German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[Finn@point]

Who has found ticks embedded in your dog and if so what was the outcome? I found one in my dog and have an appointment tomorrow to get him weighed for the correct dosage of antibiotics.

I feel bad about it, but i always check for ticks and bathe him after being in the field/woods.

[allourmuddys]

I have hunted different dogs in Minnesota, North Dakota & Wisconsin for the last 25 years. Almost every time we went out we came back with ticks. The worst of it was last year in Northern Minnesota, between my GWP and my Springer I pulled approximately 200 ticks off of them, both wood & deer ticks. They had been vaccinated against Lymes that spring so I wasn't too worried about it. When I brought them in this spring for their vaccinations, they both tested positive for Lymes. We underwent a series of antibiotics and both seem to be doing fine. In the mean time check the bite sites for signs of infection and have them checked for Lymes.

[Dave]

Ticks are a fact of life for hunting around here. We always find ticks. My vet said that about 10% of the ticks have Lymes.

Just make sure your dog is vaccinated. Keep something like Frontline Plus or another topical tick repellent/killer on your dog. Have him tested for Lymes yearly or if symptoms appear.

Antobiotics will clear it up.

Just the facts of life for hunting dogs.

It's not as bad as it sounds.

Get educated on this....
_________________
I like Wires!

[Finn@point]

I had him at the vet on saturday. The only thing the vet needed was his weight so that they could prescribe the proper dosage of antibiotics. It is a 30 day cycle and once it is complete he will be tested for lyme's disease.

I hope it comes up clear, but i do feel a little better knowing that i wasn't the only one who had this problem.

thanks,

Mike

[walltentwire]

wow, I wasn't aware that you guys had that many ticks down there.... Would you believe i have never found even one on my wire, even though we spend a lot of time out in cover year round. I'll be checking my vaccination protocol after reading this thread.

Any anecdotes about heartworm? Know of anyone who's lost a dog to heartworm? The vets here in Alberta still say its not a problem here yet.

[dualgwp]

Ticks???? Let me tell ya about those nasty buggers
We have them all spring, summer and fall here in PA. You just get used to them after awhile. We keep the dogs frontlined and as long as that is on them, there is no big problem.

Forget to put it on and they will have ticks. But I've never had one get sick and don't fret about it. They would live on antibiotics if I put them on them after each tick find.

I guess a short dose of antibiotics won't hurt, but I'm not big on medicating the dogs when they don't need it.

Hope it all turns out ok.
Bernee

[allourmuddys]

The ticks were crazy in Minnesota & Wisconsin even with the Frontline, but we moved to Kentucky last spring. Had two of my dogs out a couple of times each and didn't pick up any ticks on them or on me From the hunts up north, and after the antibiotics, we don't had any symptoms of Lyme's. We treat all our dogs with Heartgard and haven't had any experience with Heartworm.

[cjs180]

I use Ivermectin for cattle with the two dogs I have. This works great and takes the place of Frontline and heartworm. It can be purchased at places like Fleet Farm and probably some hardware stores. Just follow the directions ont the side of it for the weight of your "calf" or "horse". I use the pour on type, $18.00 for 100 doses or 100 months worth. I have not had a live tick on either of my dogs since using this in the past 2 years.

Hope this helps.

Chris

[FCwire]

In all seriousness, be very careful using Ivermectin on dogs, as in some dogs, it can have very serious side effects, especially collies and collie-mixed /collie type breeds...

[allourmuddys]

I was looking on the web for more information about Invermectin. When you move toward the generic form, it looks like there are two strengths, 1% and 0.5% and different types of application, oral, injection and topical. How would you know which to use? Also, on a couple of sites they talk about not using it on any dogs in the Sheepdog family or on Collies.

[cjs180]

The stuff I use is called Iver-on for cattle, 10 550 lb doses per box. It contains 5 mg ivermectin /ml. Recommended dose is 1 ml per 22 lb of body weight. It is made by Med-Pharmex Inc. My wire gets 2.5 ml and my lab gets 3.5 ml once per month.

I did ask my vet about this before using it. He told me it was fine to use but not to use it on any on the herding dogs. Also said to be care on the amount given as he had heard of dogs that died from overdose.

Chris
_________________
VC Heidlwolf Benelli

http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=482

[allourmuddys]

Thanks for the info. I'll look into it and see if I can find it down here. We moved from Minnesota - no Fleet Farm's down here so I'll have to look on the web.