Tick prevention: cost versus benefit

By Dr Matt Allworth, veterinarian

 

Desperate in our search for status on a global stage, we Australians love punching above our weight in sport, and take pride in our lethal fauna. Snakes, sharks and crocodiles are the obvious ones but quietly killing from the sidelines are the tiny and unassuming, like Ixoides Holocyclus, the Paralysis tick. No other continent hosts this species of tick, and nowhere else is there an annual toll of thousands dead from  respiratory failure.  Sure, tick-borne Lyme Disease is insidious and debilitating but it’s not going to see you drowning in your own body fluids within days. Choosing the right preventative is an important decision that may save money, grief, or even a life.

 

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Choosing your tick control

Whether to use a tick preventative, which one, and for how long, will depend on your unique situation :

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Sources of information

When deciding what’s the best preventative, pet owners often seek veterinary advice. Vets have 2 sources of information for evaluating the effectiveness of tick preventatives:

.1. The information from Big Pharma

Manufacturers subject their products to scientific trials in which live ticks are put on dogs protected by these agents, then the numbers of live ticks counted each day. Registration of a ‘tick-control’ claim demands kill rates above 95%.  Just as humans vary in their ability to hold liquor, 1 in 20 ticks will remain standing, in the face of a slug of insecticide, and continue to feed.

The deficiency in these trials is their inability to replicate the huge number of environmental variables that impact on product performance, in the real world. Topical insecticides (collars, rinses and spot-ons) will behave differently on the laboratory kenneled dog, whose lifestyle will not include daily swimming, a variety of shampoos, 250g of beachsand migrating through coat each day, nor basking in UV radiation. These environmental effects may raise the failure rate from 1 in 20, to 1 in 10 ticks surviving.

The other variable that clouds interpretation of technical data is species of  tick used in the trial. This may seem an unimportant detail but  ticks vary markedly in sensitivity to insecticides. The same tick collar that’s registered to kill the Brown Dog tick for 6 months, wont protect again Paralysis tick much beyond 6 weeks! This issue is particularly important when evaluating the trials of the SKUDO ultrasonic pulse device, tested in Italy..

2. Anecdotal reports from pet owners, other vets, and our own experiences

These are less scientific and can’t be over-interpreted when there are so many unknowns. When a tick product works, killing a tick before the venom has an effect, vets never hear about it. When a tick-affected animal is brought to the clinic, however, vets have an opportunity to get the dirt on what’s not working, under real-world conditions. While the majority of such pets have received no prevention, or a product that expired weeks or months previously, those with correctly applied product can give us an idea of failure rates.

PRODUCT FAILURE

What constitutes product failure? Simply, a pet developing symptoms of tick paralysis while on a correctly applied preventative.

Given tick preventatives rarely repel, finding a tick attached to your pet may not amount to failure. It may be gravely unwell or already dead. Most products aim to kill within a short time after ticks start feeding. As it takes a couple of days before tick venom causes symptoms, this is OK. In fact, in terms of tick immunity, allowing small numbers of ticks to briefly feed, and sub-clinically expose your pet to tick venom, is ideal.

Of the tick preventative failures I see when admitting tick-affected animals, I’d guesstimate about 80% are spot-on failures, and 20% tick collar failures.

Vets and nurses are rarely surprised to hear of failure of spot-ons, whereas failure of a tick collar will usually raise an eyebrow.

With both spot-ons and collars, product failure is often associated with frequent swimming, even if the collar is removed at the beach. Tick collar failures are more likely in the 5th week of use, when nearing expiry.

Superficially, this may seem as if tick collars are 4 times more reliable than spot-ons. However, as the total number of animals treated with each preventative is unknown, this comparison can’t easily be made.  Spot-ons are also more prone to pet owner mismanagement; fortnightly is easier to get wrong than changing a collar every 6 weeks.

The industry could resolve this matter: drug manufacturers or distributors could tally the number of weeks of protection sold of each agent, in one year, and vets report on product failure (number of dogs with clinical signs of tick paralysis, while using preventative according to manufacturers instructions). Such large scale co-ordination isn’t likely any time soon. Until then you’ll have to rely on anecdotal reports from under-resourced local vets like me.

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Tick prevention options

These can be used alone, or sometimes in combination, depending on the tick load. Peak season may demand several, low season maybe just one, or none.

