Tick prevention is an important need in virutally all parts of North America at this point. Several severe diseases are tick-borne, and are dangerous to both pets and humans. The mian infections that can be carried by ticks (mostly but not limited to deer ticks) are Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis and Babesia.

        Lyme is pretty much a national threat at this point.... certain areas are more endemic (like the northeast overall, and NY/New England in particular) - but Lyme has gotten to the point where it cannot be ignored by anyone. At the least you should be using a product like Frontline, and generally year round. Check with your vet and if you are in a higher-risk area, you should be using the Lyme vaccine. Lyme can be treated if diagnosed properly early in the course;otherwise it becomes a chronic condition that will often continue to advance.

        Babesia is also carried by ticks, as well as Ehrilichia and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. The bugs causing the latter two are both in the same family; if diagnosed properly and treated properly (and within a required period of time within infection/onset) they will generally respond decently to anitbiotic treatment, but if the dianosis is missed and treatment is delayed too long the prognosis declines. Babesia can be quite difficult to treat; in humans it is as difficult to treat as chronic Lyme. Ehrilchia and Rocky Mountain pose a national threat between the two of them - if you are not in a risk area for Ehrlichia you probably are for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. RMF is predominant in the south, west and southwest.

        Bottom line is that you need to be using topical tick repellant on your dog - the spot-on, once a month kind, not a collar. Keep lawns well trimmed, and brush cut back. Don't let your dog run in areas that are overgrown, or commonly shared with small wild mammals or birds (and in suburbia this can be your backyard). When people hear "Deer tick" they think that it's the deer that carry the ticks - not really. The deer are required by the tick to carry on its life cycle - the deer eat the early life stage of the tick and it matures inside the deer's body - then excreted. The tick then gets picked up by birds and small mammals to
"hitch rides" - this is called "mammalian vecto" or "avian vector" -vector being the thing carrying the tick on its body, as a free ride. So, things like squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks, rabbits - as well as yard/garden birds are te bigger carriers. If you feed birds, be sure that it is an area away from where your pet usually goes out for duty or play. Don't take on feeding the squirrels or rabbits etc - you don't want to be encouraging them close to your house. The risk is just as high for humans on all of these tick-borne diseases. The same as you should be doing "tick checks" on yourself and your family, so too should you be doing them on your dog.

        If your pet becomes ill, check with your vet. Sudden onset of severe illness, or more than a day or two of mild or even "just not right" should be checked out especially if you are in a high risk area. You should have already checked with your vet if about whether you are in a high risk area for Lyme and related diseases... and follow their directions for safety and precautions.

        Everyday things you can do to prevent a problem include: be sure you are diligent with the Frontline or comparable product (the NACR has no association with the Fronline company or any other), every 30 days as it is directed and be sure you are applying it properly - a lot of people will just dab it on the dog's coat - it needs to be put on the skin. You need to separate the fur and see skin, and apply the Frontline to the skin. It doesn't do much if you only wet the fur with it. Frontline gets absorbed and then re-excreted through the oil glands and hair follicles of the dog through the 30 days..... that is how and why it works so if you don't get it onto the skin it will not be absorbed so that it can do its job.

        If you are in an endemic (which means the disease is all around you) area or a high risk/risk area (not as bad as endemic but still there), you must talk with your vet about what other protection measures you can take. A lot of people balk at the Lyme vaccine, not wanting to give more than absolutely necessary, but if you ever see anyone with chronic Lyme, you will get your dog vaccinated in a heartbeat. Be sure to keep up to date with it - it does require boosters every few years. In addition ask your vet about any other precautions they might recommend.

        In general you also need to be careful when you are outside. Don't let your dog run in wild areas, uncut brush, or in wildlife areas (ie the woods, parks etc). Keep your yard and, especially where your dog is outside, well groomed - short grass is less enticing to ticks as well as other critters that carry ticks. If you feed birds do it in an area away from where your dog runs and plays outside. When leash walking don't let your dog "explore" overgrown areas. When you get home give them quick rubdown or brushdown to knock off any ticks that started to try to hitch a ride - once a tick finds your dog it takes a while for it to get where it wants to settle in. Don't miss an area on your dog - but, this is actually FUN for both you and your dog, and it's the most simple effective thing you can do. At this point (they are tiny and sure don't move fast) if they are on the fur, just using your hands to rough up and brush off their coat can go a long way in interrupting a tick finding a home on your dog. Do this OUTSIDE - you don't want the buggers in your house - and when you are done with your dog, check yourself well too, and brush yourself off.

        Regularly brush your dog and do "tick checks" just like humans in Lyme risk areas do - regular brushing will help remove any ticks that might have tried to hitch a ride. Ticks love to hide in cozy places like "armpits", behind or in ears, neck folds, etc - but can hitch on anyplace. They have to get from being on the surface of the coat down to the skin, so you have a great chance of stopping then before they get there.  Frontline is a great deterrent but it is not foolproof - the pupose of it is if a tick does start to feed it will kill it, as well as providing repellant beforehand. Ticks are tiny enough that at first you really can't see them unless you are looking VERY closely - so when you are having that snuggle time keep your eyes open. Once a tick has attached and starts to feed, it begins to "engorge" and it swells up like small marble - and literally looks and feels like one too, kind of a grayish brown. They can get to be half an inch or larger (ugly sumsofguns). If a tick has attached, use a tick remover that you can get almost any place now - drugstores, pet stores (and I keep one in the house) to remove it (Follow the directions with it) and be sure you get all of the body parts - sometimes the body will break off. Save the tick (or parts) and take it with your dog to your vet - this constitutes a tick bite, so you need to put things in place to be testing or watching for any of the three diseases that can be carried by the tick. There may be a good chance that it's a tick that is not a deer tick, but let your vet make that call. The risk is too high not to.

        It generally takes 48 to 72 hours minimum for a feeding tick to inject enough saliva with the bite to cause illness if it is carrying any of the diseases so, the sooner you can find and remove it, the better. If your dog goes off it's "mark" - either becomes overtly sick, or (and even more importantly) just doesn't seem right (lethargy, no energy, limps, fever, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea) - RUN don't walk to the vet and get things checked out. Proper diagnosis and prompt treatment is a major player in determining the future health of your dog - undiagnosed or poorly treated cases generally turn into disabling chronic illnesses, or indeed even kill the dog. Getting care and treatment as soon as possible is imperative and can indeed result in complete recovery or remission, but that "soon as possible" is no joke.

Click: For more infomation about Lyme    For more information about Ehrlichiosis     For more information about Babesiosis