Avon Lodge Veterinary Group

Each month we intend to put a number of popular questions to our vets relating to general pet health and care. Whilst in no way intended to replace a professional diagnosis, we hope that the information and advice provided on these pages are useful. There is also a number of excellent fact sheets created by the Blue Cross pet charity, to the right of this page.

Dog Questions:

Are ticks a problem in South Wiltshire?

In the UK, Ixodes species are the most common (544 out of 546 in one survey) whereas in the rest of Europe Ixodes is only about 27%.
There are 3 different parasitic stages; larvae, nymph and adult with a different host animal for each stage.

The larval and nymph stages are found in rodent burrows, preferring to feed on mice and hedgehogs whereas the adult stages are in grass and prefer cattle, sheep or deer. However, all 3 stages will bite and feed on the majority of mammals they encounter which explains why they are able to transmit disease to dogs and humans.

Ticks move to favoured areas in order to feed, these usually being the thin-skinned parts of the body such as ears, face and inner legs. Ticks rely on heat, odour, vibration and sight to find the host.

After feeding the tick will drop to the ground and await another host to continue the life cycle. Adult female ticks can lay up to 10,000 eggs on the ground.

Diseases associated with ticks.

1) Babesiosis
A fatal disease affecting dogs and cats. Found in Italy, Spain and France but as the climate warms the disease will move northwards There are already pockets in Northern France now.
2) Hepatozoonosis
Affects dogs and cats but only found in Southern France, Spain and Italy at present.
3) Ehrlichia
Affects dogs and cats. A bacteria spread by ticks in Southern Europe.
4) Lymes Disease
A bacteria spread ticks. Usually silent in animals but can lead to severe disease in adults and children. It is thought that a tick feeding than 24 hrs (feeding duration normally 5-7 days) is not long enough for disease transmission. Lymes Disease is either associated with meningitis or arthritis.Only about 5% of infected dogs develop Lymes Disease.
5) Tick Borne Encephalitis
of dogs and cats Present in Southern and Eastern Europe.

Tick Control
1)Avoidance of parkland, grass downland, forest bracken and rough grazing.
2)Use of tick hook to remove cemented mouthparts
3)Advantix Spot-on – Applied monthly during the tick seasons, Spring and Autumn, this is a superbly effective prophylactic which gives complete tick control. It is also effective against fleas.
NOT TO BE USED ON CATS