One minute, my husband and I were having a perfectly ordinary conversation in the kitchen. In the next moment, I was ripping off my sweatshirt, my T-shirt, and what I had on under that. No, my husband’s words were not seductive and it wasn’t a hot flash. Can you guess?
“Ack! Tick! On my back! Get it! Get it! Get it!”
With all the restrictions on socializing, my only recreation has been taking my dogs for walks – and three times in the past week, I’ve suddenly felt the unmistakable sensation of something crawling on my body where nothing ought to be crawling. The one that made me rip off my clothes in the kitchen was the third one!
That creepy sensation
The first one woke me out of a dead sleep. I had fallen asleep on the couch while watching a late-night movie, and woke up thrashing – a tick was walking across my wrist! Somehow I came wide-awake immediately and managed to precisely grab the insect – a big dog tick – between my fingers. Nothing, and I mean nothing, has ever awakened me so quickly, zero to 60, as fast as that feeling.
The second one was while we were walking on a trail. I felt what I thought was maybe a mosquito on my neck. But when a wave of my hand didn’t stop the feeling of something tiny touching me, my fingers explored and I felt the insect crawling along my hairline. I flung it away from me and immediately regretted the action; it would live another day! Darn it! I could have killed it!
The only solace I have regarding the current infestation, typical for this season in this area, is that I haven’t (yet) discovered a tick that had already embedded itself on my body somewhere. I have pulled a couple off of Otto – who is a tick magnet – and just this morning, removed a teeny deer tick, smaller than the head of a pin, from Woody’s eyelid, where it was almost invisible among his eyelashes (he kept rubbing his eye, which made me investigate further). But so far, my sensitivity to the crawling sensation has kept me safe from a bite.
I’m struggling as I write this to keep myself from investigating an imagined crawling sensation every few minutes. I don’t have a tick on me now – at least, I am pretty sure I don’t – but after every discovery of one of the creepy insects, I suffer from lingering paranoia for days. Ugh, I despise them!
I have been flea-combing the dogs assiduously after our walks, and yet, somehow, ticks are getting brought home and into the house – and onto the sofa and onto me! This is making me wish for some sort of pressurized airlock that the whole family (canine and human) has to pass through in order to get into the house, something powerful enough to blow all loose particles off of us and into a flame chamber. If you’re an engineer, you can patent that puppy for free! Just send me a unit when it goes to market, will you?
What do you do that works best for protecting your family (canine and human) from ticks?
We are still trying out different spot-on products as well as collars. We’ve even tried different essential oils. I haven’t come to a firm conclusion. But, I have found what has helped us is to give our dog a short hair-cut and have him wear a bandana. Following this post!
I too swear by Earth Animal. I use the internal powder year round, and add the topical oil April through October. I also use Diatamaceous Earth (DE). We treat around the perimeter of the house, and I sprinkle a few times a week in sofas, chairs, and dog beds and vacuum up. I have seen no ticks on my dogs in two years. I got Lyme a few years back and DO NOT want it again!
We went back to Frontline, so far so good, Live on tick Island Cape Cod, Only use the chemicals during heavy tick season. We use all the natural, spray, wipes, earth animal internal , Diatomaceous earth, in between an as an addition in heavy season. They all work pretty good but not enuf for heavy ticks time. We did use Seresto for about 3 years but still got ticks, and then I started observing some concerning health issues not major, and not proven due to the collar but enough fro me to stop. My dog got really lethargic shortly after having the collar on like a week or so. I did not use it year round, also she developed a lot of fatty tumors that seemed to multiply since using the collar? anyway I stopped it since it wasn’t providing good protection and her energy came back and so far 1 year no new tumors.
Our family have been taking a 1000 unit processed Garlic oil pill daily for years ( including our Giant breed dogs)
None of our dogs have ever shown any adverse side effects from taking their daily capsule !
to date I have NEVER ONCE found a tick on myself and very rarely on any of our dogs, even after walking in local park fields.
