Ticks: They're here and they're not going away!

Your first question may be why is there a picture of some chickens on a blog about ticks?  The answer is quite simple.  I hate ticks.  I don't want to look at them.  So since I don't want to look at them, I figured some of you reading this blog may feel the same.  So here is a picture of some of my chickens.  Although there are other fowl who are perhaps a little better at picking up and eating ticks, chickens are known to eat a few themselves and as far as I am concerned, the only good tick is an eaten tick. I now I can open this blog and happily look at the chickens foraging through the weeds eliminating ticks from this planet.  If you really want to look at some ticks, at the end I will post a really good link with lots of good tick info (identification, how to remove ticks, etc) and a video that talks about black legged ticks (deer ticks) and shows how to remove a tick.


It seems like not a day goes by that the staff at the clinic doesn't field a question or two or three about ticks.  Many of these questions are a source of mild amusement to me.  But don't worry there truly is no such thing as a dumb question except for the one that is not asked.  If I chuckle at your question, it is only because I was once you.  I TOTALLY get where you are coming from because remember, I hate ticks.


I did not grow up with ticks.  I don't think I even saw a tick until I was well into my twenties.  In fact, in my mind ticks were just slow moving spiders and I was terrified of spiders in my youth.  I ran into minor tick encounters when I lived in Columbus, Ohio, but this was only one or two here and there.  And then I graduated vet school and started work at a mixed animal veterinary practice in rural southwestern Pennsylvania.  Of course back then, Lyme Disease was not an issue and the primary tick that we had to deal with was the American Dog Tick, but there were lots of them.  I remember farm dogs walking in the clinic with perhaps 100 or more ticks on them and having engorged female ticks falling off on to the floor as the dog walked through the building.  It was all I could do to not run out of the exam room screaming every time I saw a tick.  But alas, that would not have been very professional and so I sucked up my fear and got over it.  I got a lot of practice removing ticks.  But deep inside, ticks still fill me with disgust.  I'm just really good at hiding it these days.


When I moved to rural northeast Ohio in 1995, I could breathe a huge sigh of relief.  Ticks in this part of the country were few and far between.  But that all changed in 2010.  That was the year that tick reports at the clinic where I worked doubled and they have been going up and up ever since.  That was the year that the black legged tick (deer tick) started showing up in Ashtabula County.  And sorry to say my friends, but there is no going back.  Our days of living the free and easy tick-free life are over.  Time to suck it up and get used to living with these little buggers.


So remember, as I chuckle my way through answers to your questions I am not laughing at you, I am laughing at me.  Because I was you at one time.  And because if I don't laugh, I think I may cry because I hate ticks.


Here are some of the typical questions that I get during a day's work:


My dog had a tick on him and now there is a pimple like lump.  What should I do?  The answer: not much. These nasty critters will leave a small hard lump in the skin where they were attached.  This is normal.  It is kind of like a superty duperty mosquito bite and will sometimes last a couple of weeks.  It will go away.  


I took a tick off my dog and I think the head may have broken off and still be in the skin.  What should I do?  The answer: not much.  If you can see for sure that the head is there, you can grab it with tweezers or something similar and pull it out. If you can't see it, more than likely it is not there.  I find most of the time people think the mouth parts are still there because they feel the hard lump in the skin.  The hard lump is normal even if the tick is removed head and all.  The main reason for wanting to remove the entire tick is to lessen the chance of transmitting disease.  I have heard that in people, leaving the tick's head behind can cause infection, but I can honestly say I have never seen a tick bite on a dog that has gotten infected.  Not to say it can't happen, but it is very rare.  Fortunately, we have primarily dog ticks and black legged ticks around here and they are pretty easy to remove intact unlike their southern cousin the Lone Star tick that has deeply embedded mouth parts.  If you do leave mouth parts behind in the dog's skin, the dog's body will react to it and spit it out in a few days.  Most tick bites in dogs do not itch or bother the dog at all, so if your dog is scratching at a tick bite, that MIGHT be a sign of mild infection.  Call your veterinarian if the skin is red, raw or oozing.


