ticks and salt water

[woolybanana]

Can anyone tell me what effect sea water has on ticks on a dog? Do they drown, drop off or carry on as usual? The ticks I find on my dog never seem to have any blood in them even though the odd one has not been a beginner.

[mint]

Dog used to swim in the sea everyday when we lived in the UK and never had any ticks.

Here in France, I found 4 ticks this evening alone.

Any causal link?  I don't know.

Other thing is, old French codger told me to put dentifrice on ticks.  I do that when I can't get the whole tick out and the toothpaste does seem to dry the tick up.

Also, I'm not sure whether the proprietary tick treatment works or not.

[woolybanana]

Thanks, Sweets, I notice that the more they swim in the sea, the fewer the ticks. I have but am unwilling to overuse Frontline Combo, particularly as it loses its effectiveness when the dogs gets wet.

[Christine Animal]

If you use a Scalibor collar instead of a spot-on, you can take it off when you go to the beach and then put it back on after.

I took a couple of ours for a walk yesterday and in one little field they were covered in ticks.

 

[woolybanana]

I'll try that Christine, thanks.

 

[Patf]

I would think it depends how firmly the tick was attached before the dog went in the sea. When they are really embedded I doubt if swimming would dislodge them. And the skin of both kinds (?) of ticks seems impermeable.

Christines idea of using a collar is a good one.

[virginia.c]

Does anyone know of a product (does one exist?) that can be sprayed onto lawns to repel ticks?  And, if so, one that is not harmful to pets?

[mary]

My dog gets covered in Ticks whenever he decides to take himself off for a walk for 5\6 hours at a time!!!!  I got 12 off in one go the other day, but my vet said that 'Frontline' does not work as well here in France and the ticks have got immune to it.  He advised us to use Advantix which works well, and whenever I go to take the Ticks off with the speacial tweezers I have, they are already going dry and have brown bodies, so it seems to work.  I buy it either from the vet or our local garden\pet centre - Gam Vert

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

We normally use an anti flea/tick droplet that goes on the back of the dogs necks. Since using that, no ticks and no fleas. I can't remember the name of the stuff though. Someone might be able to help. I think it starts with an A and is available at the vets. We used to use frontline, but that stuff is useless now. Advantage I think it's called! Excellent stuff.

We have shaved both our dogs for the summer, and have yet to apply any anti flea treatment, and so far no ticks and no fleas either, and them having short fur helps greatly to spot them.

On the occassions they have had ticks, we have found the easiest way to get them out is using a tick remover. Just tuck it under, twist and it's out. Then bathe the wound with a dab of rum.

R.

[mint]

It's called Advantix.  It works to some extent on our dog in so far as the ticks still get themselves attached to her but they seem dead or at least not very lively when I remove them.

An idea about salt water (if it IS the salt that's effective), do you think putting the dog in the bath with a handful of salt would also do the trick?

We live a long way from the sea and it's not practical taking her there even on a weekly basis.

Wools, can I have your thoughts, please?

[virginia.c]

Interesting re Advantix because I had the same advice and use that rather than Frontline.  Having said that, he still gets ticks, but I'm never sure if they would die if I left them there for a couple of days because as soon as I spot one I get rid of it, naturally.  Last September when I came back to England a found him covered in what looked like tiny sesame seeds - all around the nail beds and his paws.  I got one off with tweezers and took it to the vet to get it identified and was told that it was tick larvae.  He recommended frontline spray directly onto them to kill them.  I must have picked off a good couple of hundred over the next few days and any that I missed quickly grew into the real thing.

I was also told that Advantix doesn't work against harvest mites and to use the frontline spray against them too.  He also suffered from them last August.

Because he likes to lie in the garden and has pretty dense fur (Westie), I am sure most of them find it very easy to attach themselves to him and I was hoping someone would be able to recommend a non-pesticide spray for the places where he particularly likes to lie?

We go back to France again next week and I'm dreading him seeing his first Western Whip Snake.   Not quite sure how he would react so I'll have to keep a careful watch.....

[Âme]

Just a note about Advantix... it is not recommended if there are cats in the household too. Don't know about ducks. ;)

[virginia.c]

Interesting.  No cats fortunately, but we are travelling over with a friend and her cat who will be in my car with my dog so I'll make sure I don't put the Advantix on until we get there.  Thanks for the warning.

On a separate but sort of related point, my french vet told me that English rules have changed regarding rabies vaccination boosters.  He said that we now require boosters every three rather than every two years, whereas in France it is every year.  I have just checked with the English vet and he has told me I have to go by the date which is in the pet passport.  In my case the valid until date is two years so I have to get it done now.  After this it will be three years though.  Apologies if I am the only person who didn't already know this!

[Patf]

Virginia - I doubt that spraying the grass would help to prevent ticks going onto your dog.

As I understand it they are brought in by other creatures, mainly through long grass, so you would have to be constantly re-spraying. Spraying might help with aoutats though. I dread them!

The only failsafe method against ticks that I know is a regular evening manual check. We try to do this and even so our dog had a dose of plasmo. in January.

[virginia.c]

plasmo?  aoutats?  what horrible creatures are these?

[Âme]

Hi Virginia -

aoutats = harvest mites (aout = august)

plasmo = piroplasmosis; one of the diseases carried by ticks

[virginia.c]

Ah........  Is the Plasmo the worst that a tick can give a dog? and, what are the symptoms to look out for?  Is there nothing you can get to protect against this?  Worries me particularly because my dog is now 12 and won't have the same ability to fight things off as he did when he was younger

[Âme]

I have no experience of it, only heard of dogs locally who've died from it, unfortunately. 

This PAGE is quite informative, they call piroplasmosis 'Babesiosis.'

[Patf]

I should have said "piro" not "plasmo".

There is an injection that can be given to protect the animal against it, but it's not 100% successful.

The disease is caused by a parasite which attacks the red blood cells, so the symptoms are mainly lethargy, also dark urine . If you catch it in the first few days it can be treated successfully. Our dog recovered quickly.

Sorry to be morbid, but there's another disease called leptospirosis,  which is very serious, but again can be injected against.

If you are worried you should take your dog to a vet while you are in France, and follow their advice.

As for aoutats, it's me who suffers, not the dog!

[virginia.c]

I'm off to the English vet this morning  for the rabies booster so I'll ask him about both.   Last time in France a friend of mine had been given a bottle of iodine from her vet to put on her dogs paws when they were suffering from harvest mites.  Not to kill them, but to prevent infection - does stain their paws an interesting colour!