Tues 27th March: Ticks, a never-ending problem

An adult tick

The weather is warming up as we move towards April, and I've seen quite a lot of discussion about tick prevention and whether the available products are safe to use, or if they're too toxic.  Of course everyone wants to keep their pets safe and to avoid anything that could be harmful, but in my opinion and experience there are far worse things than tick prevention drops or collars, including tick fever itself. 

Naomi's troubles started last December when her face swelled up

One of my Lamma dogs, Naomi, is currently being treated for a very stubborn case of tick fever (babesia) and it's been a very long process which is only just now beginning to work.  Many other dog owners I know or talk to at Acorn have experienced the same, and I consider the medicines that are used to beat the disease, as well as tick fever itself,  to be far more damaging in the long term than the low toxicity of the prevention products.  I never saw a tick on Naomi,  just as many tick fever-infected dog owners say the same, so it's a mystery how they come to have tick fever in the first place.  Over the many years of rescuing dogs there have been some summers, especially in the beginning, when the ticks were everywhere, but nowadays I have got the problem under control and very rarely see any on the dogs.  Still, from time to time one of the dogs gets sick and I find out it's tick fever.

In my situation I have many dogs to watch and check for ticks, but if you have only one or two (or a few) then it's easier to do a manual check on a daily basis, especially after walks.  However you do have to run your fingers over the skin and feel for the very small baby ticks that are attached, or if you're lucky you will see them running like little brown spiders in the coat before they get that far.   Natural tick repellents will deter the ticks but won't kill them, and as much as I dislike killing anything I make an exception for ticks (and mosquitoes etc).  Mosquitoes carry heartworm, and almost every adult dog that we take in from the New Territories is infected.  You have to weigh up the risks and chances of your dog being bitten by a carrier mosquito against the low level of toxicity in standard heartworm prevention products and make your choice.    Again it's my personal opinion, but I would say that feeding a good daily diet is going to have far more of an impact on your dog's long-term health than using tick and heartworm prevention.

Yes we'll be there on Easter Sunday

It's been quiet on the adoption side in the run-up to the long Easter weekend, but of course we are open at both Homing Centres every single day of the year regardless of any Public Holidays, or the weather.  Our Whiskers N Paws puppy afternoon will also take place as usual this coming Easter Sunday, though with fewer candidates as the Tai Po puppies will stay where they are so potential adopters can meet them there.   I'll be picking up a couple of new puppies from AFCD before the weekend but I have no idea of their health or condition and if they're adoption-ready, so we'll see.