I found one in Joey's ear the other night (ewwww!) and one in my hair tonight. neither of us were bitten. Certainly I'll be checking both of us each night after we come back inside but I am starting to get pretty paranoid about Lyme's. I have a friend with it and it really impacts her negatively.
She had some prevention tips posted on her fb and one was having the yard sprayed. Does anyone do this? On one hand I dont want to expose us to pesticides but on the other hand Lyme's can be lifelong. any other thoughts on steps to take?
edit: I wish they had some kind of k9 advantix for people. I could invent a fashionable tic necklace (collar) for people and get on Shark Tank!
Re: It's tick season. Taking any steps?
Our yard borders the woods and we have a dog. Everything I have read says that if you border the woods its worse
Brownie has flea/tick treatments each month.
I have picked them up just walking outside, not even in wooded areas. They are so common, probably much more than I want to think about.
I use Neem protect spray on both myself and my dog. The best thing you can do is check yourself (and pets). I've found two deer ticks attached to me and they do skeeve me out but I can't stay inside 24/7 either so I am just trying to wear more clothes, change and shower, and check after walks.
This is true about the woods. We use Frontline Plus on our dogs monthly, and they did receive the Lyme vaccine annually, too, b/c they spend a good bit of time in my parents' yard, which backs up to woods. My parents have pulled ticks off their dog, and we've pulled them off our golden retriever/standard poodle mix - we've never found any on our miniature poodle, though, for whatever reason. It's just a fact of life w/ their yard.
Anyway, as I said, both of ours always received the vaccine in addition to Frontline Plus, but our mix still wound up w/Lyme in Nov. '09. We caught it VERY early, and she did the month long course of antibiotics, and has had no residual effects, but our vet told us that even w/ the Frontline Plus (or Advantix, whichever you prefer) AND the vaccine, they still considered their coverage to be somewhere in the range of 85-90%. That said, we'll continue w/ the vaccine for our mini, but our mix will not get the vaccine anymore (obviously, there's no reason for it).
Personally, we aren't taking any extreme measures. I plan to keep DS out of my parents' backyard as much as possible this summer, and in the future, I'll just be keeping a close eye on him after he's in an area where ticks are more likely, which is the same that DH and I do for ourselves after we're in those types of areas.
... every single day of forever.
This is really important. You can pick up ticks anywhere, no woods or fields neccesary. I need to get some Neem spray for me and the dogs. I also treat the yard with Diatamceous Earth, but IDK if that works for ticks. I do know it works for fleas, really really well.
My dog has gotten ticks in NYC, so yea...you can get them anywhere. Last fall I finally figured out what was giving Brady his DAILY seizures...Advantix. I will never ever ever put that toxic sh!t on my dog again.
It's Neem for us as well
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We use Frontline and already found a dead tick on Basil but none on us. I grew up on a farm so it's like second nature for me to check everywhere and shake out/wash clothes after I've been out. It also helps to wear long pants, pull up socks, wear light-colored clothing to easily spot them and avoid clothes with lots of folds they can hide in.
I would never spray my yard. Our neighborhood has enough pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers thrown everywhere, I don't need to be adding my own.
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Excellent point about DE. I would use DE and other natural methods to treat a yard (and will when we have one), but I wouldn't use pesticides.
In addition to Neem spray on my dog, I use Vetri-Science Flea and Tick spray that is made with essential oils only, no pesticides.