# TICKS in the SNOW!!!!



## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

I just pulled a tick off of Cash! and we have SNOW on the ground! They get their FRONTLINE every month all year round. What freaked me out was this one was gray and bloated-- like it had been feeding. I've never pulled one off like that before usually I can still see their squirmy little legs and they are brown or black, usually they are not even attached. this is what it looked like---YUCK!

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So WARNING: all it takes is a tiny warm spell for them to come out. keep your babies protected.

I know I have advised others to start a prophylactic course of doxycyline... but now that it has happened to me...I am wondering if I should? what do you think?


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

Ouch!!!! I would be surprised to find one on my girls this time of year. That is almost scary for you to still have them that far north.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

Wow, I guess I'm doing the right thing by giving the frontline year round! That's true though, one warm spell and they come out in numbers! I wouldn't worry about the antibiotics. If he gets Lyme, he will have symptoms and it's curable in dogs. I think that's a wood tick anyway. Doesn't look like a deer tick.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

:fear: That is so yucky!!!


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## Mojo's Mom (Jun 6, 2009)

That's not a deer tick, so starting Doxy would not make sense, and you sure don't want to give an antibiotic if you don't need it. 

I've seen dozens of these grey ones, thin before they've eaten or fat with blood, on my dogs in Florida, no matter what you put on them. The Frontline/Revolution/whatever products are never a guarantee you won't see a tick.


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## Brady's mom (Dec 1, 2006)

Frontline doesn't kill ticks for 24 hours or so. It takes 48 hours (or something like that) for them to get Lyme from a tick. So even though you see one filled with blood (yuck), they wouldn't be able to get lyme. Yucky!!!


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Mojo's Mom said:


> That's not a deer tick, so starting Doxy would not make sense, and you sure don't want to give an antibiotic if you don't need it.
> 
> I've seen dozens of these grey ones, thin before they've eaten or fat with blood, on my dogs in Florida, no matter what you put on them. The Frontline/Revolution/whatever products are never a guarantee you won't see a tick.


I actually found it interesting that once they attach they shed their hard shells and that is why they are gray. but yes it isn't really gorged.

I just worry because of what Cash went through when he was just 1-- and they thought it was probably tick borne. I may up his dose of Frontline. He is just over the 22 lbs of the Orange at 22.8lbs. I had him on the higher blue box over the spring and summer but thought he would be ok over the winter with a lesser dose.

oh and actually the web page said that was a deer tick albeit swollen.


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## Lynn (Jan 2, 2007)

I didn't thing ticks were alive in the cold weather...boy that is a ugly thing, glad you found it.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Missy said:


> I just pulled a tick off of Cash! and we have SNOW on the ground! They get their FRONTLINE every month all year round. What freaked me out was this one was gray and bloated-- like it had been feeding. I've never pulled one off like that before usually I can still see their squirmy little legs and they are brown or black, usually they are not even attached.
> 
> So WARNING: all it takes is a tiny warm spell for them to come out. keep your babies protected.
> 
> I know I have advised others to start a prophylactic course of doxycyline... but now that it has happened to me...I am wondering if I should? what do you think?


I've pulled two off Kodi in the last week too... one right after the snow we had a few days ago, and one today. In both cases, the ground was snow-covered. All I can think is that the tick is on dried foliage sticking through the snow, then wakes up when it gets in the warm house.

As far as Doxy is concerned... If I gave Kodi Doxy every time he's had a tick bite this fall, he would have been on it most of the fall! The Advantix did work better than th Frontline (which seemed little better than useless) but still didn't completely stop them. There are two thinga that makes me feel a bit better. First is that MOST of the ticks I've seen have been normal wood ticks, not deer ticks. Second, my understanding is that the tick needs to be attached for at least 24 hours to transmit disease. I am always running my hands all over him, and he gets thoroughly groomed at least once a day. So I know the ticks aren't on him for very long.

But I agree, I was completely astounded when he came in out of the snow with ticks!!!


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## irnfit (Nov 21, 2006)

We don't have ticks here, but I found fleas on Kodi the past few days. You got snow in MA today, but we just got pouring rain. By mid-afternoon, the sun was shining and it was 52.


