Will ticks inherit the Earth?
The tick populations are on the rise along with the white-tail deer population. The prediction is that the spread won't be slowing this year.
“We expect to see—unless intervention is increased—continued spread of the tick-transmitted diseases and some continued small climb in heartworms." ~Dwight Bowman, MS, Ph.D., a Cornell University veterinary parasitology professor and CAPC board member.
Up here we haven't had many ticks so far.
Only two we discovered; one on Jasmine's ear and one on a lawnmower. But we only came here in the summer and early fall. A local friend says he's seen deer virtually covered with ticks. Cookie is also much more of a hunter and explorer than Jasmine was. Jasmine liked her hikes, Cookie loves chasing things through the bush.
We diligently check her every day.
We do use Heartworm preventive but I am on a fence using what is available for ticks. We had Cookie on Advantix but she was reacting to it badly and the last time we applied it we had to wash it off her twenty minutes later.
For now, unless we start finding them, we've decided on a natural, essential oils mix product. We'll see where that takes us. I tried it on my skin and it's fine. So not it's just a matter of whether or not it works.
I still do think we should come up with something to directly target the ticks, rather than having to do things to our dogs.
But I guess that's not where the money is.
Source article:
Why Ticks Are Looming Large for Dogs and Cats
