My dog Rama's tick titer results were positive.  He shows antibodies to ehrlichia canis.  It is not possible to determine whether he has (a) had a mild form of the disease and passed it off or (b) is in stage one and will progress to a more debilitating condition.  Unlike Xena, there are no obvious symptoms other than perhaps a bit more fatigue, a slight loss of appetite.  Nontheless, once bitten....I've elected to treat since doxycycline has minimal side effects. Rama will get 350 mg (he is currently about 80 lbs) daily for the next six weeks.  And the dosage will increase as he grows.

Here are a few things I've learned in my research since Rama's tests that I'd like to share..........

1.  A tick feeds three times in its lifetime - once for each stage, larval, nymph and adult.  A meal can be a short as a  - yuck! pull that sucker off me - second or several weeks if the tick goes unnoticed. Eventually, sated, it drops off, goes to its next stage and waits for another host.  I'm intuiting that the last stage involves laying eggs for the next year's crop.

2.  A tick can survive for 6 years with no nourishment other than water from the air.  In the proper climate, they obviously can wait a long time for a host to come along.

3.  Ticks are antigeotropic - they always move against gravity.  It is a myth that they jump down from trees.  Also, tick habitat varies by type of tick. Some types of ticks do seem to prefer woodlands, however, and I would never assume that the presence of trees implies safety from ticks.Ticks on your neck or in your hair (I've had both) have either had a very long climb or you've been rubbing your head on the dogs again.  From personal experience, I've found very few ticks in the deep woods.  In my small area at least, they exist primarily in tall grass meadows (we are mowing like mad) or at the interface of trail and wood, where there is a lot of sun and therefore lots of small bushy plants and tall grasses. Deer ticks do, indeed, prefer the type of habitat described, but don't count on mowing to help keep them under control. Some of the happiest, most prolific, most Lyme disease-infested deer ticks in the world live on the manicured green lawns of Westchester County, NY.

4.  A tick *can* transmit disease regardless of the length of attachment *if* it regurgitates stomach contents into the host's bloodstream. Most often, this occurs when a tick is improperly removed (i.e., by compressing its body, rather than by using a tick remover or tweezers as close as possible to the mouth.)

5.  The best way to remove ticks in just to use tweezers and pull them with a steady gentle twisting motion.  Using vasoline, oil, matches, etc. only complicates the situation.

6.  When walking in areas likely to contain ticks, wear a strip of tape (I use the ever useful duct tape) with the sticky side out.  I usually wrap the tape around mid calf.  This also gives you a handy place to put a tick for later proper disposal.  Those of you who pull ticks off dogs in the woods without your glass of ethanol at hand to drown the tick, know how hard the little devils are to kill by crushing.  And I just cannot stand to let them go to reattach to some other poor animal.

7.  Ants prey on ticks. I'll never kill an ant again, even in the house. So far, except for the personal experience with tape and ticks, all of the above is from dinner time conversation.  In other words, I have no references, yet.  But, these will come as we organize our results. We're just beginning to research the problem.

A SAD FINAL NOTE:

Dear Lyn,

I'm the unhappy author of this message (my beloved puppy, Xena, died May 18th from the
effects of Ehrlichiosis after begin bitten by a tick).  Please feel free to transmit this info to any and all. It may save a life.

Thanks,

Karen Deutsch
 
 

e-mail Lyn Richards visit host site

e-mail Lyn Richards visit host site