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## BeverlyA (Oct 29, 2006)

I would have never guessed there would be ticks running around on snow covered ground! I quit giving my kids Frontline in October! 

and YUCK! I hate ticks!:bolt:

Beverly


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## marjrc (Jan 13, 2007)

I agree, Beverly... YUCK !! Oh my gosh, Missy, that's just unreal. Every single time I think about living somewhere down south or along the coasts, I think about all these stories of finding ticks and fleas on dogs year round. EEWWW !! What do you do with a dog that has a compromised liver and you want to avoid toxins?? I know of the 'natural' remedies and such, but man. Ticks and fleas suck !! .. so to speak.... !


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## Renee (Mar 27, 2008)

Beverly,
If ticks can survive in this -20 degree weather we are so graciously blessed with here in Nebraska, ain't no tick meds gonna kill them either....LOL!!
I think we're safe from ticks here....for now.


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## Chasza (Dec 10, 2008)

Gosh, I hate the thought of adding more toxins to the body just to increase the dose 

It is really gross. Ticks love my boy. I guess some years I pull close to 75-100 of them off of him. Some are the small ones, but others are like the one you pictured. Sometimes I find them after they have fallen off on the floor. Sometimes the dogs get ahold of them after they've fallen off and there is a bloody mess --- now that is super gross. 

I don't give the topical applications, tho, b/c both dogs have had reactions to them. I am praying that next year the yard will be fenced in and that will help alot as they pick them up on our walks. There are safe things you can use in your yard and on the outside perimeter of your yard that can keep the pests out of your grass.

No great answers....just balance everything as you can. Oh, and I did find out about the best tick device you can use --- I got this from the tick list and they say you want to remove the tick as best you can without making the tick regurgitate back into the stomach. Tweezers and things that twist will cause the ticks to throw up, and you need to remove the tick without the squeezing effect. So, I ordered Ticked-off, a spoon shaped device with a slit in the end --- it is the best tick remover I have ever used.

Wish there were better answers to ticks, fleas, mosquitos for those who walk their dogs.


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

Galen had 2 ticks on her head this week, the hard skull part of her head, not sure they could even get a good bloody bite there. Both girls got a good line brushing to check for others. I've never seen them this late in the year.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

SMARTY said:


> Galen had 2 ticks on her head this week, the hard skull part of her head, not sure they could even get a good bloody bite there. Both girls got a good line brushing to check for others. I've never seen them this late in the year.


It's warm here again, close to 50 and raining hard, which is washing all the snow away. I'm going to be on high alert status for ticks too!!!


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

OMG!!!


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## gelbergirl (Jun 9, 2007)

hi Missy, thanks for posting this.
Henry ran into some brush this morning and I thought - oh, it's cold enough outside - there should be no problem.
Glad you got it when you did.


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## Chasza (Dec 10, 2008)

Sandi, I am two hours north of you, and, yucky as it is, I can tell you for a fact that the ticks are here during wintertime as well. February seems to be a big cycle month (along with May and July) where they seem to be extra abundant. I used to think the wintertime would not have them, but found out that is not the case.  I think that people's yards won't have them so much, but they get picked up when we walk. The ditch line next to the woods is likely where they are picked up in the winter by my guys. I am guessing the same with you-- that she probably didn't pick it up in your yard, but maybe while walking thru leaf debris near a woody patch?


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Poor Cash's nose still has a big bump on it where the tick was. And as Karen says it is warm here (for today) I HATE TICKS!


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

I own a Land surveying and Engineering firm and we operate throughout the southeast. From experience I know that favorite places for ticks are in pine trees or other conifers. My men hate going in pine thickets or in peoples yards where there are cedars or other conifers, they always get ticks. I don't know why they thrive on these trees above others; but they do. Just something to watch out for when walking your babies or if you have these species in or around your yards. Course the deer ticks live in the woods EVERYWHERE no accounting for them.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

We have NO conifers on our property, and we have PLENTY of ticks, both deer ticks and regular wood (dog) ticks.