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1. Tick Search

If you’re religious with daily rituals, your pet’s coat is short, and you know what to look for, manually removing ticks is free, quick and non-toxic.  A thorough search can be as short as 2 minutes  or up to 45 in a Malamute.  Seasonal clipping of long coats will speed up tick searches. Dogs usually love the attention and tickle; cats will tolerate if trained.

85% of ticks attach on the head, neck or armpits of the animal with a special preference for lips, eyelids and earflaps, while the remainder can be anywhere, including down ear canals, between toes, and very rarely in oral and rectal cavities.

If you find one, remove it using your favoured technique and look for more. Before you pull it off, ensure it’s actually a tick. Vets too often see terrified and confused dogs with a nipple, injured and bleeding.

There is always the risk that one may be missed but given it’s several days before the venom will have a significant effect, if done regularly enough, you will have a second or third chance. Given the failure rates described above, all drug companies recommend daily tick searches to dodge legal responsibility in such an event.

If your pet develops symptoms of tick paralysis, even if your using a preventative, you should immediately start a search while calling the emergency vet.

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2. The ‘SKUDO’ ultrasonic pulse device

Recently marketed and sold through pet shops, proporting to repel both ticks and fleas, this is the latest electronic device to claim control of pests. Outside of our hearing range, to the tick (and the dog) it’s like a miniature, wailing, car alarm, dangling from the collar.

There’s an Italian scientific paper out there, supporting their claims, but  there are flaws in it’s recommended use for Paralysis ticks in Australia.  If you wanna believe the SKUDO claim, use it on your dog, challenge him with ticks and fleas, and report back to me.  For a more thorough critique of the Skudo Study, see here.

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3. Spot-on treatments

Unlike Advantage®, Advocate® and Revolution®, which kill fleas but not ticks, Frontline Plus® and Advantix® are the only spot-ons registered for tick control. They must be applied every 2 weeks to be effective, twice the recommended frequency of application for fleas (monthly). Concentrations of insecticide on the skin only reach tick-lethal levels after the second application.

Like the other topical preventatives below, they are vulnerable to failure under adverse environmental conditions: water, shampoos, UV and sand migrating through the coat.

The other reason for spot-on failure is pet owner compliance: not following manufacturers instructions. Given their expense, some owners stretch out the 2 week dosing to every 3-4 weeks. Effective concentrations in the skin are not reached until the second fortnightly application,  so less frequent application may never result in full tick prevention.

Advantix® is highly toxic to cats and shouldn’t be used on dogs in households where the inter-species bond is strong and intimate.  See comments on toxicity below.

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4. Tick rinses

These are old-fashioned OP’s or synthetic pyrethroids, diluted and poured on your dog twice weekly, or sprayed on daily. They also kill fleas. They have some deterrent activity.  Used so infrequently for ticks these days, it’s hard to get an impression of efficacy. See comments on toxicity below.

5. Tick collars

These plastic collars, coated with powdery residue, last about 5-6 weeks (Kiltix®, Preventic®). At about $14-$18 they easily represent best bang-for-your-buck in terms of cost per week of protection. The downsides: your dog will smell like an industrial chemical for the first 2 weeks of the cycle.  See comments on toxicity below.

6. Proban®

This is an insecticidal drug, given by pill given every other day, that circulates in the bloodstream and poisons the tick when it starts sucking blood.  The dose needs to be calculated on an accurate body weight to avoid under or over dosing. If a problem arises with Proban®, it’s more usually due to toxicity to pet rather than failure to kill a tick. See comments below.

Organophosphate and synthetic pyrethroid toxicity

If the flea is considered a soldier, a Paralysis tick can be looked upon as a tank. Insecticides targeting ticks need to be stronger and in higher concentrations to be effective. This is why the OP’s continue to feature commonly in tick preventatives, despite being phased out of flea products.

This class of insecticide, together with the synthetic pyrethroids, are toxic to both host and parasite, and must be dosed to kill the tick, not the pet.  Anti-tick dose rates are right at the upper limit of dose tolerable to a healthy animal.

Caution is needed when using products in combination, or in the young, old, and liver-compromised. If you put a tick collar or rinse on your old dog or give Proban to a cat, and she goes off her food, seems groggy and lethargic or, worse still, starts twitching or vomiting, stop treatment straight away and speak with a vet.

Even if your dog or cat seems to be OK  when given these drugs, there can be hidden impacts on the liver and nervous system. If you dog develops weird neuromuscular weakness the vet can’t explain, that looks like tick paralysis but drags on for weeks, stop the Proban and rinses!

