I got an interesting email recently from Ashley about protecting your pets from ticks. We live in the mountains, so it was good information for us, but ticks live in a lot of other places too!

As a fellow pet owner, I wanted to let you know about a growing issue that affects the health of your pets and your family. In these cold winter months, pet owners like us are taking comfort (and warmth) in snuggling up with our closest companions. But there’s something important to consider before we let our dogs too close, and it’s this: are our dogs tick free? Of course ticks are a nuisance — I mean, who of us would want them in our beds? But the problem is even greater now for two reasons: 1) there are a growing number of ticks in this country; which translates into 2) a growing threat of the diseases associated with them.

“In the past few years, we have seen a remarkable increase in CVBD across the country,” said Susan Little, DVM, professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oklahoma State University. “Ticks thrive in humid and brushy areas. The overall rise in global climate shifts is one of the leading factors to the spread of ticks and the diseases they carry,” added Dr. Little.

So, the bottom line is figuring out how to protect ourselves. For humans, the CDC recommends the use of repellents to protect us from ticks.

But what about protecting our dogs - our friends who bring the ticks into our homes in the first place? Pet owners who are unsure which parasites are active in their area should seek the advice of their veterinarian and follow the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) guideline of year-round treatment with a flea and tick preventative.

For more information on Lyme disease and how you can protect your pet from ticks that carry the organisms that transmit disease, please visit www.petparents.com or www.lymediseaseassociation.org.

Thanks for the information! I hope that it can help keep people and pets safe.