Tick Finding In My Dog! (adult, state, letter)

Cambium · 04-06-2009, 06:36 PM

::UPDATE::

Dropped off the tick at the Norwalk deptment of Health and get this. They told me if the tick was found on the dog they couldn't test it! So on the form she told me to put where I found it on my body. I said behind my floppy ear. lol Whats that all about? A tick is a tick!

I did mention I think we got it from was cafe pasture beach park woods in Norwalk.

5 weeks they mail the results.

KH02 · 04-07-2009, 05:35 AM

We use a spray bottle that attaches to the hose and my hubby sprays the whole lawn once in the early spring and once halfway through the summer as it lasts a couple months.
I'm not sure what it's called but it takes care of ticks and other bugs (doesnt work on bees though) and he bought it at Home Depot.

Cambium · 04-07-2009, 05:43 AM

KH02 - Thanks. I'll go to Lowes and check it out. I assume its safe for pets to go on lawn after applying. Maybe wait a few hours or a day or something. Maybe I can spray at night.

Anyway - thanks.

JViello · 04-07-2009, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vvolin

Yes, ticks are out already. I found one on my labrador the other day. Last year, our first year in CT was horrible. We kept finding them on the dogs, crawling on our legs in the family room, our "dog space", and finally on my daughter's heads(!) When we moved into our new home a few months earlier, we spent over $1000 to build an invisible fence around the house, which initially included a peace of wood (wouldn't you love to have your dogs enjoy the woods?), we had to have it redrawn (more $!) to exclude the wood and the situation improved dramatically. Still...

Last year, one of my dogs had a disease of the same family as Lyme and had to be treated with antibiotics for 30 days. At this point, we are not going into the woods anymore. Every time we go, we find them on our clothes. The bad ticks are so little, we would not even be able to find them probably. It is just not worth the risk.

That sounds pretty bad. I had a rash of ticks come around our property (And believe me, we live in the woods...) for a season but really have no problems anymore except for the occasional tick.

This is what I know and have found. Ticks live on undergrowth and bushes. You have to maintain your land and not let low growth vegitation take over. That is tick breeding ground.

I spent a considerable amount of time clearing undergrowth and removing sapplings on our land. (We have a couple acres backed up to miles of woods)

I also did a perimeter spray with a generic "bug kill" product I put in a backpack sprayer.

I kindly informed my neighbor that their massive overgrowth of "brush" was a tick haven and in fact my cats were bringing them home from said growth. I offered to spray it for free - they agreed. Later on lazy bones got the hint and cleared it away. No problems with ticks. Myself and my neighbors all go for extended walks behind our homes on the trails and pipeline etc on a regular basis with no issues.

If you have brush, kill it and/or clear it. That will cut down on the ticks a lot. You can use a spray on brush killer if you don't feel like doing the manual labor thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CTHere

::UPDATE::

Dropped off the tick at the Norwalk deptment of Health and get this. They told me if the tick was found on the dog they couldn't test it! So on the form she told me to put where I found it on my body. I said behind my floppy ear. lol Whats that all about? A tick is a tick!

I did mention I think we got it from was cafe pasture beach park woods in Norwalk.

5 weeks they mail the results.

Well...they probably didn't offer to test the tick because the state should not be liable for veterinary care - and that's what that is.

If you wanted your "dog's tick" tested, take it to a vet and pony up. Knowing if it was a carrier of Lyme does nothing aside from letting the "victom" know if they should get treatment. It's not like you'll find you have a colony of lyme infested ticks in your area. It doesn't work that way, it's random. They get the bacteria from feeding on - wait for it...Deer. The tick is simply a carrier like a mosqueto. It's the deer that are the problem. (The over population of starving deer we have I might add.)

I'm glad they have that policy in place, but sad that the state worker was not honest about holding to the standard. Shocking.

Actually if it were up to me, the only time the state should be offering medical care for disease control like that IMO is if you don't have regular health insurance. If you do have health insurance, you should have brought the tick to your family doctor.

andthentherewere3 · 04-07-2009, 07:15 AM

Well, I just pulled my first embedded deer tick of the season off my leg, so I am off to the health dept. to have the tick tested. I don't usually get them tested (I get ticks every year) but he area is red and swollen. *sigh* It's a $3.00 fee. Our health insurance has a $3000.00 annual deductible, so $3 is the better deal. I'm sure the state compiles all the information from ticks received for testing as research.

JViello · 04-07-2009, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andthentherewere3

Well, I just pulled my first embedded deer tick of the season off my leg, so I am off to the health dept. to have the tick tested. I don't usually get them tested (I get ticks every year) but he area is red and swollen. *sigh* It's a $3.00 fee. Our health insurance has a $3000.00 annual deductible, so $3 is the better deal. I'm sure the state compiles all the information from ticks received for testing as research.

Yea, get it tested. When I got lyme, even with a fairly large red patch the test came back negative. About a week went by and I could no longer endure the misery I went back to the Dr and he saw the now formed "bullseye" and said "oh yea, you got lyme". We never bothered to do another test.

48 hours after taking antiboitics I was good as new.

Oh and FYI, I have been bitten several times and the area does still get "red" and itchy for me even without lyme. It kind of looked like an oversized mosquito bite.

The lyme "patch" was about 6 inches round and unmistakeable.

If you feel like you are getting the flu without being sick (If that makes any sense) get ready to take some antibiotics.

KH02 · 04-07-2009, 07:35 AM

Yeah you can spray preferably on a day where there wont be rain for at least 48 hours i think. Last year we had TONS of ticks before spraying and didnt see a single one afterwards.
I'm assuming it is safe for dogs AS i have young children and it IS safe for them!!

andthentherewere3 · 04-07-2009, 07:38 AM

My dh had Lyme several years ago, and had a huge bullseye around his, too. He had the flu-like symptoms. He also felt better a day or so after the antibiotics. I think I am getting paranoid only because of the recent tick threads here! I don't usually get much swelling with ticks, but this one does look exactly like "an oversized mosquito bite", a really big one. Still, I won't get worried unless I start getting "sick".

jimazee · 04-07-2009, 09:53 AM

We have had our 'in the woods' property (in Newtown) sprayed by a local arborist. They used powerful commercial equipment that makes quick work of the job. It appears that this setup does a more thorough job than simple hand spraying, including getting more 'under' of vegetation and leaves. Results have been good.

GypsySoul22 · 04-07-2009, 10:04 AM

Wow...I had the same problem (tick) on MY LUNA (lab pointer) in November. We stopped the medicine (flea and tick) too early or it was not a good dose and I had to yahk off a tick. Bleh.

She's fine but they do worry you. Why are ticks so bad in Connecticut? (I know they are because we'd hear about it a lot in NY, too).

I have to get my husband over to the vet for the flea and tick stuff this week or I am just going to go...I will not have my dog unprotected!!