Ticks!

[CornPirateKiller]

I goofed... darn it. Two weeks ago I headed up near Brainerd to our deer hunting land to get stands in order. My yellow lab tagged along in the woods as we worked. Stupid me, I totally forgot to apply tick repellent and I passed on the Lymes vaccination in the Spring because I was running low on money and didn't plan to be in the woods with him over the summer. Last weekend, as we were sitting in the goose blind, I started finding fat deer ticks on him. Arrrrgggghhhh!!! I wanted to bang my head against the wall because of my stupidity. We made a trip to the vet and got him picked clean and dipped and now he's on a three week preventive antibiotic course. The vet said I did the right thing in taking care of this before I saw any symptoms of Lymes showing.

Don't make the same mistake I did. Deer ticks are most active in the cooler months of the year and can even be picked up on warm winter days. If you're going to be in tick habitat, get your dog vaccinated and protected.

[fivebucks]

Spend the money on Frontline. I use it almost year round. Since I've started using it several years ago I have yet to find a fat tick. They die upon biting so they are not on long enough to transmit Lymes from what I've been told. I also did the vacine just in case.

[ironmike]

Beat you to the punch. I did that a couple of weeks ago. The dog is on preventative antibiotics too. Not a smart move on my part too.

[Redlantern]

I use BioSpot on my dogs. It seems to work quite well for ticks. It's also less expensive than Frontline. I get it through on of the online vet companies. I also put a couple drops on each ear to help with biting flies. Some of my dogs seem to get bitten by flies more than others and this is a lot more effective than Flysoff or swat.

[metrojoe]

With all this "tick talk" going on I started to get worried about my dog. We went out about three weeks ago and I couldn't believe how many ticks I had to pull off of him over the next week or so. I've never seen the ticks this bad.

Anyways, took him to the vet Friday to get some blood drawn. Got the call from the vet this morning to tell me he tested positive for Lymes. Three doses of antibiotics a day for three weeks. I'm glad I didn't make a stupid mistake worse by not bringing him in.

Don't forget the Frontline.