If you don't want to deal with your dog contracting Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease or tick paralysis, you need to take measures to prevent your dog from getting wood ticks. These steps include applying a topical treatment as well as preventive treatments for your home, your dog's bedding and your lawn.
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Considerations
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One prevention method for reducing your dog's risk of getting wood ticks is to keep your grass trimmed; another is to control weeds and shrubbery from spreading on your lawn. You can also use products (medications, lotions, shampoos and sprays) on your pet, his bedding, your lawn and your home.
Significance
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Just treating your dog topically isn't going to be enough to prevent wood ticks, since ticks lay their eggs in areas your dog is likely to gravitate to: tall grass, shrubbery and the woods. And one tick can lay as many as 22,000 eggs at one time, which increases the likelihood that your dog will come into contact with at least one tick.
Function
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Topical wood tick prevention treatments function by coating your dog with a chemical that will serve to protect your canine against wood ticks for a specific period of time. That way, even if your dog does come in contact with this potentially dangerous parasite, it will be a temporary contact that doesn't lead to disease. The spray version of these products functions as a means of coating your dog's bed, your yard and and your home (as well as your dog) against contact with these parasites too.
Time Frame
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Each method of prevention has a different effective time frame. For example, Frontline, one of the topical products that is effective in wood tick prevention, works for up to one month before you must reapply it. K9 Advantix, another topical treatment used for prevention, also is a one-month application product, and swimming or bathing aren't supposed to alter its effectiveness. Adam's Carpet Spray, another preventative treatment, works up to four months in preventing wood ticks from laying eggs in your home carpet (or your dog's bedding). And Siphotrol Yard Spray is effective for four weeks and covers approximately 5,000 square feet.
Warning
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Generally, flea collars are not effective in the fight against wood ticks. This is due to the fact that ticks that attach themselves to your dog's hind legs or back aren't affected by the regular flea collar. And while some flea collars exist that do cover the entire dog's body with needed protection against wood ticks, you need to make sure you purchase one of these (Preventic Tick Collar or Breakaway Flea and Tick Collar) if you desire to prevent wood ticks this way.
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