Dr. Jim and I recently went to a presentation about ticks and came away with some interesting information that has changed my recommendations for tick preventatives for pets.

I am now recommending Simparica for all dogs, year round!  Here is the information that made me change my mind.

Tick Information:

Ticks carry a variety of diseases and take 24 to 72 hours depending on the disease to transmit that disease. If you kill the tick before 24 hours then disease transmission should not be able to take place.

To get labeled as killing ticks you have to show that you can kill them within 48 to 72 hours, but you can still get diseases in that time frame.

Bravecto is good at killing most ticks within 24 hours for the first month then it drops dramatically.

Nexgard is NOT good at killing ticks within 24 hours.

Simparica kills ticks within 24 hours until about 30 days!

There are tick species that thrive in urban environments.

Certain tick species are most active in the winter.

There are tick species that will hunt down a host.

Some tick species will infest a home, living in the walls.

There are 3 stages of ticks, and you can only see 1 of those stages, which means there are 2 stages of ticks that are too small to see on yourself and your pets. All stages feed and spread disease. Ticks are only on an animal for hours to days, unlike fleas which are on them for months so you probably wont seem them!

There have been 5 different tick species that have been found in Ohio:

Dermacentor – American Dog Ticks – These ticks thrive in urban environments. As long as there is a little bit of grass they will be in the area.

Ixodes – Deer Ticks – These spread Lyme disease and are most active from October to February.

Rhipicephalus – Brown Dog Tick – These prefer dogs for all life stages and can colonize a house and live in the walls.

Amblyomma maculatum – Gulf Coast Ticks – These are the hardest to kill and have recently been found in Ohio.

Amblyomma americanum – Lone Star Ticks – These will hunt for a host and have become common in our area.

Frequent Asked Questions:

Do they live in my area? Yes, it doesn’t matter if you are in the city or the country, they are in our area.

Why don’t I see them? They are not on the animal for that long and most stages are too small to see.

We don’t have any trees, am I still at risk? Ticks don’t live in treats, they live in smaller vegetation about ankle high.

If I only stay on the trail, Im safe right? No because they will actually hunt for hosts.

Do I need to treat in the winter? Yes, ticks are active year round and you are most likely to get lyme disease in the winter months.