BE SO CAREFUL!

[Kyle]

I went out with my golden today for a couple hours just west of Walker. No birds, but I stopped counting after picking 40+ deer ticks off of his head alone! This is the worst I've seen it! I brought him home and gave him a tick and flee bath, and now I'm going to hit him with some frontline. I usually have him on frontline, but I decided not to give it a couple weeks ago for him monthly round due to the cold temps we have been having up north now....guess I was wrong. Funny thing is, I never saw a regular wood tick, all deer ticks. I pulled at least 10 off of my pants as well. So to everone out there, be careful and make sure your dog is covered with tick prevention; would hate to see someone lose a dog to lymes!

[Matt Breuer]

Lesson to learn, deer ticks don't come out in full force until the fall, when it gets cold. Usually around the first frost is when the deer ticks are at their peak...

[CANOPY SAM]

Ouch! Actually Matt. Deer ticks are pretty active all summer long, but I think dogs get hit the worst in the fall cause they spend a lot more time in the woods.

The adult deer tick is typically not the vector for transmission of disease, but some have been shown to carry pathogenic organisms. Most often it is the larval form of the deer tick, the ones you can barely see, that harbor, and transmit disease from deer to other mammals. The larval form of the deer tick is approx. the size of a pinhead.

Another important thing to remember is that many, many deer tick larvae in central MN, between Bemidji, Park Rapids, Walker, DL and surrounding areas not only carry Lymes Disease, but also Babesiosis, and Ehrlichiosis. Many ticks have been shown to carry all three!!! Not certain if all these pathogens infect dogs, but they can infect humans.

A few years back my son was bitten by a deer tick, by Park Rapids, and became very ill. The doc treated him for Lymes disease, which he had contracted, but his condition did not improve. I did some quick research on the area where he was bitten and found a high incidence of ticks found to carry all three pathogens. I called the doc and suggested we change his treatment. Within days of changing antibiotics he turned around. If I hadn't steered the doc in another direction there's no telling how my son might of ended up.

Great post Kyle! If I were running dogs anywhere in MN this fall, I'd take everyone precaution available to ensure their protection from ticks. And don't stop with the dogs! Make sure you do everything to protect yourself as well.

An infected larval tick bite will generally form a distinctive "target" pattern in the skin surrounding the bite. You may not even realize you were bitten for several days, as you very rarely see the tick that bit you. The bite will often itch, become red and inflamed, then develop concentric circles of red and white skin radiating away from the bite location - litterally looks like a target. It may sometimes just be a rapidly spreading red rash called erythema migrans. Seek out medical attention immediately. Lymes disease, as well as Babesiosis and Ehrlichioisis, can be debilitating if left untreated - to both dogs and humans.

[Harmonica Bear]

anaplasmosis can be carried by a deer tick as well as what was mentioned above. God reminder post. This day and age, I pretty much run my tick treatment year round. My dog has been covered with deer ticks the last week of December with a foot of snow on the ground.

[JRedig]

I picked probably 30 off my setter opening day. We checked her often, she gets her treatments year 'round as well. Didn't find any on myself FWIW.

[R. Miller]

Yes Clyde gets his lymes shot every August and I hit hm with frontline from August to November. I'm usually using Repel 100 around my pant cuffs, etc as well. Also bought a bottle of Sawyer last year for my clothes. Pretty potent stuff but it seems to work.

[CANOPY SAM]

Yep HB. You're right. I think Anaplasmosis is either the old, or new name for Babesiosis, or Ehrlichiosis. Can't remember which. I think it's a species name that was replaced?

There's a lot of valuable information on this topic at the MN Dept of Health HSOforum - if anyone's interested.

[Kyle]

Scary stuff!

[FLnick87]

If a dog has the lymes shot, is the frontline still necessary?

[Kyle]

yes. The lymes shot only covers lymes. Like the previous people posted, there are other diseases that ticks carry as well. From what I've been told by my vet, a tick has to be embedded for 48 hours in the skin for the disease to transfer to the dog...If you have frontline, the tick pretty much dies immediately when it bites the skin...My dog has his lymes vaccination, and Im still not willing to risk it without frontline.

[FLnick87]

thanks for the input. im putting frontline on my dog in the am to hunt saturday and sunday...hopefully thats soon enough

[Harmonica Bear]

The lyme vaccinaion only takes care of lymes, not the other diseases. (I am not even sure the vaccination is 100%. I know it wasn't before, there may be newer vaccines now that are 100%.)

This from another HSOforum:

"Tick Control Still Important Even for Dogs Vaccinated Against Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is only one of many diseases which can infect dogs when they are exposed to ticks. Diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis and many other diseases can also be transmitted by ticks. Unfortunately, vaccination against these other tick-borne diseases is not possible. Therefore, vaccinating against Lyme disease only protects dogs against one potential threat out of many. Due to the risk of serious disease being passed from ticks to dogs, tick control remains an important part of responsible pet ownership, even when Lyme disease vaccines are administered.

It is also important for pet owners to remember that pets can bring ticks into their home and yard, where the ticks are also capable of infesting family members and spreading disease. This risk represents another reason why Lyme disease vaccination alone, without proper tick control, is not adequate."

[Riverratpete]

Hunted my Springer up in the Crow Wing and Cass county's alot last fall..xmas came and almost lost my little buddie to Ehrlichiosis, Anaplasmosis and Lymes disease (yes, all 3). Pretty rough stuff, she was in real bad shape for a couple weeks (almost got put in the hospital) took lots of antibiotics and painkiller. Shes fine now, but let me tell you she's getting a bootcamp cut before hitting the woods and getting hosed down with tick stuff, don't care to go through that again...also doesn't help that Cass and Crow Wing counties are like the bullseye for the worst tick problems in the state..needs a good fire.

[Matt Breuer]

From all of my research on the deer tick of MN, they are indeed active all year long, but the clusters us bird hunters encounter are the clusters of young ticks than lay dormant until the cool air of autumn approaches. They are far more abundant and far more active in Sept. and Oct. and into warm Novembers than they are any other time of year.

I've been treated for Lyme's, 1 dog has had lyme's twice, and both dogs have had anaplasmosis, one dog once, the other twice.

Ticks suck.

[jjz]

Yes indeed northen Crow Wing has the worst tick numbers and problems I have encountered in the whole state. I usually comb out 50 plus ticks off each dog after a day of hunting. Frontline and repellants help tons but one or both of my dogs usually get put on antibiotics every year because of something they catch despite my efforts. Two best pieces of advice I have is get several really fine metal pet combs (makes deticking alot faster) and get your dogs blood checked once a month by the vet during hunting season. If the dog is sick usually the immune system will be depressed and early treatment leads to more rapid recovery. Most of the time early in the sickness the dog shows little to no sign of illness, but the blood test will indicate it.

[CPRBASS]

My dog has had lymes and missed most of the hunting season one year. As a result, I discovered that the lymes vaccination is only about 70% effective. Using frontline is also a must, but there is no fool proof way to prevent tick bites. Also, the "bullseye" rash that is described from a bite doesn't even always occur. So be careful.

[dogs]

What I found that seems to help out a lot is when I bird hunt is I swim the dogs when i can in creeks and rivers. Before I load them up for the ride home they hit the river for a good while. Yet they had lymes ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis last year, but the numbers of ticks on dogs is a lot less after swimming.