Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Use Frontline (or another fipronil treatment) on your pets monthly from Feb-Nov. It'll get rid of their ticks, and also eliminate them from your yard (your pets will act as vacuums).
I can certainly empathize! I spent 30 minutes last Saturday picking off 22 ticks from my dog after a run in Duke Forest. Yes, 22 ticks and my dog is treated with Frontline Plus! I find that the only way to keep the ticks from entering the house is to examine my pets before they enter. If I don't examine my dog, she brings them into the house and then, after tasting her treated flesh, bail and end up on me!
The suggestions for treating your lawn and wearing bug repellent, besides checking your pets before they come back in, are really your best options. I'm sorry if this doesn't make you feel any better, but maybe just be glad that you only have a couple instead of 22?
It is true that they CAN carry Lyme disease, but it's also true that a given person living around here will probably get "latched onto" by a dozen or more ticks every summer, and come out no worse for the wear.
Yes, you want to ALWAYS check yourself (and your children) all over when you've been outside in the woods or even doing a lot of work with pine straw, but it's very rare to suffer any longterm effects from them. Just make sure you pull them all the way off, as their head can tend to break off and still be attached. And, they're quite resilient, so don't just try to step on them, etc, but run them down the drain or flush down the toilet so you know they are gone!
On pets, it's harder; ask your vet for specifics, but again, I don't recall ever knowing anyone whose dog or cat, even outdoor ones, had any permanent problems from a tick. Probably a worse problem for pets is when they bring them inside to then get on you!
You can treat your lawn w/ Spectrazide for ticks, fire ants, etc... Even with this lawn treatment and Frontline on my dog, she still brought in a tick the other night.
My mother-in-law had Lyme's from a tick bite well over a decade ago and even today has some symptoms we believe are attributable to the Lyme's disease. Not fun stuff, but thankfully pretty uncommon.
Use Frontline (or another fipronil treatment) on your pets monthly from Feb-Nov. It'll get rid of their ticks, and also eliminate them from your yard (your pets will act as vacuums).
The cat that keeps getting the ticks was treated with frontline about 2 weeks ago, to no avail.
I can certainly empathize! I spent 30 minutes last Saturday picking off 22 ticks from my dog after a run in Duke Forest. Yes, 22 ticks and my dog is treated with Frontline Plus! I find that the only way to keep the ticks from entering the house is to examine my pets before they enter. If I don't examine my dog, she brings them into the house and then, after tasting her treated flesh, bail and end up on me!
The suggestions for treating your lawn and wearing bug repellent, besides checking your pets before they come back in, are really your best options. I'm sorry if this doesn't make you feel any better, but maybe just be glad that you only have a couple instead of 22?
I would probably pass out if I had to remove 22 of them. LOL
I think maybe its better if the dogs are not treated, so the ticks can stay on them instead of on me or one of the kids. Is that mean?
Keep in mind that Frontline is NOT a tick repellent - it's a slow-acting poison that kills the tick once it attaches to the animal. So, it's not terribly surprising to find ticks on cats and dogs if they've recently been outside. Assuming that the animal has been treated correctly and consistently, chances are good that any ticks which do attach will die within a day or so.
Keep in mind that Frontline is NOT a tick repellent - it's a slow-acting poison that kills the tick once it attaches to the animal. So, it's not terribly surprising to find ticks on cats and dogs if they've recently been outside. Assuming that the animal has been treated correctly and consistently, chances are good that any ticks which do attach will die within a day or so.
Exactly. Frontline doesn't stop ticks from getting on your dog or cat but it does stop the tick from actually attaching and sucking blood. My dogs bring ticks in on their hair every now and then but I expect it (they frequently run through high grass). It's important to keep your pets away from your bed if they bring ticks inside. My dogs aren't allowed on any furniture so this isn't an issue for me but you should keep your cat away from areas you sit and sleep if possible.
Starting our second summer here and are yet to see a tick. We back up to woods and a dog who spends limited time in the yard. We have the yard treated and that includes spraying the trees about 6-10 foot in the tree line. The biggest thing is we are big into bird feeding and have a ton of birds and they help to control the population. Gotta love the insect eaters. How to Attract Insect Eating Birds | eHow.com
The best insect-eating birds are chickadees, barn swallows, purple martins, robins, mockingbirds, nuthatches and woodpeckers. They are capable of eating 1,000 insects in a single afternoon without doing any damage to the environment. All birds have three primary needs: water, food, and shelter. How you provide these things will determine the types of birds you attract. The trick is providing the right type so that you are more likely to attract insect-eating birds.
Love my Woodpeckers. If you want help on food etc I suggest a specialty bird center.
We are battling ticks here, too... I saw at least 12 of them on Saturday while out gardening. We're getting ready to treat the yard again. My husband has had 2 on him and I've seen one crawling on my 21 mo old son. And, there was a HUGE one that looked like it had had it's fill and fallen off of my cat probably... I would have seen it on my dog as she is a golden and we keep her shaved. My cat is long-haired and it's hard to spot them.
Birds are a great idea.
Are there any meds that repel ticks and fleas for our 4-legged friends.... where the tick will jump right off when getting near a treated animal?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Frontline
