a bit curious.  Am I over medicating my girls?  I think I need some help sorting this out.  Our local rescue group works with the vets office and puts on a clinic every year, my girls get Lyme booster, rabies, bortadella and distemper. In addition I give my girls Trifexis once a month.  It makes them throw up (problematic to start with) so I break it in half and give it twelve hours apart, that allows them to get the full dose but not as likely to throw up.  My girls will not go near the 'chewable' tablet so I have to administer it, they are probably smarter than I am, right? I don't use the type we pour on their back, they wrestle and grab each other around the neck a lot and I don't want that ingested, also since they are always on my lap I don't want to have it on me either.

So here is what I am thinking this morning. My girls are never walked in a woody area, only asphalt or concrete paths (I am highly susceptible to poison ivy and never recognize it so...), their yard is huge with white rock on the ground and a potty area that has grass, no critters can get in.  I think the possibility of a tick getting on them is pretty minimal. On the other hand, if it did I would see it right away on Polly but Meg's coat is so dense I would never find it.

So I found this article this morning,

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/03/27/outdoors/lyme-tests-and-treat...  and now I am questing why I give them the Trifexis at all.  Our local vet sold his practice to a corporation that only brings in vets straight out of school who only stay 6 months to a year and then leave for the city, I am not willing to rely on them for this.  I know we have a lot of people on here that can sort this out better than I so I am asking for your help.  I think my girls might be better off without the Trifexis.  It is pricey but I don't mind that if they need it.

Thanks for any insight on this.

[Amy and Annabelle]

Even if you didn't have them on flea/tick, they would still need to be on heartworm in my opinion.

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

I agree wholeheartedly Amy, I don't want to take them off of anything they need and I know there are good options for the rest of what they need, I just think this med is very strong and possibly not necessary.

[Amy and Annabelle]

I myself wouldn't give Trifexis. When I was researching for Annabelle, it seemed to make a lot of dogs sick. I give Annabelle her flea/tick on the 15th of the month and her heartworm on the 30th. That way she is not taking it all at once. I live in the country so, flea/tick is not an option for me.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You must use something to prevent heartworm disease and fleas, even if ticks are not a threat in your area. 

I don't give JD the Lyme vaccine, and I am also not worried about ticks. But most flea preventatives work against ticks, too. We use unflavored, non-chewable Heartgard tablets for HW prevention, and I do use a topical for fleas/ticks. 

Yearly rabies shots are not necessary, nor are yearly parvo/distemper shots. Both are available in three-year versions, but that's usually not an option at the "low cost" shot clinics. Still, if you are worried about over-medicating, over-vaccinating should be a concern as well. Bordatella can be given separately and intra-nasally instead of as a shot. 

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

I agree and would keep them on all the protection they need, just not sure if I am giving them too much for tick protection.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think I edited my response after you replied, Judy.

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

Thanks for the extra information, good to know.  We take advantage of the clinics because they are there but do not have an issue about needing them.  We actually had an issue with one of the vaccinations this year and why it is doubled with another on most years but this year not necessary, had to reach out to our retired vet to get some answers on that one.  I did not know we could do the bordatella intra-nasally and we do it every year because we frequently take the girls with us when we travel. I am going to do some more studying and then go talk to an out of town vet and see if we can agree on how to keep the girls healthy but not over done.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I do have shrubs and vegetation at the edges of our large yard. But the yard is fenced and we never have deer in the yard. Yet the dogs do get ticks that I know definitely come from the yard. Ticks are carried by mice as part of their life cycle and that is how the dogs get ticks. I do use topical tick/flea prevention but I do check for those tiny larval ticks especially in late fall and spring. Here is a good explanation.
http://www.tickencounter.org/faq/deer_and_rodents

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

Thanks for the article and point of view.  We have recently done some landscaping outside of the girls fence and will need to take that in to consideration.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I may try these in the spring.
http://www.ticktubes.com/