Ticks are creepy, no question about it. But, they are more than just creepy.
They carry nasty diseases that both our pets and we as humans can acquire. In fact, ticks transmit more diseases in the United States than mosquitoes do!
Fortunately these diseases don’t spread directly from dog to human or even dog to dog or cat to cat. They require the tick as a vector to transmit the disease around.
So, if we keep ticks off of ourselves and our pets we should be safe, right?
Keeping your pets and yourselves totally free of ticks may be a difficult proposal, especially for those of you who live in rural areas. Let’s talk about some of theses tick-borne diseases and how they can affect you and your pet. And, most importantly, what you can do to prevent these infections.
Fortunately we do not live in an area where diseases like Lyme disease are rampant, but we border endemic areas. For instance, we see a smattering Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever coming in from the mountain areas to our west. We occasionally see Erlichia, which is a blood parasite that is more common in Florida  - and Lyme disease is not at all uncommon here, sneaking its way in from the northern states.
We used to think that a tick had to stay on the host, that would be you or your pet, at least 24 hours before it could transmit a disease, but there is some recent research to demonstrate that the tick could transmit Lyme disease in less than 16 hours. Rocky Mountain Fever and Erlichia as well as a plethora of other tick-borne diseases transmit in even less than 16 hours. This means that you must check yourselves and your pets for ticks more than once a day if you are going to remove the tick before transmission of disease.
Whether a pet gets sick from one of these tick-borne diseases depends on more than just the infecting tick. Healthy pets that are not immunocompromised can often fight off the disease before he or she gets sick.
However, these pets might still test positive for the offending organism since the body has produced antibodies. It is thought that an animal can be positive for many of these diseases without being sick. But if it becomes infected with several organisms at one time, it might be too much to fight off and clinical signs will develop. These pets develop symptoms that range from limping to fever and weakness to uncontrolled bleeding. These symptoms can lead to kidney failure or deadly anemia if the disease is not treated.
Since these tick-borne disease can cause deadly symptoms, it is a good idea to practice preventive care when it comes to ticks. If you live in an area where you have seen ticks, the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) recommends that tick control products be used year-around. We never know when our tick season is going to kick in and if you wait until you are seeing ticks on your pet, it could be too late to avoid transmission of disease.
There are several good tick-control products out there, but my favorites include the Preventic Collar made with Amitraz, Frontline Plus and Advantix. The collar lasts for three months if you keep it dry, so that is handy. You can take it off when the pet is swimming or in the bath and just put it back on when he is dry.
Also, avoid ticks by walking on paths instead of in the vegetation. You may have to keep your dog on a leash if you are going walking in the woods.
If you are traveling to wooded areas north of the Lowcountry, you might want to consider having your dog vaccinated for Lyme disease. You should talk to your veterinarian about this because the Lyme vaccination is not appropriate for all dogs. Remove ticks with a pair of tweezers as soon as you find them.
Remember, ticks can be quite tiny, so look for tiny brown specks as well as those giant raisin sized, blood engorged dog ticks. Don’t touch the tick with your bare hands because you don’t want it to bite you. Flush, crush, burn or soak the extracted tick in alcohol to kill it.
 
(Dr. Katherine A. Saenger, DVM, owns Bees Ferry Veterinary Hospital and Boarding Kennel (www.beesferry.com) and is a former board member of the Charleston Animal Society (formerly John Ancrum SPCA.) If you have questions about pet behavior or health, or suggestions for column topics, e-mail her at vetsaenger@bellsouth.net, and watch the column in coming weeks for her responses.)