I found 3 ticks on my dog.  What should I do?  The answer: count your blessings.  Remember my story about seeing farm dogs with 100+ ticks on them?  3, 4, 5, 6 ticks, that ain't nothing!  And get used to it because these things are not going way.  On the serious side, if you find ticks on your dog or cat, then you should be practicing some form of tick prevention.  Call your veterinarian.  There are a few different methods of preventing ticks and we can tell you the pros and cons of each.  And remember, some tick preventatives for dogs can kill cats.  So be careful!  Don't use a dog product on a cat.  Use only cat labeled products on cats.


My neighbor told me that I should not have removed the tick myself, but should have taken it to my vet to have the tick removed.  Is that true?  The answer: we are more than happy to remove ticks, but the truth is that ticks are very very easy to remove.  I don't know where all the mystery about tick removal came from, but it is easy folks.  There is a little bit of technique involved, but it is basically grasp and pull (see the video below for a visual guide to removing ticks).  No hot matches, no Vaseline, no finger nail polish.  All you need is something to grasp (tweezers, hemostats - my favorite, tick removal tool) or even your fingers are OK if you wear gloves.  While we may only have to deal with a tick here and there, the time is coming when we all will have to deal with ticks in much higher numbers.  Like I said, we are more than happy to have you bring in your dog and show you how to remove ticks, but you need to learn.  Otherwise, you will be at our office every day at certain times of the year.


My dog got bit by a tick and my neighbor told me I should take my dog to the vet and get it started on antibiotics.  Is that true?  The answer: no it's not true.  Can ticks cause disease that is treated with antibiotics?  yes.  But remember, most ticks, at least in Ashtabula County, do not carry any diseases.  Even if a tick does carry a disease, there are a whole bunch of factors that come into play for a dog to get that disease from the tick. In some areas, if we treated a dog that got tick bites, that dog would be on antibiotics the whole year round and that is not a smart idea either.  The better solution is to watch your dog for signs of illness.  Usually the illness will show up weeks to months after the tick bite.  Watch for things like lethargy and wanting to sleep a lot.  Poor appetite and fever.  Swollen joints and limping.  Then call your vet.  It is true that the sooner treatment is started the better chances are of curing the dog, but it makes little sense to start antibiotics after any tick bite.


For more information on ticks, the Ohio Division of Wildlife has a nice informative web page that discusses everything from tick identification to how to remove a tick. The page also discusses some common myths about ticks.  Follow the link below.


Ohio Division of Wildlife Ticks In Ohio


And for your viewing pleasure, I'll post this video about ticks. It is titled "Beware of ticks in winter", but has some really good information about black legged ticks as well as showing how to remove ticks.  Good info here and well worth the 8 minutes to watch.

What were they thinking?

I am sitting here writing this blog entry on the night before a meeting of the Safety Council of the largest city in the county where I live.  That would be the city of Ashtabula in Ashtabula County, Ohio in case you are curious.  The city of Ashtabula currently has a law in place that bans ownership of "pit bull" dogs within the city.  According to my sources, one of the topics that will be discussed at tomorrow's meeting of the Safety Council is the fate of this law.  There are some very good people who are trying to get the ban against pit bulls abolished and I applaud their efforts.  This topic is especially relevant because of what happened yesterday during my work day at the clinic.  I had one of those moments in life where you think about a particular law that is in place and say to yourself "What were they thinking?".


I walked into the clinic yesterday morning and my surgery case I had scheduled for the day had already been admitted to the hospital.  The dog's owners are very nice people.  The dog I am sorry to say is not so nice.  Oh it may be nice to people that it knows, but it is not so nice when it is around the strange workings of a veterinary hospital.  Some dogs come to the vet office and are what I call "eternally happy".  This is the majority of dogs we see.  They wag their tails and love being petted.  Some dogs come to the vet office and are fearful, but even though they are scared, they sit still and just wait for the horrible experience to be over.  These dogs will often warm up to us if we are slow and take time to get to know them.  Then there are the fearful dogs that do not back down.  These dogs are a small minority, but they do present certain challenges.  They have learned that if they are scared of strangers and if they attack then the strange people will go away.  These dogs are dangerous and such was the case with the dog that was in for surgery yesterday morning.  This dog would just as soon eat my face, my technician's face or any other face of a strange person at a vet hospital.  It didn't help that the dog weighed about 100 pounds to boot.  Fortunately I work with some of the most talented animal handlers on the planet and we were able to get a muzzle on and treat this dog with what I call "no muss, no fuss".  The dog did not freak out at all and no one got bit.  But in spite of an uneventful visit to the vet, this dog is dangerous.  It is not however a pit bull so anyone that lives in the city of Ashtabula, Ohio could legally own this 100 pounds of accident waiting to happen.


