Ticks

[mikeologist]

Earthmom,
I get really bad rashes from harvesting my hops crop, similar feel to poison ivy... I just lather on the "anti itch" cream. Its active ingredient is diphenhydramine which is a histamine blocker. It should help sooth the burn for a while.

[Earthmom]

Thanks Mikeologist, I'm not sure this is poison ivy so maybe a reaction to something else growing in the early spring. It seems that every spring I get scratched through my jeans by something that causes a way less serious reaction. Whatever this is it's not (fortunately) spreading to my family but it is still spreading on me!!! Every couple days new itchy spots appear and start to bubble up. Thank God for Marsh's wife telling me about using scalding water on the rash because I literally get about 4 or 5 hours of relief before I have to redo it. The creams aren't even touching my itch; this rash is laughing at my feeble itch creams!

Sent from my SCH-I500 using ProBoards

[omth]

wow, my Vet did not tell me it was temporary... found this... I will not be getting Finn vaccinated for lymes again.

Lyme Vaccination for Dogs

OK, you say, you're convinced me. This is a serious disease. Should I vaccinate my dog for it?

Unfortunately, there is no real nexus between the seriousness of a disease and the effectiveness or safety of a vaccine for that disease. In my opinion, the Lyme vaccine does not actually provide enough benefit to outweigh its substantial risks, despite the seriousness of canine Lyme Disease.

The Lyme vaccine can cause an untreatable form of Lyme disease and, like all bacterial diseases, provides short term immunity. It is not recommended at any of the vet schools in the United States. The human Lyme vaccine was withdrawn from the market. For all the reasons, I think that it's best avoided. But I have one more, very compelling reason.

There are other tick borne diseases that are much more serious than Lyme, for which we have no vaccines. So even if a very safe and effective Lyme vaccine were developed for dogs, having your dog vaccinated for Lyme isn't going to lessen the need for tick prevention. So it's hard to make the risk vs. benefit analysis for Lyme vaccination come out on the benefit side, no matter how you work the math.

[toddr]

I don't think there was a single month this winter that I did not pick at least one tick off from my lab. I have never seen ticks so often in the winter in SW Wisconsin before. I finally treated her with biostrike I prefer frontline but I found biostrike on sale so I bought a summers worth. Since the treatment i have fond none on here but picked a few off from me including a wood tick that woke me up several times last night until o finally found the bugger.

Just make sure you do a tick check every day or two, hey need to be attached over 48 hours for them to infect you with Lime. I’m not sure about the length of attachment needed fro the other tick born illnesses.

[CP Dan]

I think I have gotten to the point that I am going to swear by Permethrin. Every time that I have gone out with out it I have pulled at least two ticks off of me.(usually right after work for a quick look.) When I wear the clothes that I have treated I have not found a single one on myself or my son. PERMETHRIN FTW!

[blitzfish]

Interestingly enough, for the 20+ times I have been in the woods so far, only 1 tick for me!

[byknski]

I just ordered some permethrin today after yanking a tick out from behind my 2 year old's ear. We are diligent about tick checks after being outside, but those little buggers must really know how to hide. I've pulled 2 out of me this year, and we probably find 10+ on our dog each day. I plan to treat our overalls and a couple shirts, and those will be what we wear while in the woods. I may also look into treating the dog's sleeping pad since the frontline only kills them after they bite her, and it isn't 100% effective.

[Earthmom]

I haven't had time to apply the permethrin I bought and what a mistake; I've pulled four embedded deer ticks off me in this past week, three of which were last night, one half of one is still in there too. My husband said it was already sort of bloated and I had a big welt when he found it. So, he tried to get it out and the thing just broke apart. He took it out in pieces and I still have the head in the welt. One came off easy and then another one was so embedded it also just broke into pieces yet that one must not have been attached long as it wasn't bloating and there was not welt yet. I'm so bummed because I can't even get to a doc until tomorrow afternoon. I've been hunting five years now and I rarely ever get ticks; this year I'm flicking them off left and right and then still finding them attached. WTH???

[blitzfish]

4 hours of hunting and NO TICKS again!!!

[CP Dan]

5 hours of hunting today and as far as I can tell I am tick free.

Are you using Permethrin Blitz?

[blitzfish]

Nope, no permethrin on my clothes. I have it on my turkey hunting clothes though.

[mikeologist]

I use "off" sportsman. I usually dont get any ticks, however, I was out yesterday and found one on me while in the woods...

[omth]

Earthmom, pick up a tick key for removing them, I have one on my keychain, one next to my bed and a spare at my desk cause when I find one I want it out right away...

Lost a head of one in my chest back in 2001, doc dug it out with a needle and no pain killer.. since then I have kept Tick Keys!

[blitzfish]

3 days of turkey hunting, no bird, and no ticks!!! Permethrin works!!!

[omth]

So glad I was able to share it with you all... I have not used mine yet... I'm lazy!