Tick Warning Seq Areas

[BC Crazy]

Thats very kind of you jessabel :) I was worried for Bunno as it would be so worrying after already losing one beloved dog to the retched things & not really sure how to do a tick search. Thanks for taking the time for a fellow dog loving owner.

[BrunoBella]

My vet told me that the collars do work, but it depends on where the tick lodges, and how far it is from a blood vessel, as the chemicals travel along the blood vessels. I am not sure I believe that though!!

I recently took 2 ticks off my big puppy (8kg) - one was very engorged. Our ticks are really nasty for some reason. All the vets hate seeing tick dogs from my area.

Jed

What region are you from .... am trying to find a safer spot than gold coast.. :)

[BrunoBella]

I agree, ticks will be a bigger problem with climate change.. I had never seen a tick as I come from Canberra. That's how I lost bruno

Checking bella daily. Don't want to lose another dog...

Is there somewhere where you can get someone to show you how to check for ticks? I have been doing it for two weeks but am still not confident of my skills.

Hey BrunoBella, I live about 15 mins from you and would be glad to show you how to check your dog.

Do you want to meet at a dog park or something?

Please read up on the life cycle and habitat of ticks, really need to "know your enemy".

Thank you... Do you live in the gold coast?

I had forgotten about videos, so today watched about 20 videos for how to find ticks.. I feel a lot more confident already...

Diagnosing tick paralysis

Edited for forgetfullness..Thank you everyone for the fantastic info... We have been to Burleigh beach every day for the last two days..... Twas bruno and bellas favourite place in the world :laugh:

Edited November 29, 2013 by BrunoBella

[jezzabel]

I agree, ticks will be a bigger problem with climate change.. I had never seen a tick as I come from Canberra. That's how I lost bruno

Checking bella daily. Don't want to lose another dog...

Is there somewhere where you can get someone to show you how to check for ticks? I have been doing it for two weeks but am still not confident of my skills.

Hey BrunoBella, I live about 15 mins from you and would be glad to show you how to check your dog.

Do you want to meet at a dog park or something?

Please read up on the life cycle and habitat of ticks, really need to "know your enemy".

Thank you... Do you live in the gold coast?

I had forgotten about videos, so today watched about 20 videos for how to find ticks.. I feel a lot more confident already...

Diagnosing tick paralysis

Edited for forgetfullness..Thank you everyone for the fantastic info... We have been to Burleigh beach every day for the last two days..... Twas bruno and bellas favourite place in the world :laugh:

We are near Nerang.

We have a GSP cross something something, however he is a total goofball and typical of the breed.

There are 8 acres here and we now have it all mowed and cleared.

No ticks on the dog yet.. touching wood.

We have had a couple of sessions in the dam paddock chasing swamp hens and no snakes or other nasties have been spotted.

This is due to the fact that the snakes were all around the house (sorted now) so I figure the paddock can't be any worse.

It is shady around the dam (treed) so that is not the snakey area, keep him focused on the water birds and me.

When I see him start to quarter the open grassed area I worry then, he is looking for water dragons or any other reptiles.

Very dry early summer was good, now the rain, storms have created humidity I would expect to find ticks.

Have read they breed in mulch so must keep up the regular mowing so no thick mulch accumulates.

Cane toads under control finally, I have been collecting them every night for over 2 years now only the odd one.

Qld is a bad place for breeds with high prey drive!

[BrunoBella]

I agree, ticks will be a bigger problem with climate change.. I had never seen a tick as I come from Canberra. That's how I lost bruno

Checking bella daily. Don't want to lose another dog...

Is there somewhere where you can get someone to show you how to check for ticks? I have been doing it for two weeks but am still not confident of my skills.

Hey BrunoBella, I live about 15 mins from you and would be glad to show you how to check your dog.

Do you want to meet at a dog park or something?

Please read up on the life cycle and habitat of ticks, really need to "know your enemy".

Thank you... Do you live in the gold coast?

I had forgotten about videos, so today watched about 20 videos for how to find ticks.. I feel a lot more confident already...

Diagnosing tick paralysis

Edited for forgetfullness..Thank you everyone for the fantastic info... We have been to Burleigh beach every day for the last two days..... Twas bruno and bellas favourite place in the world :laugh:

We are near Nerang.

We have a GSP cross something something, however he is a total goofball and typical of the breed.

There are 8 acres here and we now have it all mowed and cleared.

No ticks on the dog yet.. touching wood.

We have had a couple of sessions in the dam paddock chasing swamp hens and no snakes or other nasties have been spotted.

This is due to the fact that the snakes were all around the house (sorted now) so I figure the paddock can't be any worse.

It is shady around the dam (treed) so that is not the snakey area, keep him focused on the water birds and me.

