As the weather turns warmer, a lot of us are spending more time outside, which means dog owners are on the lookout for ticks.
While people think of the spring and summer as tick season, a Maryland-based veterinarian said he sees more ticks in the fall months of October, November and December than he does in July and August.
“Ticks come out all year round,” said Dr. Victor Katz, of the Muddy Branch Veterinary Center in Gaithersburg. “If it gets to 32 degrees frost, they might be a little dormant, but as soon as it warms up to 35-37 degrees, they start moving around.”
A dog’s ambient temperature is 101 degrees. Ticks want to be warm and can sense temperature, humidity and movement.
“They basically hatch out and basically attach to the dogs. They just want to be warm,” Katz said.
There are several tick-related diseases prevalent in the D.C. region, including Lyme, ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis.
“They moved the epicenter for studying Lyme disease from Hartford, Connecticut, to Derwood, Maryland, about seven years ago,” Katz said. “We are in ‘Lyme central.’”
Katz pointed to monthly oral preventive medication, such as Simparica, Bravecto and NexGard, as the best way to keep your dogs safe from tick borne diseases.
“It does not put a bubble around the dog where it basically shoots the tick with laser beams or something like that,” he said.
But if a tick bites a dog that’s on an oral preventive, it will die in about four to six hours. Transmission of some of these diseases often takes up to 10 to 12 hours.
“So, it’s basically wiping the tick out before they get a chance to transmit enough of the disease to harm the dog,” he said.
There is data, according to Katz, that shows the preventatives might increase seizure potential in some dogs. He recommended for those dogs, using a Seresto tick collar that lasts about six months and, he said, “works really well.”
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