Dogs and ticks

[seebs]

The dog has brought home a couple of ticks.

His owner is terrified of ticks. I merely dislike them.

What should we do to prevent ticks from biting the dog, or for that matter, from following him home and then biting us?

[freemonkey]

Go to your vet and get a good flea & tick treatment! I use Advantage, which I get from an online source, but I don't think that's for ticks (we don't have them here). I hear Frontline is pretty good.

Fleas and ticks carry diseases and parasites that are harmful to you and your pets, so take care of it ASAP.

[Artemis Entreri]

I've always used Advantage, and even though it says it's for fleas it seems to work for ticks too.
However, since you have a tick problem you might want to try Frontline since it works for fleas and ticks. You just squirt the packet onto the skin between their shoulders and that's it. It kills the bugs, eggs, and larva on the dog and the area where he rests. Clean the house by bombing it with a fogger that kills adults and eggs of fleas and ticks.

You should be careful with ticks, they can carry Lyme disease which is something you don't want to get. Check yourself and each other frequently until you're confident the ticks are all gone. Ticks will try to hide in hair so check all your hairy zones; head, under arms, ect.

PS:
If you find a tick that's latched on to you or the dog don't just yank it off. You will probably just pull off its body leaving the head in which can cause infection. The best method seems to be using tweezers and gently pressure to pull the tick out. Make sure that nothing is left behind in the wound and swab with alcohol. Keep an eye on the bite location and go to the doctor if you see any continued irritation or discoloration.

[One for Sorrow]

My dog is on Frontline and she still brought in a couple. Brian found one in his hair the other day (not biting him but still...:shudder:) and about two nights ago there was one crawling up my computer screen.

I think maybe I should give her the next does a little bit early.

[Dingfod]

Frontline or Advantix work for ticks and fleas, and mosquitos too. I wish the stuff would go generic and get less expensive.

[Naruto]

I know the vets I work for are phasing out one kind of flea/tick stuff because fleas are getting resistant to it, but I don't know which brand or whether they have the same problem with ticks.

[One for Sorrow]

Can you find that out, Naruto? I want to make sure I'm not using an ineffective kind.

I just found a tick biting my cat, too. Argh. I hope I got the head off of her. She was squirming when I got the tweezers and I know I "popped" the tick. There was a good amount of blood from that. When she's willing to trust me again I'll check to see if I got all of it.

Definitely time for more Advantix for her (or whatever. I ran out of it for her and the soonest I can make it to the vet for more will be Friday.)

[Crumb]

The vet can give you stronger stuff by perscription, too. When the cat had fleas the vet scoffed at the effectiveness of the OTC version. It is more expensive for the good stuff, of course.

[seebs]

We had all the cats on Advantage once for fleas. This resulted in one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

For one thing, Maya figured out about the small tube of horrible-smelling stuff. To this day, if I hold something like that, she hisses, spits, and skitters backwards with her fur up.

Anyway, I put it on all the cats, and Maya walked up to Bacchus to give him an experimental lick (they usually bathed each other). She hissed, reared up on her hind legs, and smacked him in the face, then ran away.