Unwelcome visitors - ticks & fleas!

Dare I say it but for the past few days it has really felt like Spring has arrived, and whilst the dogs have been lazily soaking up the rays, the garden creep-crawlies have been quietly shaking off their winter sleep and going about their business in the sunshine – certainly here we have an abundance of ladybirds already, along with bumblebees and yellow butterflies.  But the warmer weather heralds the emergence of the not-so-pretty spring visitors too – ticks!   

Ticks are blood-sucking arachnids (spider family) and can be found in gardens, parks, woods and other rural and grassy environments.  Ticks are very active during the spring and autumn, but can remain a problem throughout the summer if weather conditions are favourable.  If you have never seen a tick, this is what one looks like in close-up:

Scary!  Thank goodness they’re not really that big.  Ticks attach to dogs (and other warm-blooded animals) and engorge with blood, increasing their weight by up to 100 times before dropping off after 5 to 10 days.  In their non-engorged form, ticks are tiny – just a millimetre or so long – and they are flat too, not plump with blood like the one in the above picture.  They become noticeable to us only once their bodies have started to swell in size and usually by touch as we stroke our pets and feel that tell-tale lump amidst the hair – our dogs having already played host for a couple of days.  

The most common attachment sites for ticks are around the dog’s head and particularly on the ears.  This happens as the dog investigates undergrowth, burrows and hedgerows.  Ticks will often climb up to the tips of grass blades and wait there to be picked up by a passing host.  I found one on Tilly’s left ear just a couple of evenings ago.  She had been wandering through some long grass that morning. 

In the UK, the main diseases that ticks are responsible for transmitting are Lyme disease (which can also affect humans) and Anaplasmosis. Although treatable, these diseases can cause serious illness and occasionally death if left undiagnosed.

So what to do about these little suckers?

Contrary to popular belief, chemical ‘preventative’ flea and tick products do not prevent ticks from attaching to your dog. What happens is that once attached and sucking, the tick is slowly poisoned by the dog’s blood, dies, and then drops off in a couple of days (same with fleas). Read that again. Topical, chemical ‘preventative’ treatments DO NOT prevent ticks from attaching to your dog. The tick is slowly poisoned by your dog’s blood. That’s right, chemical ‘preventative’ treatments turn your dog’s blood toxic, and if it’s toxic to the tick, what’s it doing to the dog?

The most popular topical treatment for fleas and ticks in the UK, Frontline, contains the chemical 'fipronil'.  Fipronil is an insecticide and a neuro-toxin that disrupts the nervous system functions of insects.  According to the Journal of Pesticide Reform, "In tests with laboratory animals, fipronil caused aggressive behavior, damaged kidneys, and ‘drastic alterations in thyroid function.’ The fipronil-containing product Frontline caused changes in the levels of sex hormones."    The article also states that commercial fipronil products also contain five so-called 'inert' ingredients, all of which have been found to be harmful to health in laboratory tests, giving rise to cancer, genetic damage, tumours and reduced fertility.  You can read the full article on fipronil from the Journal of Pesticide Reform here:  http://www.pesticide.org/get-the-facts/pesticide-factsheets/factsheets/fipronil

There are two more toxins in Frontline – methoprene, which can cause liver enlargements, headaches, throat irritation and nausea, and ethanol, which can cause fatigue, lethargy, dizziness and nervous system disruption.  You can read more here: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/tick-and-flea-products-toxic-to-pets-and-humans.html#ixzz1GsWmSSqw

Exposure to sunlight causes fipronil to break down into a substance that is nine to ten times as potent as fipronil itself.  Fipronil is also a carcinogen.  Classified as such by the Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to fipronil has been found to cause benign and malignant thyroid tumours in laboratory animals.   The statistics on canine cancer are alarming anyway, but there are two stats in particular that stand out for me.   According to recent statistics from VPI Pet Insurance, dogs are twice as likely to develop leukemia (blood cancer) as are humans, and a staggering 35 times more  likely than humans to develop skin cancer.  If we put known carcinogens directly onto our dogs' skin, which then get absorbed into their blood ... it doesn't take a genius to work out that there may be a link between these stats and something like fipronil.  You can read more about canine cancer here: http://dogs.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Cancer_in_Dogs

I never use chemicals on my dogs. I never have done. My dogs are not infested with fleas or ticks and neither is my home. I have yet to find a flea or a tick on Beau, and in the past three years I have found the grand total of just one flea and one tick on Tilly - each dealt with easily and swiftly, the flea received the good old 'squish between the fingernails' treatment, and the tick was safely removed using a 'tick twister':

You can learn more about this natty little tool here:  http://www.ticktwister.com/info.html

Safe flea and tick prevention during the active flea and tick season (in the UK, mid-March to mid-September):

1. Wash all pet bedding in hot, soapy water once a week.
2. Vacuum floors, skirting boards, crevices, carpets, rugs and upholstery at least once a week, disposing of the vacuum bag and its contents straight after.  If your vacuum cleaner is bagless, empty the chamber straight into your main, outside bin.
3. Brush your dog daily and use a fine-toothed flea comb once a week.  If you do find a flea, it can be drowned in soapy water.  If you find a tick, remove it with a ‘tick twister’ and then drown it in soapy water.
4. Bathing your dog is an excellent way of getting rid of fleas if you suspect that your pet may be infested.  Any soap will get rid of fleas, but choosing a shampoo that contains any of the following essential oils (below) will also act as a repellent.
5. Look for repellent sprays and shampoos that include the safer essential oils of lemongrass, cedarwood, peppermint, rosemary or thyme.
6. Maintain outdoor areas, keeping grass and shrubbery short in your dog's favourite spots.  This will increase sunlight and dryness in those areas, making it less habitable for fleas and ticks.  Plant lemongrass, peppermint, rosemary and thyme in your borders.  Nematodes (available at some garden centres) can be used as a nonchemical, biological aid to help control fleas in outdoor areas too.
7. Once or twice a year sprinkle natural, unrefined 'diatomaceous earth' along skirting boards, under furniture, and in cracks where you cannot vacuum.  Diatomaceous earth is a naturally occuring silicon-based, powdered rock compound that on contact with the waxy outer layer of insects' exoskeletons absorbs lipids, causing the insect to dehydrate and die.  You can also sprinkle a little diatomaceous earth into your bin and vacuum bags.  If you have respiratory problems, take care not to breath in the fine dust. 
8. For actual infestation problems that are severe and do require chemical intervetion, look for lower risk products such as those containing Pyriproxyfen, Nitenpyram, Spinosad, S-Methoprene or Lufenuron as the active ingredient.

You can find a comprehensive flea and tick product directory here: http://www.simplesteps.org/greenpaws-products so before you buy and use a product on your pet, you can check the risk factors first.  The directory has been compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council who have checked the listed ingredients of over 100 flea and tick products and catergorised them according to risk factor.

And in case you’ve never seen one, this is what a flea looks like (greatly magnified of course):

The actual size of fleas varies greatly.  In the UK, the flea most commonly found on cats and dogs is the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis), which measures approximately 2.5mm.     

Feeling a bit itchy now …