Ticks, ticks, and more ticks!

[DemoTex]

Small deer ticks. I found one crawling up my leg yesterday. I found two (neither in-bedded) on Nick-Nick's snout and eyelid today. Then tonight I passed a mirror and saw a spot on my shirt. It moved. It was a tick.

Copperheads yesterday, ticks today. The news reports rabid foxes, too. Max Nichts. I'm here to stay.

[madmax]

1. Tex - you should get checked out

Aren't deer ticks the ones that carry Lyme disease? The dog can get it, too. You're having a rough week my friend. :hug:

[DemoTex]

7. Yep. I am assuming they are deer ticks from the small size.

I'll have them vaccinated against Lyme next week. I don't think it is a problem in Western NC, but better safe than sorry. A good friend of ours, who lived in the sticks in Buck County, Pennsylvania, contracted Lyme disease and died. Bad shit, that.

[Dogmudgeon]

23. Yeowch!

I live in Bucks County, PA -- the 'burbs, not the sticks.

I've had Lyme Disease twice already. It's possible I still have it, but I dosed the hell out of my body with antibiotics.

Western NC does, indeed, harbor infected deer ticks. And if you're getting Lymerix, it takes a few weeks to kick in. So play safe outdoors.

--bkl

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. Zoinks!

Definitely get yourself checked out.

My aunt got Lyme disease, and it has been awful for her. Constant aches and pains. She and my uncle are down near Fredericksburg.

We just killed a small copperhead outside our back door the other day. Must be a bad year for them!

Be careful!
FSC

[NC_Nurse]

3. We got a ton of 'em here too!

We've been pulling them off our dogs, cats and each other for a couple of weeks now. They said on the news here that they expect a really bad season for Rocky Mountain Spotted fever and Lyme disease in NC. I don't doubt it.

Yuch!!!!:(

[madmax]

6. Nurse

If one sees a dr. soon after a tick is discovered do they have a shot or something to prevent Lyme disease?

[NC_Nurse]

8. Not that I've heard about...

But I work recovery room, so I may not have heard about it yet. Mainly, you just want to find out as early as possible tt start treatment and lessen the after effects of Lyme. Rocky Mountain Spotted fever doesn't have the long term effects as far as I know like Lyme's does, but can be very serious , especially in elderly or immune-compromised folks. You get a rash and a REALLY bad headache, high fever...

I think Lyme's is subtler, but has more long term sequalae like joint pain and fatigue.

Both not desirable. Check your bod after walks in tall grass, hangin' out with the doggies, etc.

[madmax]

13. Thanks Nurse

I had all the symptoms of Lyme but, after tests dr. said it was rheumatoid arthritis. What a break :(

Now I worry more about my dog and Lyme disease. He's always going under bushes.

[put out]

17. Antibiotics as a prophylactic measure.

Save the tick in a baggie with a little grass. Contact the Lyme Association. Watch for the characteristic bulls-eye rash, but sometimes that doesn't happen.

Lyme is nasty nasty shit. I hate those little shit bugs. What animal eats ticks? I'm buying some of those animals.

Signed, a friend who's daughter has been damaged with Lyme.

[Unperson 309]

22. Tried That....

Found a tick on my bum, las summer, dropped it into a little baggie with some grass...

Did you know ticks make a kind of *pop* sound when smoked?

Tasted *awful*....

309

[salinen]

4. From rattlesnakes to ticks

I remove ticks from myself and my dog almost daily. Wendy has had up to 80 ticks from a single day in the woods. We celebrate the event by having a tick removal party. First we fill a glass with water, then, as we remove the ticks we drop them in the water. Alas, they drown.

[DemoTex]

10. There is a very erotic exercise here in the wilds known as "tick-check"

Use your imagination. Actually, don't. I'll be graphic. Shortly after we were married in 1974 my wife had a young female client die on her. The young retarded woman had RMSF (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever). The post-mortum revealed a tick high in the vagina. That's when we started "tick-check."

[NC_Nurse]

5. Actually...

they don't transmit disease to you until they have latched onto you.

If you pull off some that are latched on, it's recommended that you freeze them in a baggie or keep them in alcohol in case you develop symptoms so they can check them out to help diagnose what you've got.

MMMMmmm...a freezer full of ticks!

[boobooday]

9. We have both of those things here too

Pulled a tick off the hubby today. Found one on me yesterday.

I hate those things!

Cicadas are much better!



http://www.wgoeshome.com

[seventhson]

11. ticks and fleas here near NYC

damn cats and dogs

[Salviati]

12. Spoon!

"Uh, yeah I suck blood all the time. Look I got a straw right her pal, you want a demonstration?!"

[Flaxbee]

14. yuk, they're everywhere here, too in the NVa woods...

I put Frontline on my two wandering kitties, flea powder on the deck-cat (she never ventures farther than the deck) and my fourth cat has some funky body chemistry because she NEVER gets ticks, no matter how far and wide she roams through all kinds of woodland underbrush. She gets very sick with her normal vet shots so I have to be really careful with her, poor thing. But the trade-off is apparently her blood is unappetizing to bloodsuckers.

Ticks freak me out, though. I can handle any bug except roaches and ticks.

[Servo300]

15. Tocks, tocks, and more tocks!

(With apologies to Dr. Suess)
:crazy:

[supernova]

16. Deep Woods OFF ! is your friend

You don't have to take a bath in it, just spray some around your ankles and shoes. Little buggers love to get on your shoes and climb on board.

And yes, check yourself when you come inside. You've seen chimps, right? They do it for a reason. Inspect each other just like they do.

Oh, and regular-sized ticks carry Rocky Mountian Spotted Fever. Welcome to North Carolina!

[DemoTex]

18. "Deep Woods Off" is next to the hiking staff container.

Question: Can you use Deep Woods Off on a dog?

[supernova]

19. I don't know

but don't dogss and cats have their own flea/tick medicines and collars?

I don't think I'd use OFF just becuase of the DEET. You can wash it out of your clothes, but I don't know about getting it out of a dog's fur.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

20. I get a lot of them too

funny, I find more on me than I do on the dogs, yuck. Every itch this time of year creeps me out. Then one day last week there was one crawling across the screen of my laptop -- it was so gross I almost took a picture.

[mike1963]

21. They're bad here in OK too, Mac but I don't think they're 'deer ticks"

I've doused the dogs with Frontline but it doesn't seem to do much of anything. These ticks are what I -think- are another variety, from what I've heard the deer ticks are REALLY TEENY before they get attached, the ones I pull off the ani-mules (and myself occasionally) are about 1 or 2 mm in diameter. I found that a liberal (!) dusting of Sevin on the doggies works pretty well, though. Chiggers are more of an annoyance out in our back 40 to us humanoid types than the ticks though. :D