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

I don't know about ticks in the north. LOL I do know a lot of us southern folks have chickens and guinea fowl running around in out yards to take care of ticks and other pests. I just put down sevin around the outer edges and sulpher powder to keep out the stray snake. But if I go into my back area where the pines are, I get ticks.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

We have pines in our backyard and use pinestraw and mulch wherever we don't have grass and I haven't seen a tick yet. We use Frontline on the dogs but I've been spacing out the time during the winter, about every 6 weeks or so.


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

We have pines, pines and more pines. What was that about sulpher powder and snakes?
Does it work?


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

Since we have a swamp (wetland per the environmentalists) near our place we have lots of the little "legless ones. I don't like them. Several years ago, I went to the local co-op to get the snake-a-way product to put down. The small can was 10 or 15 dollars, can't remember and moth balls were not an option either since my immediate area to treat is 5 acres. The co-op person suggested that I get the 50 pound bag of sulpher that farmers use for crops and put down a line around my property with it. I tried it first in the immediate back fenced area about 1/2 acre with the pool and plantings. No snakes that year. Since then every spring, I have had grandchildren--the teenagers putting it down for me. I put it all around my house, garage, chicken pen etc and along the outside of the fences. It is important to beat the bushes to make sure you are not trapping any in the enclosed area. It is not 100% but I haven't had a snake in the areas of the yard that we use in several years and it was not that way before the sulphur treatments. I actually raked a coiled copperhead out with my bare hands once when weeding my monkey grass---still gives me the creeps. Put the sulpher down about 4" wide line, wear a mask and gloves. The yellow line will usually last all summer. 

Can't explain why no ticks in the pines, I have 50 plus employees and they swear by the pines and cedars for ticks.


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

I have been thinking about this no ticks in the pines and cedars thing. Do you'll know about seed ticks? They are the tiny ones. My men come in with them so bad that I have seen them literally scrape them off with their pocket knives. Usually a good shower will get off the ones a person will get just walking through or by an infested tree or shrub; but if that person stays in the affected area for a long time as my men do, they get hundreds of them. The little buggers are not noticable if you just get one or two until they swell up. Then they itch like the devil. I know cause I have had them on me and not know it until two or three days after being around the affected area. I never go into an area that I think may have ticks without a good insect repellant any more and wouldn't take Rosie without spraying her.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

I said we use Frontline but I was wrong, it's Vectra D. I don't use an entire tube on each dog though, I split 2 tubes between the 3 of them. I'm afraid to keep posting about this because we've been fortunate not to have any yet.


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## milomyguy (Oct 2, 2009)

I live in the Pacific Northwest and have never even sen a tick! Is that odd? I have two dogs and a cat and a giant evergreen in my backyard.....is it the area I live in?


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

Luciledodd said:


> Since we have a swamp (wetland per the environmentalists) near our place we have lots of the little "legless ones. I don't like them. Several years ago, I went to the local co-op to get the snake-a-way product to put down. The small can was 10 or 15 dollars, can't remember and moth balls were not an option either since my immediate area to treat is 5 acres. The co-op person suggested that I get the 50 pound bag of sulpher that farmers use for crops and put down a line around my property with it. I tried it first in the immediate back fenced area about 1/2 acre with the pool and plantings. No snakes that year. Since then every spring, I have had grandchildren--the teenagers putting it down for me. I put it all around my house, garage, chicken pen etc and along the outside of the fences. It is important to beat the bushes to make sure you are not trapping any in the enclosed area. It is not 100% but I haven't had a snake in the areas of the yard that we use in several years and it was not that way before the sulphur treatments. I actually raked a coiled copperhead out with my bare hands once when weeding my monkey grass---still gives me the creeps. Put the sulpher down about 4" wide line, wear a mask and gloves. The yellow line will usually last all summer.
> 
> Can't explain why no ticks in the pines, I have 50 plus employees and they swear by the pines and cedars for ticks.


We have 15 acres and snakes!!!! I am going to put the Sulpher along the dogs under ground fence line and leave an opening going to the pastures. No way I can beat the bushes for the entire yard, but I will take having the 2-3 acres for the dogs clear of snakes and be happy. I should be able to get it at Tractor Supply no co-ops in our area.

thanks for this tip.


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## TheVintageVamp (Oct 14, 2009)

Oh wow, love the news about the sulpher! I'll be trying it for sure this spring.

Sally~


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