Tick Tock

‘Tis the season to be dreary. If you’re a dog person, that is. Millions of kids look forward to summer as a time of fun, freedom and adventure. Here at Little Pup Lodge? We steel ourselves for a few miserable months of heat, fleas, foxtails and, our favorite fair weather friend, the tick.
You sure you got enough to eat?

Ticks have moved from being a mere nuisance to Public Health Enemy Number One in just a few decades, primarily because of Lyme Disease. The nasty little parasite has so much more to offer, however, especially when it comes to our puppy dogs. Besides Lyme, our babies could be felled by Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, hepatozoonosis or tick paralysis. The good news is these diseases may not be as prevalent in California as we fear. The bad news is one of those rare cases may be your dog.

  Fur. Skin. Tick. Bad combo.

The symptoms for all but the tick paralysis are maddeningly similar to a hundred other pathologies—diarrhea, appetite loss, vomiting and lethargy. Tick paralysis? The main symptom is a little easier to recognize; your dog is paralyzed.

Not an insect, an arachnid!

Depending on the disease and whose research you trust, the tick can infect its host within four to 72 hours. Prevention is easy—don’t let the blood-sucking bastards get a toe hold (or head hold, as the case may be) in your beloved dog. We check the guests at Little Pup Lodge every day, particularly after our noon walk around the property. We avoid trails and wooded areas from April until November, preferring to stick to nicely manicured parks and sandy beaches.

If one of them does find its way on to a guest, we use the Tick Twister, the best tool I’ve seen for tick removal. Then we send said vermin off on a nice ocean cruise via the toilet.