Jump to content

Ticks on dogs


Mr Coeur de Lion
 Share

Recommended Posts

Last night, we found a brown tick buried into our dog. We managed to get it out with a pair of tweezers (head as well), and our dog seemed fine. This morning he was sick so we booked him into the vets for late in the afternoon. During the day we found two other ticks on him plus one on our other dog which we again have removed and have now a little collection of ticks in a box (I think they are trying to each other too).

The vet says that there is no real good protection that you can give dogs, which I find very difficult to believe as we had no problems protecting him from the deadly ticks in Australia with the form of a simple tablet (which also controlled fleas too).

Has anyone had any success with keeping these evil little creatures at bay?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use Frontline pipettes.  They kill the tick once it has attached before there is a disease risk (i.e. you will still find ticks but they will normally be very recent or dead and then normally will drop off after a bit).  some people sear by the special collars and others like Advantix (which supposedly repels but people here have still found ticks).  Some people use both collar and e.g. pipettes but others think this may overdose the dog on insecticide.  Most people also regularly check their dogs in addition as these things are never 100%.  Remember that whulst Frontline is good for 3 months for fleas, it should be done monthly for ticks.

Much, much better than tweezers is to get some tick hooks (look back this forum area within the last months for details).  If you use tweezers, getting the head is actually not the major risk.  True, you should get the head out, but squeezing the tick can cause it to regurgitate and is a much greater disease risk.  The tick hooks get them out quickly, head and all without squeezing them, thus no disease risk.

I would certainly NOT take your vets comment that there is nothing you can do.  It disagrees with all other vets (I have ever heard about anyway), plus, if there were nothing DEFRA would not be able to maintain their EEA derogation for tick treatment before returning to UK.

Piroplasmose is deadly to dogs and very quick acting.  My dogs have not suffered from it so far but from what people say “time is of the essence” so go to vet immediately you are suspicious (people say hours count as its very quick acting).

You can vaccinate against Lyme and Piroplasmose but the vaccinations are not 100% and around me, most people don’t (even living rurally).  The hunt dogs are the exception.  My vets advice on vaccination against these two seems to vary (alternates between yes and no whenever I ask).

 

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The vet reckoned that it was just gastro and not related to the ticks. I beg to differ, but she's given him something to settle his stomach and she gave him a jab to counter the ticks. He does seem a lot better now though which is good. He does get upset quite easily so his vomitting was possibly down to us getting the ticks out as much as anything, plus we gave him a bath afterwards to get rid of the eggs which always stresses him out.

She did mention the two options mentioned in the second post in this thread but reckoned that they weren't very effective treatments.

I'm tempted to order some of the anti tick tablets we used from Australia. He never had any problems when he was on that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Lynda and Richard"]She did mention the two options mentioned in the second post in this thread but reckoned that they weren't very effective treatments.
[/quote]

She must be pretty well the only vet in the world that would think that.  Every vet I have ever come across says to treat for ticks in France due to the dangers.  DEFRA use the same treatments to protect the UK against tick borne diseases (e.g. Frontline).  Maybe they are all wrong and your vet is right.  However, given the risks and consequences from tick borne diseases (i.e. pirpolasmose is fatal if not treated quickly). I would suggest you seek another vet, even if only to ask for a 2nd opinion about tick avoidance (you are taking quite a risk, particularly as your pet is clearly exposed to ticks).

The pirpolasmose risk is different in different areas of France but it is everywhere (Merial published an incidence map a couple of years ago which showed nowhere was clear of the disease).

 

Ian

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I wasn't too impressed with her as a vet. She's the first vet I've experienced not even to make a fuss of the dogs either. Felt that was strange too, but maybe that's the French way, I don't know. In Australia half the consultation is the vet making a fuss of the animal, but then vet fees seem to be a lot cheaper here. We only paid 46 euros for the consultation on the two dogs with an injection, and two bottles of medication. Would have been twice that in Oz.

I think we used Frontline or equivalent in Australia and was very surprised to find out there's no apparent tablet based equivalent here for ticks and fleas.

Today, both dogs seem fine, both have eaten with no reappearance of food which is good. Will get some Frontline anyway and keep a good eye on them (which they will enjoy). Both are Shetland Sheepdog, so tick hunting means lots of pats and massages for them.

Thanks for your advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whole thread here on ticks http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/670769/ShowPost.aspx

As Deimos said, there's Frontline, and there's also Advantix, and there are collars.   Just choose your weapon and off you go!

Ticks are horrible things, but I can highly recommend the tick hooks.   Cost a few euros, you don't have to touch the tick, and you don't risk leaving tick-bits in the dog.   Such a simple idea, but I wouldn't be without them!   Make sure you kill the little ******** afterwards though.  Burning them is best, they explode.

Be careful about importing medication from abroad, especially if they're not "recognised" in France.  Maybe it doesn't matter for animals, but you can get into unimaginable amounts of trouble for medication destined for human use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote user="Lynda&Richard:  Yeah, I wasn't too impressed with her as a vet. She's the first vet I've experienced not even to make a fuss of the dogs either.

If you're in a very rural area, you may find that the vets are more 'big animal' vets rather than pet vets though they obviously will deal with both. Our vets don't make much of a fuss of our animals either but the care is first-rate. If you go to a larger town, you may find a practice that deals with pets as much as / more than sheep, cows, horses... I'd always make sure I used a "pet vet" particularly if you need pets neutered or otherwise generally operated on. I don't want a vet practising their cat neutering skills on my precious kittens, for eg. And in some parts (most??) of France, they may not be called on to neuter many cats each year...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't know if it is because our local farmer is bio or just so many deer here but our canine friend can get 3 ticks a day.

I am taking photos of insects at the moment and you can easily see the ticks just waiting on the grass stems. Haven't photographed one yet as they drop/jump as you get close.

Harry my canine buddy got Lymes disease earlier this year from the ticks but recovered within hours of treatment.

He had always used Advantix both in UK and here but our Vet considers the collars to work better.

When you know that ticks are about it is probably just better to make a daily inspection.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would still use Frontline or Advantix in addition to a daily check because they can get the disease very quickly from the tick before you spot it.

My dog got Piroplasmos here in France and was dismissed by the French vet. If I had trusted her and not had known what the symptoms were and had not taken him to our UK vet, we would have lost him. The French vet says she treats several a week and still was dismissive of his symptoms so seems to me should have known better. Don't think I would trust any of them here to be honest.

I find with treatment the ticks do not attach themselves and they are flat. By the way I just throw them down the toilet not burn them, I hope this is OK, just assume they can't swim [blink].

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have four long haired jack russells I find that as soon as it gets warm then i shave them

great for seeing   ticks   and they soon grow back their coats ready for winter.

I use frontline and find thatit works fine. I try as much as possible to them out of the long grass.

Pauline

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...