Tick season is here!

[ilikegunspdx]

Tea tree oil as a repellent. But don't let the dogs get into it.

 

[Duneblaster]

So essentially pry them off?

Carefully just yank them out. You don't want to squeeze the head of the tick. You just want to get the tips of the forceps between the head and your skin. Try not to squeeze the tick at all just use it to pull up the way a tick card works.

Never had a tick on myself yet.. I avoid the tall grass.

 

[gmerkt]

I've never encountered ticks around where I live W. Wash. But I've had them get on me in Missouri, never got tick bit though.

 

[Koda]

Tweezers can work, tick keys are great.
You pull them off, never twist. Teachnically you pull just enough and the pressure causes them to let go naturally.

 

[Ura-Ki]

For the Doggies, we use Sympatico Trio, it's an edible that absolutely prevents EVERY type of bug from latching into the pups!

Something to think about, not sure if folks are aware of what has been happening the last 15 years or so. Basically, the FDA made a bunch of mandates that changed the types of preventatives and their effectiveness. basically, what used to work now doesn't and they had to come up with new stuff that does work!
We learned the hard way with the flee's about 8 years ago, my pups got a massive infestation, the kind you don't ever want to experience, we were ALL absolutely miserable, despite using the well known and trusted preventatives that had always worked before. I suspect Big Pharma decided it was time to bilk us and created this problem, anyways, we went through all sorts of medical interventions with several veterinarians, all were stumped, and we couldn't find any solution that worked, and when I say we tried EVERYTHING, I do mean EVERYTHING!!! Finally, an old country vet that does home visits gave us some pills that make the dogs blood toxic to flees and other biting bugs, about 15 min after taking a dose, all the flees died and fell off on the floor! Long Story Short, we had to do an epic steam cleaning of EVERYTHING, and then spend the next few weeks trying more meds, shots, and other treatments, finally, they gave us some of the first doses available to the public and we have not had a single flee or any other bug since!

Last year, we went to Sand Hollow Utah, and spent a couple weeks runnin around there and Moab, I saw several Ticks land on the Newfie, then jump right off again, they didn't want anything to do with any of the dogs. Trust me, you don't EVER want a Newfie to get bugs, their under coat is so damn thick, bugs are super hard to find once they get to the skin, and ticks would be awful!

 

[Cavedweller]

Lyme disease is transmitted by tick nymphs which take an infective blood meal as larvae. Your chances of receiving an infective bite from an adult tick are next to nil.

A characteristic early sign of Lyme Disease is the bull's-eye rash - an expanding rash that clears in the center as the rash get larger. Not always, but usually present.

A disease never seems uncommon when you or someone close to you gets it, but Lyme is much more common on the East Coast than the West Coast.

 

[dplev4]

Symperica Trio is what we use too for our pup. I'm in SW Washington near the Gorge and ticks are ever present here. Take ticks off our pup routinely when she goes in our back forty, although not as bad as described above. I mow our back acreage and go under firs. Last fall I was on 16 days of anti-bacterials for my own tick bite infection. Wife noted an abscess on my back while I was showering. I didn't feel much of anything. But pulled out the tick and after a couple of days fever and chills saw the doctor. Felt fine after I finished the course of drugs. I do more tick checks now.

My son is in Ashland. The area's outside of town are full of the damn things.

 

[orygun]

Interesting timing for this thread.
I was working on our property yesterday and this morning found a tick trying to burrow his way into the base of my neck. I had the wife pull him off and dig anything he might have left behind out of my skin. Then I sterilized it with Wild Turkey. (the only alcohol I had around!)
It's a bit tender but seems to be less sore this evening. I'll be keeping my eyes on it.

First tick I've had in 35-40 years.

 

[Nosferatu]

Whenever I feel I might have an insect burrowed in my skin, I light myself on fire. Works every time.

 

[bumpus]

If you have them in your yard, spray predatory nematodes on the soil and in the area in late winter, they will totally destroy the ticks and even the yellowjackets too.

Lyme disease is a bioweapon from Plum Island. It got loose from the deer that swam between the mainland and the research station.

 

[bradsteen]

I have been bitten by ticks 9 times. Each time, the reaction got progressively worse. Every doctor I went to said "there is no lyme disease in Washington". The last Doctor I saw said he had actually had it and was quite concerned no other doctor ever suggest I get tested especially with the reaction I was having to the last bite. He put me on 30 days of Doxycycline and then had me get tested. Fortunately, the test came back negative which may have been from the Doxy and I have not been bitten again since then. I have several scars from the bites and it was an extremely unpleasant experience each time I had to remove them.

The lack of awareness about this in the medical community really ticks me off.

 

[Cavedweller]

Lyme disease is a bioweapon from Plum Island. It got loose from the deer that swam between the mainland and the research station.

Hog wash.

 

[Cavedweller]

I mow our back acreage and go under firs. Last fall I was on 16 days of anti-bacterials for my own tick bite infection. Wife noted an abscess on my back while I was showering. I didn't feel much of anything. But pulled out the tick and after a couple of days fever and chills saw the doctor. Felt fine after I finished the course of drugs. I do more tick checks now.

When removing ticks, especially if they are imbedded, it is important to do so slowly and gently. Often if they are just pulled off, the mouthparts will break off and remain in the site of bite. This can result in a persistent local infection. Proper removal can be difficult if the tick has had some time to become imbedded, as often the head as well as the mouthparts will be below the skin. In such cases, it may be best to have the tick removed by a medical professional. It is not unusual to feel nothing as the tick's salivary secretions contain an anesthetic to prevent the host from reacting to the bite and taking defensive measures.

 

[bradsteen]

A team of researchers led by the Yale School of Public Health has found that the Lyme disease bacterium is ancient in North America, circulating silently in forests for at least 60,000 years—long before the disease was first described in Lyme, Connecticut, in 1976 and long before the arrival of humans.

For the first time, the full genomes of the Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, were sequenced from deer ticks to reconstruct the history of this invading pathogen.

The finding shows that the ongoing Lyme disease epidemic was not sparked by a recent introduction of the bacterium or an evolutionary change—such as a mutation that made the bacterium more readily transmissible. It is tied to the ecological transformation of much of North America. Specifically, forest fragmentation and the population explosion of deer in the last century have created optimal conditions for the spread of ticks and triggered this ongoing epidemic.

More info here:

Ancient History of Lyme Disease in North America Revealed with Bacterial Genomes

A team of researchers led by the Yale School of Public Health has found that the Lyme disease bacterium is ancient in North America, circulating silently in

medicine.yale.edu

 

[WAYNO]

I was completely ignorant of the Tick Key.
Now I've got three of them on the way.











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