Lyme Disease is in your back yard!

Recently, we visited a business in Deerfield. While speaking with some of the staff, we found that there is a heavy tick population in that area. One young woman who walks her dog regularly frequently finds ticks on her dog. You might think that ticks are not in your back yard but it is likely that they are. We have clients living right in the heart of the city of Utica who come in with pets carrying ticks. Unfortunately, they can be anywhere.

Ticks are easier to spot when they are engorged or in the adult stage of life. In order to be engorged, they have to have taken a blood meal. That means they have already fed off of you or your pet.

In the nymph stage or the second life stage (which is the small insect in the above picture), a tick is no bigger than a poppy seed. In fact, unless you get really close, you might think it is just a speck of dirt. In this stage and the adult stage, the tick can transmit disease to their host (you or your pet).

We obviously worry about ticks because they carry and spread Lyme Disease. But there are other serious diseases they carry as well and those are becoming more prevalent in our area. In the same way Lyme Disease carrying ticks have migrated to our area, these other disease carrying ticks, theAmerican Dog Tick which carries Rocky Mountain spotted fever for example, is moving rapidly into our area.

Ticks are active year round. Some people think that in the colder months, ticks are not a threat. However, as long as the temperature reaches 30 degrees, ticks become active. We routinely see winter days that are far above that temperature.

Pets transport ticks into your family living area, so inspect them frequently for ticks and do what you can to protect them. You can limit your pet's tick exposure by using monthly preventive treatments such as Frontline and Advantix. The new powerhouse of products for tick protection will soon be available from your veterinarian. Please, do not use over the counter products. Not only do they not work but they can be very toxic to your pet. Veterinary approved medications are safe and effective and many do not even enter the bloodstream of your pet.

For more information, visit our website or call our office. A really great article, although long, details more of the human risk of diseases from infected ticks. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41973641/ns/health-infectious_diseases/t/under-the-radar-tick-diseases-spreading-across-us/