I walked 0.1 miles today and I pulled MORE THAN 66 ticks from the three of us- Me and my two dogs- 20 from me, 28 from Bully, a pit bull with a single layer smooth coat- like eye lashes-and Olie who has longer hair is probably still lousy with them.

I was covered, they were covered and Olie has long hair, he's probably still covered. Both dogs were frontlined on Nov. 1st. Frontline works well to kill tics, but it takes a little time- if the tic ends up on your sofa or rug you could be in deep trouble becasue you can't frontline a person. I picked 15 off my clothes, came inside, stripped and found 5 more on the INSIDE of my clothes

THey have a hard shell, so I usually crush them between my thumbnails but there were so many I grabbed a cup of water to drown them- at 230pm, 8 hours later, they were still moving their legs underwater

This has been an issue since Spring, my vet said its because we havent had a really harsh winter to kill them off, and they have become immune to flea & tick meds.. Were you walking in the woods? Tall grass? Try drowning them in oil, it works better than water.

I thought something had changed with the effectiveness of Frontline. I have been covered with flea bites from my neighbor's cats ! So far, she doesn't have any ticks.

One of the reasons I try to make my property hostile territory for deer is because deer ticks carry lyme disease. It doesn't mean I am safe, but it is one precaution I can take.

Does anyone know of any other product we can use on our animals ?

There is a vacine for dogs against Lyme, around here if you get bit by ticks they recommend a course of antibiotic.

Yes, but I am hoping there is something new we can put on pets so that they don't get ticks ...

Unfortunately my large dog had an adverse effect from Frontline

Turbosaurus, Don't crush ticks with your fingers or between your nails. Don't touch them with your bare hands. If they are carrying Lyme Disease and you have even a tiny crack from dry skin, you can give yourself Lyme Disease.

Ticks hang out at the tips of grass, or the ends of branches, waving their little paws in the air waiting for someone to rub against them. If your walk was through tall grass or plowing through brush, you will come home with them.

The good news is that you got the ticks off you and your dogs before they had a chance to dig in.

You don't worry about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever?

Don't have any recommendation to keep the dogs (and yourself) free of ticks, but you can order a Tick Key to aid in the removal of the ticks.

Link so you can see the item; available online or in retail stores. A similar product called the Tick Wrangler works the same way.
https://www.ebay.com/i/1122929...

My friend (reading over my shoulder ) recommends VitaCost Flea and Tick repellant - good for dogs, horses and cats. It's worth a try. Very good reviews and not very expensive.
https://www.vitacost.com/vitac...

I've been using Vectra 3D for the past 4 years and have had no ticks or fleas on my dog, it's a little pricey $18.00 a dose but well worth it, I dont remember what Frontline cost but my vet stop selling it years ago.

Daisy, I wish more people knew about crushing the nasty little buggers

When I took wilderness first aide training about a million years ago, I had two questions for our instructor (an emergency room MD).

The first was about ticks because out here in the desert, there is always a tick or two waiting to pounce. He told us about touching them (don't) and about removing them (use tweezers, get close enough to the skin to get their head, don't twist, pull straight). What I learned on my own was that if their head is buried, I could push hard enough with my tweezers to get it anyway as my victim (Oops! Patient) didn't feel a thing (tick spit acts as an analgesic), even when I inadvertly took out a hunk of skin. And if the ticks are already engorging, expect blood.

The second question was what do you do it someone gets bit by a rattlesnake 50 miles from help (this was before satellite phones). That answer is more complicated.

I don't get ticks often, so I suck at getting them off my dog. I usually mangle the bug in the process, for an ugly bloody mess. So far, crossing fingers, no residual damage. I keep reading that possums are great tick eaters, wonder if it would be possible to encourage one to live on site somehow? Pete the pet possum...

I recommend using beneficial nematodes that you reconstitute and with a hose end sprayer you spray them on. See: https://www.arbico-organics.co...

In all the years I used them, never had any flea or tick problems.

As for ticks, there are so many tick-borne illnesses, some of which they don't have to bite you and engorge to convey the illness. See:

https://medlineplus.gov/tickbi...

Gayle

I use the cheep tick and flea drops from Wal-Mart.
For humans. Go to sporting goods store. They have stuff for hunters. Wal-Mart probably has it also.

Vectra - 3D does work very well but the dog I have now has a reaction to it. Right now I use K9 Advantix II which has worked better then Frontline but not good as the Vectra 3D.
I would also say to use a permethrin spray on your clothes works better then deet .

My dogs both have the lyme vaccine. The frontline works well to kill them becasue I do find dead ones in the house that aren't engorged and I almost never find ticks attached to the dogs- maybe one or two a year, and that's probably becasue Ive forgotten to apply it on time.

The problem is there isn't (that I know of) a human lyme vaccine, and I am not frontlined, so I'm afraid the ticks will come in on them (or me) and before the poison gets them, they mosey on over to my skin.

You don't need deer to have deer ticks... there's only been two month-long periods in the last 8 years where a single deer has shown up near my house, but I do have raccoons, skunks, possums, squirrels and field mice. Ticks are not picky

Deer ticks have a black head and legs with a rusty/wiskey colored abdomen.

Once they do attach I have a tool called a tick tornado- GREATEST INVENTION EVER- gets the head EVERY SINGLE TIME. especially gret if you have squirmy dogs. It's like $4-5 for a two pack- a big and little.

University of Connecticutt found that deer ticks thrive where there is dense humid underbrush fostering mice. Here's more
http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/cae...

Hopefully after the deep freeze the NE has been in the past few days it will kill off some of the ticks and fleas, it been brutal here in NY