Tuesday, May 12, 2009

It's Tick Season Already

Ewww... it's tick season! Gross! Above is a picture of a deer tick, which now according to the University of Minnesota Extension is now a Black Legged Tick. The website also lists the most prevalent ticks found in Minnesota, which will be great to know.

Mostly, I'd like to know how to get them off without leaving any part of the tick embedded or on the skin. And mostly because I'm the one that has to deal with anything gross that's in the house, on the dog, bleeding, dirty, etc...

So I've found Ticked Off from Healthy Pets and it seems fairly easy to use. I use my tweezer for my eyebrows, so I'm not exactly too happy about using it for ticks. You know what I mean? You just slide it in between the tick and the skin and pull it off. This is cheap too - it's $4.49 on sale which means that it should become a staple in your pet first aid kit. I'm sure you can find it at Walmart or Target too if you're not a big fan of ordering off the internet (very unlike me!).

Generally I'm fairly eco-friendly and want to be as all natural as possible when it comes to Rusty's health. I've been reading about the ingredients of a ton of preventatives on Pet Education from Drs. Foster & Smith (which may or may not be biased). As an all natural preventative, there are also several options available. Some people say that garlic tablets help keep fleas and ticks away (which um, even after I've eaten garlic I still get bitten by mosquitoes so I don't know how well that would work for any other bugs) and also Neem Oil.

I'm becoming a bigger fan of Neem Oil every day. Humans can use it too (but I come from the land of DEET so I'm pretty skeptical about any other products. I'll probably die of brain cancer). Synergy Richard's Organics Pet Wellness/Pet Healing Neem Oil is one product that I'm thinking about trying.

We just gave Rusty the last from a pack of 3 Frontline medications. Frontline has Fipronil which has been shown as a neurotoxic to dogs and rats. Fipronil has also been put on a carcinogenic list for humans. Knowing that my dad died of cancer, well, I don't really want to put anyone at risk for any of the above in my house and I also don't want Rusty to develop any diseases down the road.

So, in the end, make your own decisions about your flea and tick medicine but just remember to look over your pet after its been outside during flea/tick season!

1 comment:

Whosyergurl said...

I hate the little bastards! I've taken FIVE off of Chelsea thus far...one, last night which was in her eyebrow! ewwwwwwww.