Guest blog by Dr. William St. Lawrence, Village Square Veterinarian, Portola Valley Village Square
May is Lyme Awareness month but it is only the beginning of peak season in the Bay Area for the troublesome nymphal blacklegged ticks that can carry Lyme disease. As we come to the final days of the month, it is not time to let down your guard.
In this guest post, popular local veterinarian Dr. William St. Lawrence shares some important facts about keeping you and your pets safe for the rest of this spring and early summer.
Lyme Disease and Your Pets
Lyme is a spirochettsial disease (the bacteria is Borrelia burgdorferi), spread by ticks. Although Lyme disease is not as prevalent on the west coast as the east coast, the northern coast of California is one area that has a moderate amount of the disease. Here on the west coast, the Lyme vector is the Ixodes pacificus tick. Unfortunately, although it prefers to feed on reptiles, the tick will attach to dogs and people.
It is almost impossible to prevent a pet or a human to be totally tick-free their whole lives. There is simply too much exposure to natural tick habitats, particularly amongst the enticing natural landscapes we enjoy here in the greater Bay Area. Removing a tick within 48 hours of attachment typically prevents the transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi and with responsible tick-checks and “good grooming habits,” people will generally find ticks and remove them quickly. Cats are also good groomers and probably do not let ticks attach very often. Unfortunately, dogs are at greater risk for both ticks and Lyme disease, though they are not always symptomatic. Horses come into frequent contact with ticks but are generally immune to infection, though they can help transport the ticks into proximity with humans.
We cannot emphasize enough the importance of tick control for pets to help in the prevention of Lyme disease in people. Making sure that any tick that attaches to your pet is going to die is an important part of stopping a tick from attaching to you, the pet owner, or any of your other family members.
So What to Do?
Currently there are many products available to kill ticks once they attach and start feeding. Frontline, Nexgard, Bravecto, Advantix II, Promeris and Vectra 3D are some of the products that kill ticks before the Borrelia burgdorferi can be transmitted to your pet. And tick collars are getting better.
It is important to have realistic expectations of the drugs listed above. The tick must attach and start feeding to be killed by the medicine. None of the above products are barriers to the tick getting on and attaching to your pet. A lot of people are under the perception that the prescription flea and tick medication should prevent a tick from getting on their pet. The owners are disappointed and frustrated with the products due to a false knowledge of the abilities of flea and tick medication.
To reiterate, no flea or tick medication is a barrier that stops a tick from getting on your pet. The purpose of all the above products is to kill or at least incapacitate the tick such that no Borrelia burgdorferi can be transmitted to your pet. It is important that you continue to regularly tick-check your dog and remove any ticks that you discover.
How to Remove a Tick
What if even with your best efforts — applying appropriate medications and searching for ticks after a hike or run — one of the little buggers actually does make it to your dog’s skin and needs to be taken out. What is the best way?
We like to remove ticks with a tick removal device that looks like the claw of a hammer. You place the device on the skin with the opening of the claw of the device where the tick is attached to the skin. Slowly and steadily move the device and claw under the tick and lift off. No need to flush the tick down the toilet (save the water!). You can wrap the tick in a tissue and crush the tick.
Tweezers also work well but be careful not to decapitate the tick. If the tick does get decapitated and you cannot get the head out or are concerned some part of the tick is left under the skin, call your regular veterinarian for advice. No Borrelia burgdorferi can be transmitted once the tick is dead. A tick without its body is very dead.
Lyme vaccines
The Lyme vaccine is controversial. We reserve the vaccine for our patients that are going to the east coast for extended vacations or to live there. UC Davis Veterinary School does not recommend the vaccine in the bay area at this time. The infection is relatively rare, the treatment is generally effective for pets, and the vaccine has a potential to be harmful.
Symptoms and Treatment
What happens if you as a pet owner have done everything in your power to prevent ticks from attaching and infecting your pet but still your dog gets Lyme disease? What does a dog sick with Lyme look like and what should you do? (Remember cats do not get Lyme and horses get Lyme very rarely).
Monitor your dog’s health. An important aspect of Lyme is the dormant stage. Usually a dog does not get sick imm
ediately from Borrelia burgdorferi infection or Lyme disease. It can takes weeks to months for the initial signs to develop. Most dogs will be lame and sore in multiple joints, run a fever, and be lethargic. If the dog has repeated exposure to ticks, you will want to pay careful attention as the number of ticks will increase the risk of infection.
Talk to your vet. Confirming that the clinical signs are due to Lyme disease can be difficult, as dogs are generally well adapted to Borrelia burgdorferi and most of the time will not be made sick by the infection. The exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi will produce an immune response and subsequently a titer that can be read in the lab with a blood sample. However, the art of the diagnosis is differentiating the sick from the exposed. If you see signs of lameness or lethargy in your dog (or horse), be sure to discuss these symptoms with your veterinarian.
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We have only scratched the surface of Lyme disease. Please talk to your regular veterinarian regarding your pet’s unique situation to determine how best to prevent Lyme disease.
Very well presented post. Nowadays, fleas and ticks are curable easily. My dog had fleas and ticks 2 years ago. That time, I was very worried regarding this and I researched alot to find the right treatment for my furry. And I found Nexgard for dog. It comes in beef flavor and easy to use. And only single chew covers the whole month. This treatment is very effective and helpful. I would recommend this product. Thanks!
Is there any medication that protects dogs against the Western black legged tick (Ixodes Pacificus) I live in Seattle and haven’t found one that specifies protecting against this kind which is the ones we have in the NW that carry Lyme.
Thanks!
I religiously use Nexgard with my shi tzu, but still find ticks on him when we return from walks. The ticks are not attached, but moving around in his, luckily, mostly white hair. They are mostly in the white diamond directly above his eyes. Probably other places, but I don’t see them even when checking very closely. Anyway, my question is whether these ticks likely bit him and are now dying or are if they are repelling from his skin and crawling around on his fur? We are especially concerned because my husband has had Lyme disease and are concerned that if the ticks are repelled from biting due to the treatment ingredient, it [the tick] will eventually find its way to us. Do you think this [the Nexgard] is working properly? (it is not old or expired) Can I continue to use the oral Nexgard and maybe use some other repellent when we go out on walks – either a soresto type of collar or something homeopathic with vinegar and essential oils that are thought to repel ticks and insects?
While it is true that a dead tick cannot transmit Borrelia burgdorferi, I think it is important to note that aggressive dear tick removal often causes the tick to regurgitate and infect with Borrelia burgdorferi. So, a smooth calm removal with tweezers is very important.Chances are that if a tick has been decapitated – it first regurgitate!!
An excellent article for me as have wondered about Lyme disease symptoms and how to prevent my dogs from infection. Also I understand that mosquitoes also can infect my dogs with Lyme disease. I used K9Advantix 11 as well as the generic form of it MAX SPOT. Thank you.
I have found a tick on my dog and it looks like it had been there but the body was not bloated. We had put the Vectra 3d on him this month and I thought that kept them off of. Do u think that he will be ok this is the first time we have found one on him like that? He is 5 years old but he was at my son’s house and he took them to a field that is where he probably got it from.
Repellents like Vectra 3D will repel ticks and other parasites, preventing them from attaching or even killing them on contact but that does not mean your pet will be entirely free of ticks (another reason to make sure to tick-check regularly as those unattached ticks could well pass to another unprotected pet or human). A tick that is not engorged is one that has not yet fed and therefore is unlikely to have transmitted infection. It is also important to know that only 5-10% of dogs infected with the Lyme bacteria will experience symptoms. Best wishes and keep up the tick checks!