All cats are highly sensitive to toxic effects of these insecticides. The recent push of a synthetic pyrethroid into the tick prevention spot-on market has seen a climbing death toll, and calls for better warning labels and reporting of adverse events from feline practitioners around the country.

Even cat’s that just hang out with dogs can be fatally poisoned, which should prompt us to scrutinise our own contact with these chemicals. While humans  don’t suffer the same grooming compulsion and liver-enzyme deficiency that predisposes cats, regular contact in the home or workplace (vets, nurses) may be a long-term concern.  These insecticides may be fine when applied to an outdoor dog; intolerable on those that sleep with the kids.

This class of drugs persist in the environment, are not removed by water treatment, and are highly toxic to aquatic ecosystems. Even just brief and occasional swimming in the dam may wipe-out your entire native fish and yabbie population. If you have a fish farm you should even bring them on to the property.

All this being said, if you live in an area plagued by Paralysis ticks 6 months of the year, it becomes a process of weighing the risks of toxicity against the benefit of preventing a life-threatening episode of tick paralysis.  Vets and pet shops sell thousands of these products, and may only see a couple of problems with toxicity each year.

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Recommendation

Cat owners living in tick territory have a tough decision. The options are: tick searches; Frontline Plus® applied fortnightly (expensive and prone to failure); or Proban® (near toxic to your cat). If the cat has long hair and lives outdoors you may end up relying on immunity, which can be a dangerous thing.  Advantix is highly toxic to cats and can’t be used.

Dog owner, strapped for cash, and living in a tick prone area?  Best get a short-haired breed and rely on tick searches, collars or regular rinses.  Buy 4 ticks collars at the beginning of the tick season, and change them religiously, every 5 weeks, for peak  season. A $60 investment may save you $600 in tick paralysis treatment.

If you enjoy a close relationship with your pet, you’re offended if she reeks of an industrial chemical, or can’t cope with child’s cheek pressed close to tick collar during puppy cuddles, spots-ons may be preferable to collars and rinses. Applied fortnightly, this choice may treble the annual tick-control budget however, and they seem more vulnerable to failure.

Although Proban® is of very low toxicity to family members, by locking it away in your pet’s bloodstream, you’re essentially outsourcing any toxic impact to the animal.

If you’re a Trekkie and totally believe in technological salvation, go for the SKUDO ultrasonic device. Just make sure you know the early symptoms of tick paralysis and seek medical attention when things turn pear-shaped.

If you want to use a single agent to kill both fleas and ticks then use either Advantix® or Frontline Plus® every 2 weeks, or flea rinses twice weekly, or Proban® every other day.  Tick collars don’t seem to work well against fleas.

    Holidaying in a tick area?

Weaving Pole Training Hints

Kindly reprinted courtesy of Jane Mohr www.netscenes.com/pawsabilities

 

Clicker Training Weave Poles.

I have had great success with the past few dogs in teaching the weave poles using a clicker. The steps I use are outlined below. It requires a little bit of a balancing act, with the touch stick in one hand, and the clicker and treat in the other. I usually do this without a leash, since that's one more thing to worry about in my hands.

Introduce the dog to the touch stick and the clicker. See the section on clicker training for detailed instructions on this.

When the dog will follow the touch stick with you walking with it, you can begin weave pole training.

Set up a short set of off set weave poles, no more than six, but two to four is fine.

If you have wires or guides, put them on the weave poles before introducing the dog to the weaves.

Show the dog the touch stick, and pass it between the first and second pole, moving from right to left. (Remember the dog always enters the weave poles with the first pole on his left.)

If the dog walks between the poles and touches the stick, click and treat him while he's still in the poles.

Match your pace to the dog's pace. Don't go too fast, or the dog will give up. Don't go more slowly than the dog, or they'll come out because you've crowded them and given them no way to move forward.

When the dog exits the poles, click and treat and make a huge deal out of it!

If the dog tries to jump over or duck under the wires or guides, just pick him up and put him back inside. No corrections, just a matter of fact "this is how we do it".

Repeat from the other side, so that your dog is accustomed to performing weave poles from both sides from the beginning.

Every time the dog exits the poles, he gets a click/treat. If he exits too early, just put him back in, and click and treat when he exits successfully.

