I’d Like to Check You For Ticks

November 15, 2008 Ben General

Last night I took a look at my Daschund and noticed that she had a tick on her eyelid (that’s got to hurt). The old saying goes, when you find a mouse you have mice, in this case many ticks. My German Shepherd dog also has small ticks all through her thick coat.

Now where I live we are very lucky that we don’t have paralysis ticks, only brown dog ticks. Brown ticks only suck blood and make dogs scratch, while paralysis ticks inject a toxin into the dog (or cat) which slowly kills them over a 24 hour period. Neither situation is nice for the dog.

Being the first time we’ve had an infestation, we’ve had one or two here and there, I looked around to where I thought the source may be. The neighbors have a number of hunting dogs that are not treated regularly for ticks, my best bet was that the ticks are crawling under the fence to get to my dogs.

First things first, a dose of Frontline for the dogs and cats. There are many other brands and styles of treatment available for ticks and fleas, such as collars, washes, ingestible tablets etc. I prefer to use the spot on type as it’s less invasive to the dog and the chemical used is harmless to them.

Next up, out came the tin of Bifenthrin. Probably not the most organic of insecticides, but when the welfare of my animals is at risk, bring out the big guns (don’t panic, the treated areas are nowhere near the veggie patch!). It has an added bonus of being a termite deterrent.

The fence line in question got a 1m strip sprayed along the whole length, as well as underneath my house where the dogs like to sit during the daytime. I did some research on the chemical I used and found that after it has dried, there is no risk to pets or humans.

Now it’s time to sit back and monitor the situation. Hopefully there will be no more ticks!