When I see him start to quarter the open grassed area I worry then, he is looking for water dragons or any other reptiles.

Very dry early summer was good, now the rain, storms have created humidity I would expect to find ticks.

Have read they breed in mulch so must keep up the regular mowing so no thick mulch accumulates.

Cane toads under control finally, I have been collecting them every night for over 2 years now only the odd one.

Qld is a bad place for breeds with high prey drive!

Gsps are goofballs especially the boys, thats why I miss bruno so much Prey drive has killded 2 chickens, possums, , butterflies, christmas beetle, lizards and snakes since july. Bella and bruno killed two snakes together . Scary to watch!!

Good idea about the clearing. Will try and do that when I get to back to brisbane.. Currently with family.

GSPs are good friends :)

I was about to try and train Bruno to be my assistance dog for when I get older.. However, have been reading another topic on assistance dogs so might have to get a calm lab for my next dog. Only if I can have a chocolate lab. Bella is already fantastic at slobering me with kisses when i sat and cried about bruno...

Edited December 1, 2013 by BrunoBella

[Mystiqview]

I have a question. If the preventative spot on treatments do not really work, as it appears lots of people have said they don't. Is it worth subjecting our dogs to the fortnightly chemicals when we have to check them daily anyway.

I have 3 coated breeds and am terrified of ticks although, thankfully, we don't seem to get many round here. I have found one on Jenna a couple of years ago. Judging by it's size it had probably been on her a couple of days, thankfully she suffered no ill effects.

Also for those of you that get multiple ticks a day, do you know where they are getting them from. Is it just in your yard or when out walking? Is it from bushes in your garden? I'm intrigued because I don't really have any plants in my garden, just lawn, and wondered if this was why mine rarely get them.

Property:

I live on acerage out at Samford - only half hour north-west of Brisbane CBD. I have about 1/2 acre fenced off for the dogs. I have four border collies and with the acerage, I do not need to go for walks outside the property boundary nor take them to an off lead park. The ticks are coming from their fenced area. They are either kenneled at night or inside with us (depending on their level of dirtyness). I have three clam shells running under three golden cane palm trees for them to paddle and cool down during summer. Our place used to be a dairy, so most trees were originally blown off the property. We have since planted groves of trees in the paddocks for the horses. There are about 6 orange trees in the dog fenced area. Down the front there are mock oranges planted as a hedge on the outside of the fence bordering the council "footpath" or "nature strip".

We were fine for about 17 years. despite the general surrounding locale being well known for a bad tick area, we were relatively tick free. Until about 4 years ago. Since then I think our planted trees have grown somewhat as we have an increase in possums and bandicoots. When we first moved here, we used to see kangaroos through the paddocks, but think our area is now too built up for them to move freely.

I do not know if it helps or not, but we keep the grass cut short in the dog run areas. I have found the ticks worse if we allow the grass to get too long. In summer, it is nearly a weekly mowing program as we have all improved pasture from when our place was operating as a dairy. If they go to the dam for a swim they are immediately thrown in the hydrobath afterwards and given a tick bath.

Tick locations:

Most of the ticks I pull off daily are on the face -including around the eyes, under the elbows. Some are on the body around the shoulder area. Some are inside the back legs on the inner thigh. I have found some on the front legs and also in the sensitive sunken tendon areas on the legs. For years the vets here have been stating in the weekly bulletin that they are getting X number of tick admittances a day. They have also stated repeatedly "Not to rely on tick preparations" even back in the days where we used to through the dogs through the cattle dip after treating the cattle.

I was using proban until it was taken off the market. I have also used without success Advantix, Frontline Plus, Frontline Original, Kiltix, Maldacin (tick wash) and now am currently using Preventic tick collars with a weekly/fortnightly bath in Fidos tick shampoo - again to hopefully kill any ticks I may have missed. Still without great success.

I am finding though that while the ticks are attached and I am pulling up to 6 ticks a day of each dog, they are sickly looking. I would still NEVER rely on these products 100% and hope that given I have long hair dogs, the tick collar may buy me a few more hours in case I missed a tick during the twice daily checks.

I have had dogs including a 12 week puppy at the vets in a very sickly way. One dog who did not show big signs of tick paralysis, only a slight (still serious) change of gait took 6 months after two days at the vet to fully recover her fitness. Fortunately I have not lost a dog to a tick yet, however I do know the stress and pain you go through while the dog is there. I have always lived in a high tick area, so the daily checks for me have always been a routine.

We have also found here in recent years that there is no OFF tick season. We were getting them right through winter. The last three weeks have been particularly bad for ticks.

Most tick preparations should not be used on puppies under 12 weeks. What I have done is put fidos tick shampoo into a spray bottle and sprayed the pups twice a day.

[teekay]

Thanks Mystiqview, for your lengthy reply. It was very helpful.