Ticks On The South Coast

[mac'ella]

Hi Im taking the dogs to the south coast near batemans bay next march and want to be prepared for ticks.Can any one living in the area give me some advice on the types there also the best preventative if you're swimming the dogs everyday.I will be checking them each day but dont want to overdo the chemicals either.

[baifra]

Yes there are paralysis ticks down this way. Lots of em!!

I use advantix every 14 days on my dogs and check them everyday. They haven't had a tick to date thankfully.

Your dogs can swim after having advantix applied. Probably best to wait a day or so first.

[dancinbcs]

If I was going down there to swim dogs daily, I think I would go with Proban. The paralysis ticks are really bad along the NSW coast and particularly bad this year.

Much as I hate the idea of oral solutions to parasites, Proban is the only thing that kills ticks if they get them internally eg. down the throat or ear or in the anus. All more likely with dogs swimming. If I lived on the coast I don't know if I would keep them on Proban all the time but for a shorter period for a holiday I think the Proban is worth it.

[Poodle wrangler]

I used to live an hour north of Bateman's Bay.

Advantix fortnightly & regular checks.

Think u need to wait 48 hrs after a bath (if applicable) b4 applying.

Something about oils in skin and topical medication distribution.

Apparently, most ticks are found fwd of the collar, so i used to check there as daily minimum in warmer months.

You might use a tick collar.

I didn't only because dogs frequently cuddled by kids and i didn't want the anti-tick stuff on them.

Have fun.

[mac'ella]

thanks for the advice

would it be ok to use advantix and proban or does advantix work well enough as one of my dogs has on occasions coughed up tablets or hidden them well.also I was going to start treatment 2 days before we leave and remember something about advantix or similar being dangerous to cats,as we have an older cat which will be near the dogs at home I want to check this out, if necessary I will keep them apart.

Both dogs are short haired, ticks shouldn't be difficult to locate but the internal ones would be more difficult to find.

[dancinbcs]

thanks for the advice

would it be ok to use advantix and proban or does advantix work well enough as one of my dogs has on occasions coughed up tablets or hidden them well.also I was going to start treatment 2 days before we leave and remember something about advantix or similar being dangerous to cats,as we have an older cat which will be near the dogs at home I want to check this out, if necessary I will keep them apart.

Both dogs are short haired, ticks shouldn't be difficult to locate but the internal ones would be more difficult to find.

Both advantix and Proban need to be started a couple of weeks before. If using Advantix you would need them on at least the second fortnightly treatment before leaving. No idea if you can use them together or not.

Frontline is the only thing that works straight away but is not as reliable with dogs that swim all the time.

[dianed]

We do have paralyzes tick and also brown grass tick which usually feeds then drops off. Advantix is the best to use I feel, I,d apply it the day you arrive. My dogs rarely have ticks as we avoid the bush, but in the past I have found dead ones on one dog so Advantix did the job.

On some local beaches such as the Broulee big beach which by the way has the best off leash area there are heaps of Banksia trees that I have found carry ticks so I would watch your dogs if you are near any. March is a good time here on the coast and hopefully not to many ticks around if the summer is dry. If it turn out to be a wet summer then ticks will be around.

[mac'ella]

thanks again for the replies

We are actually heading to Tomakin so not far from Broulee so should expect similar.

Not having ticks in our locality is a plus but also puts us behind the eight ball when we travel, we do often find blue toungues covered with ticks but these are obviously not a dog type.Our main worry around here is snakes. I havent used frontline for years as both my prev staffy and our cat reacted badly to it ,tho our boxer was fine, Im not game to try it with our new staffy,you are so lucky living down that way Im looking at moving down there myself later on.

[sheree_e4]

Ok I would get your dogs frontline sprayed this will last for 3 weeks against paralysis ticks longer for fleas ... the difference between the top spot and the spray is the spray adheres to the coat where the top spot goes through the oil glands in the skin - and then if they are swimming everyday I would be giving them proban every 2nd day.

Tick collars / topspots would be a waste of money, they would not be effective at all.

Also if you have a long coated dog think about getting the dog clipped before coming down, when I say clip I mean a #7 all over leaving the tail but all fur on the head and ears clipped short as most ticks are found forward of the front legs but this does not mean they won't attach in other areas.