Follow the program for the off set weaves, with a click and treat for each successful attempt. Clicking only when the dog has completed the set will teach the dog that the weaves are one complete obstacle, and eliminate the tendency for the dog to exit early for their treat, or to slow down in the middle wondering if the treat is coming, a common problem I see with people that randomly click in the middle of the weaves.

When your dog gains confidence, you will notice an increase in speed. When he shows you he knows what he's doing, you can remove the touch stick. When the dog is racing through the weaves without being asked to, then you can add two more poles. Always add poles in increments of 2.

Once the dog is performing a full set of 12 off set weave poles quickly and with confidence, you can begin to move the poles in by an inch or so. Repeat the process outlined above, with the wires or guides still in place. Depending on how far about the poles were off-set, it may take several repetitions before the poles are finally in a straight line.

Once the poles are in a straight line, you can begin removing the wires or guides. Remove them from the middle, and gradually work your way out to the ends. Only when the dog can consistently perform the poles without popping out do you remove the next set of wires. If the dog has problems, be patient and help them. Don't push too quickly, or remove the wires too quickly, because you can ruin the dog's confidence, and develop slow weave poles.

Targeting:

Once the dog understands the concept of weaving, you can start working on sending the dog ahead of you. I prefer to start this on a short set of poles, usually six. It is generally easier for the dog to target if the weave poles are offset, although this is not critical. If your dog will not call off a target, you will need a helper for this exercise to make sure the dog doesn't get the target until it has successfully completed the weave poles.

Place the target, whether a toy or food, on the ground about a foot out from the last weave pole. Give the dog a hand signal and tell them to "Go Weave". Help them out initially, and give them a release to the target when they have gone through the weaves. Gradually start hanging back as they weave, allowing them to get the target each time they are successful in working the whole line.

Eventually work to where the dog is being sent through the whole line of weave poles without you going with them. This will be a necessary skill in AKC's CDS class, and in USDAA's and NADAC's Gamblers classes.

Angled Entries:

Also critical to a good weave pole performance are angled entries. These may be taught by gradually moving off to either side of the line of weave poles, so that the dog is accustomed to entering from any sort of angle, whether acute or a straight entry.

There's nothing more impressive in a trial than seeing a handler send their dog to an angled set of weave poles from a distance. Anyone can do it if they train consistently, but weave poles, like Utility go-outs, are something that must be trained everyday. And like go-outs, each dog will have a period when their weave pole performance suffers, and then will come back again. So don't get discouraged, just go weave!

Weave poles can take a long time for most dogs to master. If you have a dog that takes a while, don't get discouraged, your dog is normal. If you have a dog that catches on very quickly, be grateful and don't tell your classmates, as they may beat you up.

© Jane Mohr

TRAVELLING WITH YOUR DOG

Australia has one of highest levels of pet ownership in the world. Currently in NSW it is illegal to have an unrestrained dog in the back of a ute (up to 6 months jail and/or a penalty of $5500), and there are now laws against travelling with unrestrained pets in the car cabin.

 

Imagine travelling down the freeway at 120k with your dog's head out of the window, ears flapping, slobber drooling and Fido decides its time to play just as you suddenly need to brake.

 

Fido comes flying through the air into your head and on to the window screen. A 10 kg dog flying through the air in a car doing 100kph is a 1-tonne projectile into the back of your head. The result: serious injury or even death.

 

Restraints to make travelling safer for both you and your dog

1.  Harnesses

These fit around your dog's chest, back and shoulders, and there are two main types of restraint: (a) the seat belt slips through a loop in the harness and then is inserted into the seat belt buckle, or (b) you may need to purchase a small seat belt strap which has a clip at one end that attaches to the harness and the other end has the tab which is inserted into the seat belt buckle.

These are available from pet stores and major department stores such as K-Mart and Big W.
Cost is $15.00 to $40.00 depending on size and type.

 

2.  Travel cage

Check the size to make sure it is comfortable for your dog, then secure with seat belt or to child restraint anchorage points.
Some of these also come with non-spill water bowls and food containers. They are available from pet stores and cost $60.00 and up depending on size and type

 

3.  Cargo barrier

Suitable for station wagons and 4WD's, this keeps the dog away from the driver, although it won't always protect the animal in an accident. Costs are about $350.00 to $900.00 depending on make of vehicle and where purchased.

 

Remember, when travelling with your dog always take water/food and a toy for your dog and make travelling as comfortable as possible. And don't forget the “pit stop” on a long journey – after all, your best friend needs to go too.