My last appointment of the day was a stray dog that was rescued off the streets of Cleveland.  The dog was pregnant at the time of rescue and a wonderful woman who lives in my neighborhood took her in.  This woman has rescued many dogs and is very good at placing rescued dogs in good homes.  The dog had her puppies and Momma dog and her pups are being cared for until the puppies are old enough to be placed into new homes.  Then momma dog will be spayed and she too will find a new home.  Anyway, momma dog came to the clinic to get her vaccinations.  I walked in the exam room and she immediately walked over to me, wagging her tail and wanted to be petted.  I sat on the floor with her and she licked my face.  Then she rolled over next to me so I could rub her belly.  This dog was in that first category of dog that I talked about.  She was "eternally happy".  I did a physical exam while avoiding the slurping tongue.  I administered three vaccinations while she happily ate treats out of my assistant's hand and without any restraint at all.  Momma dog was one of the friendliest dogs I have ever met and I have met a lot of dogs.  Momma dog is a pit bull.  She cannot be adopted by anyone  who lives in the city of Ashtabula.


And so there is my "What were they thinking moment?".  If I lived in a city neighborhood and had a choice between my neighbor owning the 100# accident waiting to happen or the friendly pit bull, is there any question what I would choose?  Or what any sane person would choose?


I always wonder how a city council votes for a breed specific ban in the first place.  If I were on a city council and I was getting ready to make a new law, I would consult with people who were experts on the topic.  If I were making a law concerning, let's say, safety of drinking water, I would consult with people who have degrees and work in the field of water quality and public health.  If I were making a law concerning education, I would consult teachers and other educators.  Who would I contact if I were considering enacting a law concerning dogs?  Well, that would be dog experts such as veterinarians, trainers and those who run animal shelters to name a few.  I would not ask the public.  I would not ask the police department.  They are not experts on dogs.  And the funny thing is that almost across the board, dog experts are against banning specific breeds of dogs.  So how do these laws get passed in the first place?  Someone is obviously not listening to experts on the subject.


Things that have happened in the past though are just that: in the past.  Wrongs can be righted.  The State of Ohio just recently removed the words "pit bull" from the state's dangerous dog law.  It is time for local communities to step up and do the same.  You don't ban cars because some people are dangerous drivers and you don't ban specific breeds because some people own dangerous dogs.

H.B. 14 January 25, 2012 update: Ohio vicious dog law

Way back last year, I wrote about Ohio House Bill 14 that would remove the word "pit bull" from Ohio's vicious dog law.  This bill NEEDS to be passed.  Ohio is the only state in the U.S. that specifically names a breed of dog in the vicious dog law.  The original wording of this bill got passed umpteen years ago and like all things in government, it is taking eons to fix this mistake. 

You can find my original blog post here.  If you are in too much of a hurry to read the entire post, I think the last paragraph sums up the gist of why H.B. 14 needs to pass:

This is an important issue to all dog owners. If the pit bull is specifically named in the law now, what will keep Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Dobermans, Akitas etc from being added. All of us as dog owners have a stake in this. Treat dangerous dogs harshly, but treat them as individuals.

The bill is progressing through the legislative process.  It has made it through its initial committee and the Ohio House.  It has made it through the Ohio Senate committee just a couple a weeks ago.  The next step is a vote by the full senate.  It was suppose to make it to the Senate floor yesterday, but it did not.  All expectations are that it will be heard and voted on by the Senate in the next few weeks.  The next general session is next Tuesday on January 31st.

I'm asking everyone who lives in Ohio and especially dog owners to call your Ohio Senator and tell them you support Ohio H.B. 14.  A few links below to help you out.

Find your Senator here.

Link to Ohio House Bill 14

General information on efforts to stop breed specific legislation

This bill may be voted on very soon.  The time to call or email your Ohio State Senator is now.  Fingers crossed that this bill makes it through the Senate.  It is important to every one of us who owns a dog.