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4 Common Myths About Dogs and Ticks

Since I recently found ticks on both of the boys I thought it would be great this month to team up with Bayer Animal Health to celebrate National Pet Month and National Lyme Disease Awareness Month with a post about common and misleading tick myths, vector-borne diseases and how to keep your dog safe from these nasty things.

4 commom myths about ticks

Myth 1: Ticks bite.

Fact: Ticks don’t actually bite they stab their mouthparts into the skin of the host. So it’s actually not a “tick bite” it’s a tick “stabbing”. Their mouthparts are what release the toxins into the host. The host is you or your pet.

Myth 2: Checking my dog for ticks is enough, isn’t it?  

Fact: Ticks are so small that they normally can’t be found until about 3 days after they have already attached to the host and had a blood meal. By then many pathogens could have already been transmitted to the host.

Myth 3: My dog lives in the city so it doesn’t need tick protection.

Truth: Recent studies have shown that ticks aren’t just for country dogs. Many ticks also live in urban parks and gardens. Ticks live in weeds and tall grass. They are choosy about where that is.

Myth 4: My dog has been vaccinated against ticks so it’s protected.

Truth: The vaccine only helps protect against a few tick-borne diseases. It does not protect against ticks.

 

Vector-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease, heartworm disease, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, can be transmitted when parasites bite your pet and take a blood meal.

Among them, Lyme disease, babesiosis, and leishmaniasis are known to veterinarians throughout the world as a growing threat.  An important prevention measure is to use an effective treatment indicated for fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes, which can transmit deadly diseases to your dog. 

Pet owners should consider a product that not only kills but also repels.

For more information about CVBD, visit www.cvbd.org.For more information about Bayer Animal Health and ways to protect pets from parasites, visit www.animalhealth.bayer.com.

 

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Samantha

Wednesday 6th of July 2016

Very useful information! Thanks! We're not having any ticks right now, but I think I'll keep this page bookmarked just in case:) Hope Cash won't have them. The info-graphic is really very illustrative. I just thought to make the info-graphic about the presidential pets, but then I decided to write an article. Lazy I am! Anyway, I'm going to write about star cats, so I think I'll make a small info-graphic. Thanks again, Sam

Monika & Sam

Thursday 9th of June 2016

Terrific and comprehensive info graphic❣️Good job sharing info we all need to keep our fur-babies safe.

Callie, Shadow, and Ducky's Mom

Saturday 28th of May 2016

Thankfully, I haven't seen any ticks in a few years - and that was just one tiny one on Callie's forehead - though I do check anyway.

Being that I'm at least 20 years older than you are, I'd never heard of Clifford before. My favorite cartoons were the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes. My stepson was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan.

2 Brown Dawgs

Friday 27th of May 2016

We don't really see ticks in our neighborhood. I think people see more ticks when they have wildlife (deer, coyotes) nearby. We do have those but so far not enough to cause issues.

Jodi Stone

Thursday 26th of May 2016

Good post Jen. I use a spray and I use it daily. My experience has been that the topical treatments do not repel. The tick still needs to bite the pet in order for the poison to work.

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