tick question

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

I took Sherlock and Noah on a 6 mile hike yesterday and they loved it. The only problem is that after the hike, I found two ticks on Sherlock's face - they weren't embedded into the skin, but they were literally crawling through his facial hair, very close to his eyes. I'm concerned because one of the ticks was fat and red. I called my vet and they said I should bring him to the vet in 3 weeks and they'll run a blood test to see if he was bitten/infected. Sherlock is 11 months old and has been on frontline plus since he was 4 months old. I give it to him every month. I read that frontline plus doesn't prevent a tick from biting, but it will make the tick fall off and die. Is it possible for a tick to embed and fall off in 6 hours? We were only outside for about 6-7 hours and since I live in NYC, there are no ticks on the sidewalks or dog run I go to. I would also think that a tick would embed into the skin right away rather than combing through the hair and looking for the perfect spot to embed. Do you think this tick jumped off another host and onto Sherlock? I'm freaked out because the tick was engorged with blood. :-(

Does anyone know anything about ticks?

[Ellen]

My childhood house was in a wooded area, so ticks were always a problem. It's my understanding that ticks will attach themselves and will continue to feed until they're done. Depending on the type of tick, this could take several hours or days. And I agree that it's more likely that the tick would embed into the skin right away rather than looking for a perfect spot, although I understand that they prefer spots where there's little hair (for a dog, I guess that would be inside of ears, under front legs). What I don't know is whether a tick will jump to another host after eating.

Check out this website for info about dogs and ticks, including symptoms of certain tick diseases -- http://www.dogsandticks.com/.

I think that you took the right step in contacting your vet, but waiting 3 weeks seems like a long time. I would be on pins and needles the entire time. I didn't think it took that long for a tick-borne disease (if any) to manifest itself, but I'm not a vet.

[MBKANE]

Jane I really wouldn't worry too much. Having been raised around dogs since age 5 and living in a very wooded, humid, and tick prevalent area we had many ticks on our dogs throughout the years despite using preventative. There were several instances where they were engorged. Having said it wasn't a situation where they needed to be rushed to the vet, more than not a dog will not get infected with a tick borne disease. Try to relax i'm sure Sherlock is just fine!!

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

If the tick was engorged that means it fed. The reason why the vet said to wait is that the Lymes Test will show negative up to 10 days. The tick had to be on Sherlock or someone else to be engorged. They take up to 24 hours to feed, so if it was on Sher it was not from today's walk. I also do not believe they can jump, not gorged, so it could not have done so engorged. If it is large it is a Dog Tick and does not transfer Lymes. Did you take the tick to the vet with you? He/she should be able to tell what kind of tick it is. The tiny, pinhead sized Deer Ticks are the one's that transfer Lymes. Do not give the Lymes Vaccine right now but wait out the time and have a Lymes Test done. Eve if positive, it is very early and treatable. If you and any of your family start to feel very run down, achey and tired, have your doctor run a Western Blot test on you, too. Lymes is treatable when discovered early. Horrible if allowed to set in.

Frontline does not repel ticks, it kills the tick after it bites. This tick fed on something that did not have Frontline. I like Castor and Pollux Play Dead collars for repelling. They smell nice, too. Keep us posted.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

If they weren't teeny tiny, they were probably Dog Ticks and nothing to worry about. Ticks can be found in NYC in the parks and other places as they hitch a ride on birds and other mammals. The North East is crazy with Lyme's Disease, even called an epidemic by some. But being diligent will keep you safe. Next time, save the tick to show to your vet. Sherlock will be fine, keep an eye on the humans in the house. Aches and pains, extreme tiredness, etc. go get a Elisa and Western Blot Test, insist on them. My doctor told me I probably didn't have it, he was checking thyroid, etc. I insisted and it came back positive. A round of antibiotics and I was fine. My sister had if for years and it went undiagnosed. That's when it progresses into other nasty things. The key is to get diagnosed and get the antibiotics, fast. But the blood test on humans can't be done for 10+ days. Even then, if you had been on certain meds, the test could be thrown off.

