LYME SCI: Found a tick on your dog? What you need to know.
how to protect your dog from tick diseases
As much as we love our furry friends, we all have to face one fact—owning a pet increases our exposure to tick bites. Mostly because our pets roam outside, then allow ticks to hitchhike back inside where we live.

One recent study demonstrated that when compared to households without pets, pet-owning households had nearly twice the risk of finding ticks crawling on them. [1] Yikes!

I recently took my daughter’s dog in to our veterinarian, Timothy Bell, DVM, for a well check-up. I used the opportunity to ask a few questions.

Dr. Bell’s philosophy is pretty straight forward:

Protect your pets from ticks year-round,
Keep your pet up-to-date on all vaccines,
Know what types of ticks live in your area,
Know what pathogens those ticks carry,

Know what symptoms to watch for,
Screen your pet annually (sooner if showing symptoms) for common infections.
My vet personally uses NexGard on his dogs. Although Dr. Bell says, “NexGard doesn’t actually protect your dog from all tick-borne diseases. The tick has to bite the dog before the active ingredients will kill the tick.” Unfortunately, as we all know, some pathogens are transmitted within just a few hours. (I address more about products and how to control ticks below.)

False sense of security?
He advises, “Don’t get a false sense of security with any flea or tick control product. You still need to watch for symptoms. If I were going hiking or camping where I knew my dog were going to be exposed to more ticks, I would use a topical spray or collar that both repels and kills ticks.”

Dr. Bell says many of the tests for tick-borne diseases are prone to false negatives, especially in the early stage of illness. For instance, with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, the dog may have a fever and get very sick. “Whether I see the tick or not, if the dog has symptoms, I give it doxycycline.”

More at this link: https://www.lymedisease.org/dog-tick-prevention/

----------------------------
Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver