FWIW: Had an interesting talk with Dr. John, a DVM. He was telling me
that "Up Nort" (near the 49th parallel) that he gets 30-35% of the dogs
he gets testing positive for lyme ALL YEAR AROUND. The dogs don't show
symptoms, but the tests for antibodies show somewhere around 200 or
higher where an unaffected pooch tests about 30. His advice was to use
Prescription anti-tick stuff (he said not frontline or other OTC stuff)
TWELVE months out of the year. He said the dogs that were treated only
for 6 months tested positive at the same rate as untreated dogs. I
don't remember the names of the drugs he named, but your vet should know.
My interpretation is that the field rats are active 12 months of the
year, and breeding deer ticks and other ticks year round. Dogs (and
cats) are active 12 months of the year also. So as the field rats drop
off new crops of ticks, dogs are likely to sniff a field rat trail, and
pick up the freshly dropped ticks, even if it is 20 to 30 below.
If the ticks are active in the cold "nort", then for the rest of the
country, at least where field rats (200-300 lb) or timber rats (about
150-200 lb) are present, then the ticks are present year around and you
and your pooch are in danger. I hear of many dogs in the 7 yr old
range with "arthritis" or bad joints" etc, that I now suspect are
actually suffering the effects of chronic Lyme.
Contrary to what is generally spread, the rash from (generally deer)
tick bites (lyme disease) are not always target shaped, but often an
long oval that looks and feels like a bad first degree burn. CDC and
AMA continue to deny and downplay the range and severity of Lyme
disease. I can tell you for sure that the MIssissippi and ohio river
valleys as well as the northeast US are infested with field rats and
timber rats carrying deer ticks and disease.
Good info about Lyme is available from Dr. Scott Taylor, a researcher at
the vet med research Institute (VMRI) who also has chronic Lyme. Do a
duck duck go search on "Dr. Scott Taylor Lyme" DuckDuckGo.com
Deer season is on us. Do your duty, get deer tags and fill em, even if
you only drop off the carcass/meat for prisoners or needy. The car, or
dog, or life you save may be YOURS!
Some bozo imported 10 or 20 longhorns into the Midwest, and I got a Lone
Star tick bite within 1/4 mile of this idiot's cattle. So, now Lone
star ticks (and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever) are not just in the
southwest. The field rats are already spreading them too.
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