Tick tactics...

Good to have a conversation on ticks which in various areas are a real problem.

Sriniketan: When I was in WV there was quite a problem with fleas and ticks as surely you know. I personally think that for dogs outside a lot you need a stiffer form of attack on the tick problem. I think a lot of folks use that little liquid treatment like Advantage although I must say I was a little scared to use it on my cat since they are such washers. The really effective stuff is available through veterinarians and famously ineffective from places like Walmart.

Here in NY ticks are a huge worry as we have Lyme disease and some tick fevers that can be gotten from ticks. The Lyme tick is a deer tick and so tiny often folks never know they have been bitten and can produce a disease that is bad like malaria. A friend of mine's daughter has been bed ridden for a number of years after a bout with Lyme disease.

Ladies in India:
Glad they are selling those collars in India now although the price on them sure is stiff. What they do is release small amounts of medicine through the skin into the animal and the tick or flea when they bite get killed. Be sure you don't let kids handle those collars or babies be chewing on them.

The western medical doctor that I know at a monastery in Mysore district has been getting this injectable medicine for use on dogs that he gives to all the local dogs. It is truly amazing. Gets rid of all ticks, fleas, and even mange. It can transform street dogs into stars. He gets it for something like Rs5-10 per dose so it should be a lot cheaper than those collars and safer for kids and its very effective.

Since we are on the subject of pests, I want to relate one story of a local family when I was in WV. The family had wall to wall carpeting and fleas got infested there (this is common and nothing to do with cleanliness as they can arrive even without pet ownership). They had a baby of perhaps six months age. The woman rented a carpet cleaning machine and a solution to kill the fleas and proceded to clean the carpeting. Unfortunately what happened was this: the fleas instead of being killed came out of the carpet and crawled up the legs of the crib and proceeded to have dinner on the baby. The mother found this and took action. Several days later the baby got flulike symptoms and she took the kid to the doctor. The told her no aspirin, give tylenol (paracetemol) and she took the baby home. The kid got worse. Finally they transferred the baby to a hospital in the state capitol and the baby died. It had some fever from the flea bites. The saddest part of the story is that the treatment for this condition is aspirin.

 

hi tick haters, i have two dogs for 10years and in the begining i was very much troubled with ticks on their bodies and roaming around my house i used a pincher small and big by picking ang killing them by pressing the pinchers together,these pichers are found in children biology box, or you can buy it in shops selling children stationery items. but it was strenous and time consuming, the doctors nowadays put injections every 3 months now my dogs are ticks free:rant
maligashivaram