In the past few days I've been finding ticks (!) on my horses. I've found 1 on Coriander and 3 (!) on Gwen. Nasty little bloodbags. My immediate fear was about Lyme Disease. That would be just what I need with Gwen, a disease that will make her even spookier than she already is. I fired off a message to my vet, figuring if I needed to get them tested for Lyme that I'd better see about it sooner than later. Fortunately she says that Lyme Disease isn't common to our area but to be on the safe side to make sure to check my horses for ticks everyday. Apparently the ticks need to be attached for 12-24 hours to transmit the badness.
Well I know people who have dogs that have gotten Lyme Disease in this area so I'm still worried about it. Especially since I'm not sure I got all the ticks before they'd spent 12-24 hours in my horses. I can't do a full body check everyday. Plus I didn't know that ticks hide out under horses tails, I haven't even checked there yet! My vet also told me to get a fly spray with permethrin to fight the ticks so I went out today and got a giant bottle of XXX strength bug spray with TICK KILLING PERMETHRIN ACTION!!! Take that you nasty things!
Needless to say I'm going to be on watch for the next few months: symptoms of Lyme Disease include fevers, lameness, muscle soreness/stiffness, and personality changes. They'll probably be fine but it's best to be careful in any case.
In other news, the barn next door is having a horse show on Halloween Day and I'm signing us up for a walk/trot class. There's a caveat though, it's a costume show: as in costumes are expected to be worn in every class. This will be interesting, Coriander's first show is going to come complete with capes and gowns and who even knows what else. Wish us luck!
This is really weird. I was just googling for items on ticks. Gem has a little bump in his ear, but now that I have done some research I think it's a papilloma. How big are the ticks and where did you find them??
ReplyDeleteThe Halloween Day sounds like a hoot. Will you post pictures?? :-)
I found them on their chests and between their front legs. I ran my hands under their bellies and jaws too but didn't find any there. Will check under their tails tonight after I drench them in fly spray. The ticks were around 3-4mm I'd say, pinkish/white flesh toned in color. I didn't find any that hadn't been eating for a while (grrrr) so I don't know what they look like when they're empty.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I will take pictures at the show!
Thanks for the info! Yuck. I will give Gem a thorough going over.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the pics. :-)
I just talked to a woman who keeps her horses next door, she found 12 ticks on one of her horses, mostly around her armpits.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger ticks (dog ticks) usually don't carry Lyme - it's the tiny ticks - very hard to see (deer ticks) that carry Lyme.
ReplyDeleteHmm, that doesn't make me feel much better. I prefer the badness I can see. I sprayed them last night so hopefully that will take care of the little ones too.
ReplyDeleteAll of our horses and my daughter have had bad cases of Lyme. Some with really high titers. We test them every few months and dose doxycycline as needed. Chronic Lyme is no fun and nothing to fool around with. Most vets (including one from the practice we use) don't even think Lyme is worth caring about. Having had to deal with this for the last 5 years my daughter and I have become sort of experts on the disease. It doesn't cost that much to check for it and if necessary treat it. I did a Lyme post a while back that you might find helpful if you're interested. Not sure where it is in the archives though. Good luck, hope it was only a nasty brown tick.
ReplyDeleteEEK, how awful GHM. I'm going to check your archives and see if I can find that post.
ReplyDeleteI looked up the post for you, hope you find it helpful, here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://greyhorsematters.blogspot.com/2009/05/lyme-disease-and-horses.html
p.s. sorry to be annoying but here's another post that you might find helpful about tick born diseases in horses. Erlichia and Leptospirosis. I'm of the opinion that forwarned is forarmed, I like to be aware of all the things that can cause damage to my horses. Did I mention I HATE ticks.
ReplyDeleteThis post has some useful links:
http://greyhorsematters.blogspot.com/2009/11/dustys-not-so-excellent-adventures.html
Thank you for the links, they are really helpful. I'm definitely keeping a watchful eye on the quarters.
ReplyDelete