Story at-a-glance
According to a manufacturer of tests for tick-borne diseases, Ehrlichia exposures in 2012 were four times greater than in 2011. This means the tick that transmits the disease is gaining territory across the U.S.
The recommendation of the Companion Animal Parasite Council is to load up every dog and cat across the country with monthly, year-round chemical pesticides. The problem is, more and more pets taking monthly, year-in/year-out preventives are showing up in veterinary clinics with tick-borne illness. Clearly, encouraging the overuse of these chemicals isn’t the best solution to the problem, for a number of reasons.
Chemical tick preventives may reduce – but not prevent – tick attachment. And any tick that attaches to your dog can carry disease. So theses pesticides are not foolproof, but they do add to your pet’s toxic load.
The safest and most effective tick prevention strategy is to check your pet’s body daily for ticks, remove them immediately and safely when found, and have his blood checked regularly for signs of infection.
Link to the entire article : http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/he ... n=20130118
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Tick Born Diseases Skyrocketing
Tick Born Diseases Skyrocketing
Doc E & HR UH MHR WR SR Black Forest Casey
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Nami E & HRCH UH HR Sauk River Tucker
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Nami E & HRCH UH HR Sauk River Tucker
Re: Tick Born Diseases Skyrocketing
doc e, good info BUT i tried the daily thing. 
ticks here in pa are so small it takes DAYS before they get big enough to be able to feel them.
cant find ticks untill they attach and suck blood and get bigger.
heck i cant find them on me at times until a day later maybe?
toby my lab has LYMES. as you said, i get lymes shot and use advantix k9 on him too.
ticks here in pa are so small it takes DAYS before they get big enough to be able to feel them.
cant find ticks untill they attach and suck blood and get bigger.
heck i cant find them on me at times until a day later maybe?
toby my lab has LYMES. as you said, i get lymes shot and use advantix k9 on him too.
Re: Tick Born Diseases Skyrocketing
Thanks for the Interesting article Doc E. I see a few problems with the report from idexx to indicate an increase in Ehrlichia prevalence .
"The SNAP 4Dx Test was recently upgraded to include antibody detection for Ehrlichia ewingii, which is carried by Amblyomma americanum (lone star tick). This additional testing capability has resulted in increased evidence of exposure to ticks and the organisms they carry."
If between two years of testing you add a new Ehrlichia species and test for antibodies, it would make sense that there would be a (four fold) increase in reporting. The report also states that only an increase in exposure has been reported. Antibodies present would only indicate previous exposure, not necessarily infection. (Not for you Doc E, but for others) Had this report indicated that PCR had been used to confirm this, I believe it would have more merit. I am not saying I think there is more or less Ehrlichiosis, just that the information needed to say that is not in this article.
http://www.idexx.com/view/xhtml/en_us/c ... 1108pr.jsf
Peter
"The SNAP 4Dx Test was recently upgraded to include antibody detection for Ehrlichia ewingii, which is carried by Amblyomma americanum (lone star tick). This additional testing capability has resulted in increased evidence of exposure to ticks and the organisms they carry."
If between two years of testing you add a new Ehrlichia species and test for antibodies, it would make sense that there would be a (four fold) increase in reporting. The report also states that only an increase in exposure has been reported. Antibodies present would only indicate previous exposure, not necessarily infection. (Not for you Doc E, but for others) Had this report indicated that PCR had been used to confirm this, I believe it would have more merit. I am not saying I think there is more or less Ehrlichiosis, just that the information needed to say that is not in this article.
http://www.idexx.com/view/xhtml/en_us/c ... 1108pr.jsf
Peter