When going into the woods, get some Deep Woods OFF to spray on your clothes, especially your pants legs and the collars and citronella spray for the dogs. I have lived in the woods of NJ for 20 years and ticks are a part of life.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Lynne - do you keep the collars on all the time or when you take them to them to play in the woods or a hike?

Do you know if any of the once-a-month topicals work on repelling the ticks?

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I keep them on all summer. But will take them off if I catch them going in the pool. They smell really nice and when I don't smell them anymore, I change them. Like 3-4 weeks. We still get an occaisional tick, but never any fleas, flys or mosquitos. I guess I am going back to the Frontline Plus this year as I had a problem last year with K9 Advantix and I have not been able to find another alternative that I am happy with. I went the all natural route, but it wasn't very effective. I might try the diomacheous(sp) earth this year in the yard.

[Terri]

We live in Central PA and our home is surrounded by state game lands. 2 weeks ago when the weather started to get nice we took our 2 doodles for a hike in the nearby woods. Both dogs are on K9 Advantix and get the Lyme vaccine annually. We always check our dogs thoroughly after each hike for ticks, briars, etc, A few days after our outing we found 7 ticks on Rudy our curly coated doodle and 1 on Gus,our flat coated doodle. One of the bite sites on Rudy had a red ring around it. I called our vet and we were given an appt for 1 1/2 weeks after our outing. I had both dogs professionally groomed. Between the time of my call to the vet and after the groomings and before our appt, I found 4 more ticks on Rudy. They were the smallest ticks I have ever seen and were very difficult to get ahold of. Several were on his snout around his eyes.
Friday I took both dogs to the vet. Gus tested negative but Rudy tested positive for both Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis which is another tick borne disease and has some pretty scary implications. My vet took addl blood to do a C6 titer test for the Lyme disease and a CBC for the Anaplasmosis. We started Doxycyclin immediately. Friday night I went home and googled anaplasmosis cos I had never heard of it before. The more I read, the more questions I had. My vet called me on Saturday to let me know that the CBC came back with excellent white and red blood cell counts which is very good news as far as the Anaplasmosis is concerned. She answered all of my questions and alleviated my major concerns. Still waiting for the C6 titer results but both diseases are treated with the same antibiotic so we are already treating. The results of the test will determine how long we treat. Rudy showed no symptoms of either disease. He is a happy, healthy-looking dog. I am hopeful that we caught everything early and that we will be able to control these nasty diseases. Your blood tests should give you all of the answers that you need and from what I understand immediate detection and treatment will keep your dog healthy. We live in a very high risk area for ticks and Lyme disease. The chances that Sherlock's tick carried any diseases are probably slim. If you get any info different from what I was given I hope you will share. Best Wishes and Good Luck!

[Terri]

Hi Jane,
The 70% effective rate your friends give the Lyme vaccine is a generous estimate. My vet estimates it to be as low as 40% and did discuss the risks with me but given the tick population in my area I felt that I would be remiss not to take every precaution available. The snap test is what detected the Anaplasmosis. I believe it is the 4th element that your friend couldn't remember. It was listed on my invoice along with the other 3 (lyme.ehrlichia, and heartworm). Rudy was actually wet when we found the ticks on him but he has mottled colored skin with some black areas and we obviously missed a few. The ticks were very small so they were either deer ticks or young ticks. They actually looked like the dark grainy 'sleep' that Rudy sometimes gets in the corners of his eyes, except of course for the presence of legs. As prevelant as ticks are in my area they still freak me out! Rudy thinks he is a very lucky pup. He has been getting what he perceives to be a thorough rubdown and massage every night for the past 2 weeks but in reality I am desperately searching for any ticks that we may have missed. Rudy and Gus were together the entire time and we only found 1 tick on Gus. They have always preferred Rudy....
As much as we enjoy our romps in the woods, we are giving them up. A friend of ours who lives less than a mile from us lost his young lab to Lyme disease a couple of years ago but he wasn't using any preventatives. We thought with the protective measures we took that there wasn't much chance that our dogs would contract any tick borne diseases.