Just a reminder for all dog owners - it's that time o' year again.

Even though it is still fairly chilly here, I came back from today's walk to discover one of the little blighters attached to the Extreme Belltie.

So... if you haven't already done so, best to ask your vet when to start your usual tick preventative. And check your mutts after each walk!

Happy Spring, one and all.

Yuck! I hate these things

Not that my daughter resembles anything close to a dog but, could I ask, is there anything like a vaccination for kids against all the nasty diseases these critters carry? This is the first year that she is really at risk as she is now running about outside (she's 18 months old).

Thanks for this - was wondering when I should start treating.

I found the thread linked helpful when I also was unsure about how to protect my non furry girls Ticks in the forest, and vaccination


It is amazing here up in the mountains we used to not have the problem,
but since a couple of years things changed and now my cats have a minimum of 2 on them everyday! I use both the special collars and the neck drops for the animals and for the kids and myself the sprays. I know you cannot always be 100% protected, so we also double check the pets and our bodies.

These bloody monsters have been not only spreading but also climbing slowly up up up

Wish us all a tick free Spring, Summer, and Autumn!!!

Thanks for the reminder. Just pulled one of those nasty b*st*rds of lily's face. She tends to get them on her head and neck.... She's quite a sniffer.

And don't forget that humans get them too!!

I got bitten last year and it was only after reading one of the EF posts that I took myself off to the hospital and got treated.

If I had not got the information it could well have been a different story

Yup, I second SmackerJack. Ticks can give serious neurological diseases. All tick bites should be shown to a doctor.
If you get a rash where the puncture is, take a ballpoint pen and draw an outline around it. It will allow you to see if the rash is spreading.

Not sure that this is true. Last year my kids had quite a few ticks between them, I asked the doctor about it. He said, mark the spot where you remove the tick, check it daily for 2 weeks. If you get a bullseye type red rash, then immediately go to the doctor for antibiotics, but if nothing shows up within 2 weeks then you are fine.

No cause for alarm.

Can't agree, the neuro issues can kick in weeks to months after the bite.
Best to be safe and see a doctor.

Well you can go to the doctor if you like, but they can't do anything except say, "see if a bullseye ring comes up and come back if it does."

Unless you are going to insist on antibiotics after every tick, which is not a good idea. Or the blood test, which is not 100% accurate anyway.

Yes, many issues can come up LONG after the tick bite - but only if you are infected, and if you are infected then you will get the bullseye mark in approx. 2 weeks after the bite.

Anyway, this has been discussed many many times on the forum. so up to each person to decide for themselves.

Having gone through the diagnosis and treatment for a tick bite (in my case Lyme disease), I can tell you Joanne is correct, though some doctors may give you an antibiotic just as a precaution.

Reason for this is.
1. The first symptom, the rash, develops wthin one to two weeks.
2. The lab test usually screen for antibodies and it takes four to six weeks for the antibodies to become detectable. They can test for the genetic fingerprint of the bacteria itself, but this is rare because it's expensive and skilled job.
3. If you check yourself and pull the tick off within 24 hours, the risk of contracting Lyme disease, even from an infected tick is much reduced.

By the way, the bulls eye rash is only a symptom of Lyme disease. There are two tick born diseases here. Lyme disease and Tick Borne Encephalitis. TBE does not give a tell tale rash or any other localised symptom around the bite but flu like symptoms in early stages.

There is no effective vaccine against Lyme disease, thought it's easily treated in its early stages.

There is a vaccine against TBE and anybody who lives in areas infected should have it if they put themselves at risk (walks in woods etc).

Lyme disease is a risk all over the country below 1500 metres altitude and that limit seems to be creeping higher.

TBE used to be a risk mainly in the Swiss German part - especially in the areas north of Bern and especially Zurich, Thurgau, St. Gallen. But according to my doctor, TBE is spreading south and west with cases now reported in Jura and Neuchatel.

And getting back to critters...

A tick bite is not a reason to panic - many dogs are bitten and suffer no consequences. BUT dog owners should note when a dog has been bitten, and then watch the dog for the next days. If you are concerned, a discussion with your vet is in order.

After a tick bite, signs of fever, swollen lymph glands, muscle or neurological problems, or otherwise unexplained persistent apathy/loss of appetite should be investigated promptly - and one should make the vet aware that the dog has been bitten.

(In our case, my dog suddenly began having seizures, lingering strabismus after a seizure event, loss of mobility in the short term followed by intermittent muscle coordination problems.)

As I've written in other threads, we believe based on the antibody titer and clinical signs that FSME lay behind my dog's illness two years ago - yet we still cannot say with 100% certainty that FSME was the cause.

If your dog shows some of the symptoms of a tick-born disease one needs to understand that diagnosis can be difficult. The symptoms of tick born diseases can point to several other conditions, there may be lots of 'red herrings' on the way to diagnosis. Frustrating as it is, you may need to do a lot of testing to rule out the usual suspects - and your observations of your dog's symptoms and behavior will be very important.

A couple of articles:

http://www.scalibor.ch/broschueren/Zeckenfibel.pdf

http://www.kleintiermedizin.ch/hund/zecken/zecken3.htm

http://www.animalnet.ch/zecken.html

Again - you should not panic if your dog is bitten - most do not become ill. It is thought that caine resistance is quite high. The most important thing we owners can do for our pets is to follow a consistent tick prevention routine as advised by the vet, check regularly for ticks, and remove ticks as promptly as possible. In this case, an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure.

I had a tick bite last summer and didn't think anything of it. No rash or other outward sign but about a week and a half afterwards I had a huge headache, nausea, and fever which laster for 2 days. Among the least pleasant 2 days of my life. From your post Nev, sounds like a might've had TBE but I didn't go to the doctor, I was new to the country at the time and didn't link the illness with the tick.

So in short, maybe Lyme disease causes a rash but there are other tick issues which don't.

Ugh, went for a walk in the outskirts of Nyon today, not even up in the mtns and my dog was on a leash and on the trail (not running off in the bushes etc) and she STILL got 4 ticks. They are everywhere this year. And one was really buried in her so we couldn't get all of it out. Not Fun.

If you do not get the entire tick out, there could be a lot of swelling around the area, which will increase, not decrease. It cannot just stay in there. We had this once, and the vet used pointed tweezers to remove it. (it was a bit of the leg.)

The do vaccinate here, but only after age 7.

A mum spotted a tick in her daughter's head right in our play group and pulled it out A friend that grew up in our area said that her mum used to tell her and her siblings to strip off and they would get checked over after a day out in the forest. Every time she would find a tick on at least one of them

After a lovely day out yesterday - a cycle out with the kids, a picnic by the lake and a round of mini-put put with friends, I seem to have been bitten by something that I have an allergy to. I think we may have sat near where the ducks sit at night. Thankfully the kids weren't bitten.

Local drugstores sell sprays for this, this works for us



they also make a kiddie verson, I think that one is green. We didn't get a single tic those years we have been here, none of us.

I read in the paper last week 10,000 people contract Lyme disease in Switzerland every year fromTick bites. The problem seems to be getting worse here. The hot, dry Spring is making this a bumper year.

On the other hand, one can get Lyme from mosquitos, too, and being from the area around the lake, we have been infested by clouds of mosquitos for a month now, eversince it got a bit warmer. So, it is not only tics.

The vaccination is only effective against circa 50% of the tick carried diseases.