Pets
Lyme Disease and your pet
// Filed in: Lyme Disease Dogs
It is vitally important that we check our pets for ticks on a trip by trip bases. Every time you venture outside you should check your pet before you come back inside.
We all give our pets medicine to deal kill ticks on contact, this is necessary for their well being and our peace of mind. Even so, your pet can bring ticks in from outside without you knowing about it and they pose a danger to you and your family. This year alone our dogs have brought in ticks at least a dozen times and it is only May!
In an article from South Coast Today:
"Dr. Rachel Ashley, a member of the staff at Capeway Veterinary Hospital of Fairhaven, emphasizes that while the deer tick is very prevalent throughout New England, there are several other tick species that are found in the area. Deer ticks carry Lyme disease, which can be transmitted not only to dogs but also to humans."
“Every year there are more and more cases of tick-related diseases,” she said.
Ashley adds that the abundance of wildlife places the region at high risk. She urges owners to check their dog’s fur even in sub-zero weather, adding that ticks like to grab onto a canine’s fur in a process called “questing.”
“Questing is a behavior exhibited by hard ticks as a way of increasing the chances of coming in to contact with a suitable mammal host,” Ashley said. “The behavior involves the tick ‘climbing up a blade of grass or other structure and then waiting with its front legs outstretched.’”
Read the full article here
Be sure to check your pet in these areas:
We use the flashlight built into our cell phone to make it easy to see in the hard to see spots!
We all give our pets medicine to deal kill ticks on contact, this is necessary for their well being and our peace of mind. Even so, your pet can bring ticks in from outside without you knowing about it and they pose a danger to you and your family. This year alone our dogs have brought in ticks at least a dozen times and it is only May!
In an article from South Coast Today:
"Dr. Rachel Ashley, a member of the staff at Capeway Veterinary Hospital of Fairhaven, emphasizes that while the deer tick is very prevalent throughout New England, there are several other tick species that are found in the area. Deer ticks carry Lyme disease, which can be transmitted not only to dogs but also to humans."
“Every year there are more and more cases of tick-related diseases,” she said.
Ashley adds that the abundance of wildlife places the region at high risk. She urges owners to check their dog’s fur even in sub-zero weather, adding that ticks like to grab onto a canine’s fur in a process called “questing.”
“Questing is a behavior exhibited by hard ticks as a way of increasing the chances of coming in to contact with a suitable mammal host,” Ashley said. “The behavior involves the tick ‘climbing up a blade of grass or other structure and then waiting with its front legs outstretched.’”
Read the full article here
Be sure to check your pet in these areas:
- Behind the ears
- Sides of the eyes & eye lids
- Between the toes
- On the tail
We use the flashlight built into our cell phone to make it easy to see in the hard to see spots!