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I live in the northeast USA and walking through fields or woods often results in finding ticks on or in you when you get back home, although this usually only happens to me every now and then. I also have three dogs that have picked up ticks from time to time but I've been lucky (before now) with never finding any on me or in the house, just stuck on them. However, I've now found ticks on me four times since the end of October, one of those times being when I woke up to find a tick buried in my shoulder with a large dark red spot around where it had bitten. I then found several more ticks in my bed and on my clothes. The same day my brother also found a tick in him with a similar red spot; we both went to the hospital, found out they were deer ticks and that we had likely contracted Lyme Disease. Thankfully it was fairly easy and painless to treat since it had been caught early.
After that I set off a tick "bomb" or "fogger" in my bedroom that supposedly kills all the ticks in the area and also thoroughly washed all my clothes and vacuumed and sprayed the entire house; I had to be especially careful with the fogger and spray since I have two aquariums in my house and a pond in the backyard that all have fish/various aquatic animals in them and I also have 43 birds (13 chickens, 30 quail) living in pens in my backyard so I was concerned about potentially harming or killing them with any of the toxic chemicals from the tick sprays/foggers that might reach them. It was an all-day process that was not at all easy or fun. So today, a week or so later, I go for a walk with my three dogs (all of whom are treated with Frontline) and the grass where we're walking is cut real short so I didn't think I had to worry about ticks but when I got back home I found four ticks crawling through my first dog's fur, two crawling through the second dog's fur and three crawling through the third dog's fur. All of the ticks were definitely deer ticks, not dog ticks. None of them were attached, just crawling around loose. Some of them were tiny so I'm worried that there are even more of them still on the dogs that I missed because they were too small or were otherwise hidden.
So what do I do to make sure no more ticks get on my dogs, in my house and on me? I can't leave the dogs outside since it's been either raining or snowing all week and is always below freezing at night, plus the biggest dog always manages to escape from the backyard somehow and the littlest one (a Toy Poodle) hates being outside for more than 2 minutes. I have both a tick repellent (Sawyer Duranon Insect Clothing Repellent with Permethrin) and a tick spray for killing ticks indoors (Vet Kem Siphotrol Plus Spray) but they both say they're highly toxic and should not be used on dogs or any other animals so I can't spray the dogs with it and clearly the Frontline (which for 3 dogs can become quite expensive) isn't doing anything.
I really don't want to have to spend any more days washing, vacuuming, spraying and fumigating everything and I'd also rather not have to go back to the hospital and go through another regiment of antibiotics for Lyme Disease if I get bitten again. Plus it can be pretty hard to get to sleep at night thinking about all the tiny deer ticks that could be crawling around in your bed, through your hair, under your clothes etc, so I'd really like to be done with this for good. Any suggestions or advice? It would be *much* appreciated!
I have my dogs vaccinated against Lyme's disease by the vet. annually.
I'm surprised your chickens are not keeping the tick populations under control. Do you let them free range? Have you considered getting Guineas? I've heard they are tick eating machines!
Honestly, except on a fresh deer carcass, I've never seen ticks after the first snowfall, especially the "seed ticks" that are prevalent in Spring and early summer.
The dogs, since they are indoor, outdoor dogs, will need to be quarantined to an area, with a baby gate, no more sleeping in your bed. Let them stay in the kitchen area where there is a tile floor, I assume you have a dog door, or back door? Dog beds with Cedar repel ticks. Inspect the dogs, but keep them out of main parts of the house, until you are sure they are tick free. Clean each room of the house, checking for ticks, couches, beds, everywhere..that is the only way you are going to contain this infestation. And throughly brush each dog, every day, inspecting for ticks.
i see you said the dogs are treated with frontline...is is frontline or frontline PLUS, (frontline does not protect against ticks...you need frontline plus)
you may however be in a resistant area where it might be worth trying k9 advantix (our area frontline plus is usless against fleas and ticks as theyve become reistant)
other than that id suggest letting your chickens range as much as possible and adding a flock of guinneas, they will keep the tick population around your home very well controled (the guinneas especially, not the brightest birds in the barn, but tick machines!)
the problem with frontline and most topicals is they dont REPEL ticks, the ticks will still bite as its not untill they feed that the chemicals get into the ticks system and poisens it...
so if your finding live ticks in your home they may be comming in ON the dogs, but they are not feeding on the dogs (again unless they are resistent to the frontline)
i would suggest doing a thorough tick check on the dogs each time they come in...time consuming yes...but worth it.
for you, when your out walking, deet...i dont like chemicals but ticks freek me out and ill happily deet myself for that...
i would also suggest steeping lemon based herbs (ideally cirtonella leaves and catnip) in water and using that as a spray on for both you and the dogs when your going out walking (catnip is a very powerful insect repelant).
tick check yourself too after going out walking in leaves/long grass ect.
I cant beleive you are still having a tick problem after a freeze. The ticks have been long gone from here for a while and now I think the fleas are gone too. I had such a hard time with fleas this year and had to go from frontline plus to K-9 Advantix and it finally worked.
I'm so sorry, and I feel your pain...we don't have deer ticks around here, but we did have a pretty horrible dog tick infestation awhile back, and it was a nightmare!
Some suggestions: Diatomaceous earth (food grade) can be used in the garden...it pierces the shell of the tick and dehydrates it to death. Beneficial nematodes, which can be purchased at most garden stores, eat ticks (but I'm not sure how that would work in extremely cold weather...) The DE can also be used inside the home, but be careful because the dust flies everywhere and you don't want to be breathing it in...put your dogs in a separate area when you work with it, and wear a mask...if you have wood floors, work it into the cracks and crevices of the floorboards with a broom, let it sit for awhile, then broom-vac it up so the excess is gone but the cracks are still filled. If it's a carpet, I would recommend letting it sit for about 24 hours before vacuuming it up.
As far as repelling, I have found the most effective way to do this without chemicals is to bathe them a lot and oil them up with a mixture of any veggie oil and essential oils like lemongrass, geranium, peppermint, and/or lavender. Ticks HATE geranium particularly, but all of these oils have repelling properties. If the idea of oil won't work (like if they love rolling in dirt, etc.) get a spray bottle and mix the EOs with plain water and give them a spritz a few times a day (or spritz a washcloth and wipe them down if they hate spritzing as much as mine do, LOL!)
I just moved to a knew area I have 2 small dogs and they get walked twice daily. We notice yesterday ticks on both dogs, bath them quick and with tweezers started removing all the ticks i was so shocked it was soooo many I thought I got them all off, when out and bought flea tick shampoo, and flea collars - however today we found 2 more on 1 of the dogs and 1 by her cage
WHAT TO DO?? I also have an 9mth old that crawls on the hardwood floor, for her ill do anything even if it means getting rid of both dogs (which I hope it doesnt come too) HELP ME!!!PLEASE
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Sounds awful, I hope you can find a solution!