I have read a number of articles over the years about the possible benefits of taking processed garlic oil
Diatomaceous Earth! DE. We have always used DE to control fleas and most importantly ticks, ever since we move to 5 acres in the country. The very first week we moved in we were infested with tiny seed ticks or nymphs just going from the car to the house! We had to do something fast but didn’t want to poison the stream at the bottom of the front yard. Someone suggested DE. We purchased a 50 lb bag of this flour like substance, purchased a dry powder fogger and donned our masks and fogged away. We did the entire grassed areas of the yard and as far into the surrounding woods that thing could throw the powder as well as along a wooded path. Do it when you will have about 4 or 5 days of dry weather. Guess what? No more ticks, fleas or any other waxy bodied insects. Evidently it sticks to and scratches through the waxy coating and then they just dry up! Seriously it was 7 years before we started seeing ticks on us or our dogs (which were never allowed deep into the woods). then we just did the whole thing again. Seems ticks don’t travel far from where they hatch unless they travel on something. I also use it in my home, under furniture, in cracks and crevices and behind appliances. Keeps and kills roaches too. Also use it in my dog boarding facilty since 2006 and never have had a flea infestation and it seems to work to keep ants away as well. We are still working off that same 50 lb bag after 25 years. It goes a long way.
Ick, Nancy. I hear you. The odd thing is that I grew up in Chico, and never saw (or felt) a tick in 22 years. We hiked all over Butte County year round, and I can’t recall a single incidence. I now live on an island in the Pacific Northwest, and due to the overabundance of deer, plus seasonally mild temps, we have those pesky tiny deer ticks continually. I flea comb my two goldens regularly, and especially look in places that ticks love to hide; the eyebrows are a favorite! Ugh. Also, a couple of years ago we started using tick tubes. These tubes are made of biodegradable cardboard and filled with cotton balls, which have been soaked with a substance (permethrin), which is toxic to ticks but not to mice, dogs or any other living thing. The mice use the cotton to build nests, and ticks die in the process. Spreading these tubes around the yard twice a year (to time ticks’ life cycles) has noticeably decreased the population in our large, wild/natural but fenced yard. Here’s the company we use:
https://www.thermacell.com/products/tick-control-tubes
Of course, this does nothing to prevent those icky stowaways from jumping on for a ride while you’re walking off-property or on a hike. However, decreasing the population immediately around us has absolutely made a difference.
I wouldn’t recommend Bravecto. Go to FaceBook Group called Does Bravecto Kill Dogs? can give you more info. There have been many puppies die because of this product.
I am curious about peoples experience with the more toxic preventive treatment. I have never used them but last year had 20 ticks/day on my collie and 15 on my little short haired mix.. both were positive for lyme disese this Spring and both sleep with us and seriously cuddle everywhere in our house. I bought a seresto collar and my vet prescribed the nexguard for one of my pups who is always next to me or on top of me during the day.. I live in Vermont and the snow is melting but the temp is over 40 and I am very torn. I have never used any of these toxic products on my dogs but am now worried for my own health.. Welcome peoples thoughts and experience.
Thanks
Alice
Quigley and I walk the nature trail here in Central Illinois, and so far so good no tick issues. He wears a baltic amber dog collar which I know works with mosquitoes. Once while walking, there were five mosquitoes hovering around him. I watched as they attempted to land on him, (but it was like an invisible force field) and each time they lowered they bounced back up!! As for ticks — pretty sure it works in preventing them too since I have not seen any, but can’t swear by again for the same reason — haven’t seen them.
As for ticks falling out of trees, I would say yes because they are on that squirrel that is overhead giving you the business.
Omigosh how this post made me laugh. We’re in Nor Cal and have been pulling unattached ticks off for a couple of weeks now. A few days ago after we came back from a walk, I went to the bathroom, pulled down my pants and found a tick crawling up the inside of my thigh. !!!! Like you, I made the mistake of screaming and flinging the thing I-don’t-know-where. That meant I had to throw my pants into the laundry since I may have flung the tick right back into the pants. 😫
I give my dogs an oral natural product by Earth Animal and normally spray them (and myself) with something from the same brand, but I haven’t renewed my annual habit yet. We all hate the spray but it works.