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Again, I've seen mosquitos in December and January. If we get a warm spell they will hatch out. In other climates it's unnecessary in the winter, but I have seen ticks and mosquitos in January here in the Triangle. A couple of years ago my spouse had a tick attached to his leg in Jan.
You do what you're comfortable with, but for my peace of mind I'm more than willing to spend the extra $$ for a year round heartworm treatment and treat that my dogs love. I have known several folks with dogs who had heartworm. Treating it is not as easy as that article makes it sound. You have to keep the dog quiet and calm for and extended period, months I believe. I know for my crazy dog that would be really hard.
I'm not as worried about ticks. I have known a few dogs with Lyme, too, but it's just not a big worry for me. I think heartworm is a much bigger danger.
You do what you're comfortable with, but for my peace of mind I'm more than willing to spend the extra $$ for a year round heartworm treatment and treat that my dogs love. I have known several folks with dogs who had heartworm. Treating it is not as easy as that article makes it sound. You have to keep the dog quiet and calm for and extended period, months I believe. I know for my crazy dog that would be really hard.
I'm not as worried about ticks. I have known a few dogs with Lyme, too, but it's just not a big worry for me. I think heartworm is a much bigger danger.
It's not the money, not anymore for us. It's the additional chemicals that worry me. That being said our dog has started showing signs of a brain tumor, who knows what from. Best guess is from her eating grass on our walks treated with lawn chemicals. It's really unfortunate what they exposed to on a daily basis.
We just treat the absolute bare minimum for what is necessary. I've heard heartworm is an absolute nasty parasite, our in-laws don't do any treatment and I always disagreed with that mentality.
Keep in mind I'm not some crazy tinfoil wearing conspiracy nut.
I have had two dogs live to extreme old age on year round heartgard. One was 17.5 and my current old guy turned 16 last December so is a little over 16.5. My 17.5 yr old did have a reaction to a rabies vaccine one year (not that that one is optional), but otherwise lived an extremely long life. My current 16.5+ yr old is hanging in there. He's very decrepit, but still has an appetite and totters around looking for scraps in the kitchen.
I don't think living most of their time indoors is much of a factor. I certainly get bitten by mosquitos when I go outside and the skeeters absolutely love my dogs. I see them hovering around them all the time in the summer (we have a very wooded yard). I have never had a dog who was more of an inside guy than my oldster. He's never liked to hang outside unless we're 1) eating on the deck, 2) going for a walk, or 3) he has business to attend to. My younger dog is really an outdoorsy type and loves to hang outside. She loves it more if we're with her, but she will gladly hang outside for extended periods of time by herself. My older dog never would even as a young guy. He'd do his business and be back barking at the door. If anything I think the mosquitos might like him better. Now he doesn't get ticks as much as my outdoor girl.
You do what you're comfortable with, but for my peace of mind I'm more than willing to spend the extra $$ for a year round heartworm treatment and treat that my dogs love. I have known several folks with dogs who had heartworm. Treating it is not as easy as that article makes it sound. You have to keep the dog quiet and calm for and extended period, months I believe. I know for my crazy dog that would be really hard.
Absolutely. I'm with you. Year round heartworm treatment, year round flea and tick treatment. There's no reason not to get the peace of mind of year round heartworm prevention - and as you said the treatment for a heartworm positive pet is not fun at all for the pet. It's our job to make sure they don't get it.
I will always treat for fleas/ticks year round too. Perhaps it's not needed in January - but it's too warm here in general to chance it. I have a dog who had a bartonella infection (that's vector-borne, from fleas or cats) - it was awful to treat and she has permanent damage in several ways. She picked it up when we moved to Wilmington and her topical was ineffective there, only a couple of hours away.
I wouldn't treat year round if I still lived in NJ, but down here it's a no brainer.
Thanks so much guys, for all the suggestions and info.
Being that fleas, ticks, and heartworm were a zero issue living in the area of Washington state and Colorado where we lived, I'm feeling a bit out of my league. Never have I had to use any type of medications. I'm wistfully realizing I took for granted living a life where bugs were practically non-existent as compared to here.
Can I go back to the point of tick checking? Based on what everybody is saying, this should not be a difficult task at all. But if young ticks are the size of a poppy seed, how on earth is it possible to search for such things on a double-coated breed? I mean, after trying to do a decent job (with a pup that thinks this is a big game and so is incredibly playful about it all) I feel like I've missed 70% of her body! I think I'd rather be looking for a needle in a haystack :-)
After reading about how fleas attach, I learned that they first get onto the body, and then they begin to explore and can sometimes take 1-2 hours or more to find that perfect "burrowing" spot (on dogs it's commonly between the toes, armpits, face, ears, belly, and base of the tail as the most common areas - but can be anywhere). So, based on that, can I just assume that the moment I get home, if I give her a good frisking/light brushing on the deck and search her top coat, I'd prevent these pesky creatures from gaining any hold? I'm not trying to be lazy, just trying to make it a bit easier! :-)
I have to admit - I never do a thorough tick check on my dog :-/
Until this year I never saw any on her so I need to start. I'm not sure of how to physically prevent them from gaining hold - whether the brushing will work - I feel like those suckers can always find a spot that we didn't, hence the need for the medications (grr). The fleas don't burrow in to the skin, they just run around on it. There are flea combs, but I'm not sure of how effective they are.
