About brown dog ticks..

Okay here`s the deal...I imported a dog to Finland from Greece 4,5 months ago, and it turned out that he had this disease called canine ehrlichiosis transmitted by brown dog tick, so he must have been bitten by this parasite. I didn`t see any ticks on him for about 1,5 months before we left the counry in the beginning of december, because the most active tick season was propably over due to the cold weather. And when he came to Finland there were no visible ticks on him, and during the time he spent here there where no ticks on him. Unfortunately he was also diagnosed with canine leishmaniosis, and he was getting really sick, so he had to be euthanised.
Now the problem is that we have another dog in the family, and I`m really worried about the posibility that she might have had either one of these diseases from the infected dog. I know it`s not too likely, especially when there was no blood-exchange between the dogs. The another dog is healhty, but I`m still worried..
Propably the only way this ehlichiosis would have been infected to the healthy dog is through a brown dog tick`s bite. Is it possible, that the dog imported from Greece would have been infested with these ticks, and brought them with him here, though I haven`t seen any ticks on him or the other family dog?? I know that those creepy crawlies live only indoors here in northern Europe. So it was 4.5 months ago when the dog came to Fnland, there were no visible ticks on him, and he or the other dog in our family haven`t had any ticks during the winter. And I haven`t seen any suspicios bugs here yet, but it`s driving me nuts to think about that there might be a brown dog tick population increasing in this house; all black spots are potential reservoirs of those deadly diseases. Is it possible, that after 4,5 months they would just suddenly appear here?

 

Ive been doing a little research on this, I had never heard of ehrlichiosis being passed from dog to dog except in cases were an infected dog is used as a blood donor, I cant find any reports that expand on that though.
Ive also sent e-mails to a couple of vets that may have more knowledge on it so Ill post any info I get from them.

heres a link with some information on it.

http://www.workingdogs.com/doc0045.htm

Is Frontline available where you live? If your worried there might be ticks in the house you could use Frontline on the dog you have, Frontline is effective in killing the ticks (and fleas), its a once a month liquid that you put on the skin and is one of the safest products on the market to my knowledge. (Dont bath the dog for 48 hours before putting it on and 48 hours after....but then its okay) Ask your vet what products are available for killing any that you think may be in your house.

 

I have used this anti-tick serum called expot, only yestorday I put it on the dog`s neck, but before that she doesn`t have had any protection against ticks, because there weren`t any ticks around. Just a few day ago I started to think whether it could be possible, that the imported dog might have smuggled here those brown dog ticks. Hope that there aren`t any of those here, though I haven`t seen any tick on a dog`s fur or lurking around the house.

 

Have you seen what the ticks look like ? I think the males look more like little spiders and the females are the ones that stick, their bodies get bigger. Whenever I took my dogs hiking in the mountains I used to do a 'body check', just run my hands all over them, mainly up under the legs, behind the ears, by the tail, I used frontline also though, just in case.

I have looked at a couple of info sites on Leishmans also, it seems this also is transmitted only by sand flys, not dog to dog or dog to human. The only thing I saw that mentioned transmission from dog to dog was in Spain, it said that there were a couple of 'suspected' cases but no testing or further investigation was done so it wasnt confirmed, with a good possibility that the cases were not a fact and that if it had happend at all it was very, very rare.
I found a lot of info on both diseases on Google and just put in 'dogs+ehrlichia(or leishmaniasis)+transmission'. Hope that helps a bit.

 

Yeah, I contacted this highly respected finnish parasitologist, and he also confirmed that those dog-to-dog infections are extremely rare.
The main thing that I`m concerned at the moment are the ticks. I have checked the dog from nose to tail about 100 times, but there isn`t any alarming signs of ticks of any kind. I keep on checking the window frames, and staring at the walls and windows. But luckily I haven`t had any kind of observation of these icky creatures..One spider dropped once on my head, and at that second I was certain that it`s a tick on a hunt, but it really was a just spider, because it was so huge, no tick would have been that big. I didn`t kill him, but I let go, and told him to catch all the bad little brown dog ticks and EAT THEM. :roll:
But since nobody have had any kind of observation of these ticks neither in the dogs nor in the house ever, there might never be a pack of brown bog ticks in our house, eh? How long is the usual life cycle of these parasites? I`ve read that in ideal circumstances it´s about two months, but it might be even as long as six moths, but generally, how long does it take that the ticks take over the house after the first bug enters?It has been now 4,5 months since the first ticks could have entered in our home. Please tell me that I`m just being neurotic.

 

I live in a pretty heavy tick area and I dont have a problem with them in my house. I do asdelauk does. I give my dogs a thorough body check after they have been out running around luckily they are light colored and easy to spot.

Delauk, interesting about the male and female. I was wonderin about the big size difference

 

Did you take your dog from Greece bc of the Olympics? I have a freind who took a dog from greece bc they were going to PTS so many and she wanted to save at least one life. If so YAY! Luckily for her hers was healthy. I am sorry about yours. I don't know what it is like in Finland, but in Germany we had ticks galore!! It was crazy how many Luther would get. It was so disgusting, but he got them from being outside, even inside our yard. He was on frontline for ticks and would still get them. I always had to do a shake down before we came inside, but I never had any one me or ever thought they were growing inside. Good Luck!

 

As far as how long the ticks live for, Ive read some reports that say about a year, others that say once the female has laid eggs they then die. Ive posted a link but the are some pictures on there of some ticks so I dont I just wanted to warn you first.

http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/r ... ckbio.html

As for getting rid of any that may be in the house, this link has some good useful information on it. If you think its necessary to treat your house be careful that what you use is okay to use around your dog and people. I would check with your vet before treating the house, let the vet know what your using on your dog (the Exspot)and if the product to kill them in the house will cause any problems for your dog. (Some pesticides cannot be mixed.)

http://www.humanesocietymiami.org/tick_control.htm

And for what its worth, I wouldnt say your being neurotic, I think your being concerned, I think that the chance of there being ticks in your house, if youve never had them, you didnt find any on Sami, you havent actually seen any so the chance is 'probably' low, but again, your concerns are justified especially after what youve been through, if it puts your mind at rest then maybe it would be good to treat the house, just check that the product is safe for all who live in the house before you use it.

 

Would ticks want to live in a house? We have tons of ticks near us, but only in wooded places. I have found ticks attached to the dogs every now and then, but have never had a problem with them in the house.

In fact, I pulled one off Bonnie yesterday. I had a heck of a time getting it off, and there is still a lump where it was. I am afraid I didn't get the head out. That has never happened before.

 

Jimiya, I was going to pm you since you have been MIA

I can never get the head out, that is why I leave it to mys husband. Jimiya, I read to wash the area with peroxide after pulling the tick out. I missed one yesterday on Jake, it was huge. the bugger got by me.

they always get them when we let them out of the yeard so once they come in, I wait about half an hour, beause they always go for the head, so they migrate there and are easy to see, thats the other place they love, but 90% I find them on the head. Every morning the ylove their stomachs rubbed, so this is when I check the rest of their body

 

Nala usually does get them on her head, which is very good because the rest of her would be very hard to find a tick on. Her fur is so thick!

Bonnie has never had one before. This one was a few inches under one of her ears, sort of on her neck.

My husband is never home when I need to get a tick off a dog or a child. Figures...