Ticks this spring!!

valczer said:
Last year when I had one stuck in my shoulder area, my doc told me not to bother with sending the tick for test because it takes to long for the results.

She said for the antibiotic to work at its fullest against lime, it has to be taken within 72 hrs if memory serves me right.

She said, even if it is not positive for lime, it wont harm you, but by the time the results come back from the lab and it is positive, too much time has passed for the meds to fully work.

Ymmv
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Did your doc prescribe any meds for you?
 
If you find an engorged tick on you, the current approach is:
1) Remove it properly.
2) Take a precautionary dose of Doxycycline antibiotic (2 x 100 mg pills).

This will quell any possible infection at the early stages, rather than waiting for symptoms, getting tested, etc. The more established the infection gets, the greater possibility of permanent damage, and the more aggressive the treatment becomes.
Doxycycline is a prescription drug, however, most pharmacists will issue a dose on request.
 
cosmic said:
If you find an engorged tick on you, the current approach is:
1) Remove it properly.
2) Take a precautionary dose of Doxycycline antibiotic (2 x 100 mg pills).

This will quell any possible infection at the early stages, rather than waiting for symptoms, getting tested, etc. The more established the infection gets, the greater possibility of permanent damage, and the more aggressive the treatment becomes.
Doxycycline is a prescription drug, however, most local pharmacists will issue a dose on request.
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For anyone taking doxy for a tick bite, do not consume any lactose (cheese, yoghurt, milk etc) for a few days either side of your dosing. The lactose reacts with the doxy to essentially make it ineffective. The nurses/docs should advise on this but often don’t. I’ve even heard of them advising to take yoghurt with the doxy to promote beneficial gut flora after the doxy essentially wipes yours out.
Yes yoghurt/ferments are good for rebuilding the gut flora, but anything with lactose should not be used while taking doxy.

And make sure to pull slowly and firmly to remove the ticks head. You can get the body easily enough but that won’t help.
 
cosmic said:
Morp - You state a few days, I was under the impression that a few hours is sufficient. A few days delay after finding a tick may be problematic...
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I mean stay off the lactose for the duration of time that you’re taking the doxy, with a couple days still without lactose at the end of the course of drugs to be on safe side. No point pumping all that stuff into you to then compromise it’s effectiveness unless you have a real need for cheese.

Of course remove the tick as soon as you find it.
 
hoytcanon said:
I was all prepared to get swarmed... spent a good amount of time sitting in long grass near deer trails and never saw one tick. Check back in a week, when I find one the size of a plum on my ass...
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Perhaps it is a location thing.

My buddy where I hunt, has a farm around Woodstock On. and he said not one tick has been spotted so far…and he roams his farm bushes and all.
 
If you can get your hands on permethrin and mix it to the proper ratio and spray your clothing, the tick problem will cease to exist. In my area of south eastern Ontario the ticks are like mosquitoes up north , no shortage. Deer hunting, turkey hunting,duck hunting or any activity in the outdoors will put you in contact with them!
 
They'll crawl around on you, sometimes for hours, before they bite. It's actually a good thing, lets you find most of the ones that find you before they actually bite. I've found about a dozen...all wood ticks...on me so far this year, but not one bite yet.

I check my dog as carefully as possible, but it's still easy to miss the odd one, especially when you consider that our yard is surrounded by pasture on all sides. Duke is on the Bravecto chewables, 1 every 3 months, but that requires that the tick actually bites the dog before it can work. I will occasionally find a dead tick on Duke, or more often on his bed. The stuff obviously works, as all those dead ones are still their normal, non-engorged size, indicating that they die quickly after they bite.

I wonder if a tick crawls onto the dog and gets carried into the house, if there's much chance that it will drop off him and start looking for something or somebody tastier. I've never found a live tick crawling indoors, or even on the deck for that matter, but I'm always on the lookout.
 
Longstud said:
If you can get your hands on permethrin and mix it to the proper ratio and spray your clothing, the tick problem will cease to exist. In my area of south eastern Ontario the ticks are like mosquitoes up north , no shortage. Deer hunting, turkey hunting,duck hunting or any activity in the outdoors will put you in contact with them!
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Yup, have found spray your shoes and pants from knee down, no ticks. Non toxic to dogs and humans, very toxic to cats.
 
Jay said:
Sunday I had a buddy show up at my place with a female blacklegged tick in a sandwich bag that his wife pulled off his shoulder...

He said he hadn't even been off the trail when he went for a walk & just couldn't understand how he got one on him...

I told him he could walk across the lawn & pick one up... Anyhow...

geneticks.ca is where I advised him to send the tick to see if it was positive for Lyme & go from there...
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Happy to report back that the tick tested negative for Lyme.
 
As I understand it, ticks have a 3 year life cycle, assuming they can feed from year to year. They are not born with the disease, so there is a very good chance that a first year tick (very small in size) is not a carrier. This doesnt mean you shouldn't take the usual precautions, just an FYI.
 
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