I'm not helpful at all I don't think but a good brushing can't hurt (and hey, less shedding in your house...)
Yeah, fleas don't burrow. They just run around on the skin. You can usually see them easiest on your dog's belly where there's less fur. Weirdly we haven't had them in a couple of years and I haven't been using a topical or anything. My current big dog is the opposite of your double coat and has a single shorthaired coat (like a German short-haired pointer, or greyhound) so I can see her skin quite easily and no sign of fleas. She has had a couple of ticks. I just yank them out. I've never seen a deer tick on my dogs, only the big dog ticks and lonestar ticks.
I don't think lyme is that big of a problem in NC yet (as it is up north), but it is here.
So, too, did the emergency room physicians tell us at Duke in 2009. At that time, my then 18 yo daughter had already tested positive for Lyme, twice, at two different hospital emergency rooms. She had two separate 6 week long, each time, courses of doxycycline treatment and STILL the bacteria that causes Lyme, was not subdued. Why? Partly from our own ignorance about symptoms AND once informed, desperate for help, blown off (with a snicker) "we don't HAVE Lyme in NC, it mostly occurs up north" Balogney! Lyme has been here for a very long time.
We too, moved here from the Pacific NW, but we are NC natives, grew up with ticks and the ever looming danger of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. While a serious illness, we had no idea how horrific Lyme disease is.
My daughter told me she had had a tick bite on her stomach and she showed me the odd reddish rash, bullseye fashion. I said.. how strange and then didn't research it. She being an active 18 yo was too busy to be bothered any more about it. Not long after she was reeling with fever, nausea, stomach pain. The initial illness went away for a while, but she continued to be lethargic, no energy, losing weight, but we never connected the two. The first time we went to an emergency room, she could not walk, her joints were all swollen, extreme pain, she had red patches, looked like burns all over her body, that, as they healed, looked like bruises. fever, vomiting, stomach pain. We were very blessed to have a knowledgeable young woman physician who tested my dau for the bacteria that causes Lyme. We had told her about the tick bite and rash. We got a call from her about two days after we got back home and were told she had Lyme, tested positive for bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and that it had gone late stage. At that point, I'm all over the internet learning all I can about the disease. She was in pretty much, constant pain and distress. The only food she could handle were Ensures and Gatorade type fluids. After two antibiotic courses and numerous emergency room visits (one of which a nurse told us her father had had it and also told it isn't in NC at Duke emergency) for extreme burning pain, severely swollen joints, headaches, fever, stomach pain so bad she could not eat and dehydration. Almost 6 years later, she STILL suffers. It isn't as acute as it was for that first year, but rears its ugly head repeatedly.
Take seriously tick bites on your dogs and cats, prevent them if you can, but take even more seriously tick bites on family and friends. If dogs can contract Lyme from ticks, then of course... so can people. It can take weeks for the bullseye rash to develop and it can spread over time. It can take months for the disease to go late stage. Don't accept being blown off by doctors, coworkers, family or friends. Inspect your children, especially teenagers, who are the most likely to not see or tell you about symptoms until symptoms have gotten severe. Caught EARLY with antibiotic therapy, Lyme can go like a flu virus and all can go well thereafter. If it goes late stage, heaven help you. (sorry to be the bearer of bad news)
btw, ticks do carry many other diseases besides Lyme or RMSF and the ticks that carry disease are exactly in places, a few too many in the medical profession declare with great confidence, they are not.
excerpted article below... important and current report... go here
Quote:
Thursday, July 03, 2014
DURHAM (WTVD) --
The ABC11 I-Team is exposing the controversy on treating Lyme disease.
In the past five years, more than 600 cases of the disease were reported in North Carolina. However, infectious disease experts believe those cases are under-reported and infections are on the rise.
Article below..also excerpted.. see article an NC map showing counties with reported Lyme. I am certain the prevalence of Lyme is way under reported. If our experiences in 3 hospitals and several doctors offices is any indication of physician awareness
Lyme Disease is a tricky disease. It is hard to diagnose, its treatment can be difficult, and it seems to be suffering from a serious PR problem in North Carolina.
The latter is perhaps the most concerning to both patients and experts. Patients don’t always know what to look for and doctors aren’t always looking for the right things. And there’s not a consensus among doctors or public health officials about the prevalence or seriousness of the disease in North Carolina.
“Patients have to be their own doctors and their own advocates,” said Marcia Herman-Giddens, PA, MPH, DrPH. She serves on the Tickborne Infections Council of North Carolina, is an adjunct professor in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill, and is a child and family health consultant. “They’re going to have to learn about the disease in order to get the care they need, until medical providers have better information.”
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