[BeagleLover]

Hi everyone,
I have a question about the Lime Disease shot. I haven't given the shot to my dogs in years and I don't put them on any flea/tick meds because I never had a problem with it (live in North Jersey). Is the Lime Disease shot that effective? I stopped giving it because I was told a while back it won't always protect them. But now I'm hearing I should give them the shot if I'm not going to put them on flea/tick meds.
Any advice?
And a pic for payment

 

[Murphys Dad]

Thanks for the payment - it's the best kind I thinkg /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/sick.gif

I gave Chloe the shot on her last round of puppy shots, next round is due in one month. I think I'll give it to her again.
The vet basically told me that where we live NYC there is no risk, but if I want to go camping with her or take her to other places that there is a rist, it's better to be safe than sorry....

 

[Mollys Mom]

Awww, what a great picture!

We use the flea/tick treatment so I never get the shots. However I don't walk the dogs in wooded areas and we have no ticks in our yard. My husband treats the perimeter of our yard with some kind of bug stuff which helps a lot with bugs.

 

[BeagleLover]

Thanks. Maybe I should just start the shots again just to be on the safe side. I do take them on trails alot but never had an issue and I do take them to the beach (where there are signs stating ticks are in that area).

 

[BeagleBabe]

We use the preventative and have never considered the shot.

 

[Shenniff]

I will be using both (the treatment and the shot) because we camp alot and I would rather be safe than sorry! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rotatesmiley2.gif

 

[Murphys Dad]

I opted to not get Bagel the shots because the threat where we play is very very low. Most of the places the Bagel and I camp and play have no risk and the I-15 corridor between LA and Salt Lake is low low risk. Now if I had any darker red or black counties within 1,000 miles of here, Bagel would have the shots. Living in the dry desert we don't worry much about fleas and ticks. The Bagel has never had any prevention or any fleas or ticks. Looking at New Jersey scares me!

 

[Murphys Dad]

Yuicks!! Which is exactly the reason next month, on her annual shots, Chloe is getting the Lime shot again!

Chloe sends the Bagel a big "tick free" arooooooo /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek.gif

 

[angi]

Nice...we're in the black here in Northern IL.

 

[Shenniff]

I'm in the black /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rotatesmiley2.gif

 

[PFR]

I live in the Black portion of the map and we give the shot every year.

Of course Lyme comes from Lyme, Ct. where it originated from...

 

[Toby & Lucky]

Jamie, question for you since you also have a little one in the house...

What preventative do you use? Our vet told us to be careful with the normal group (advantix, frontline, etc.) with a small child in the house, so I don't use them unless I have to. I am looking for some sort of alternative preventative that is safe to my son.

 

[Zookeeper]

Great map visual, Bob. Thanks!

We live smack dab in the middle of California, low risk. We've never once had an issue with any kind of ticks and fleas aren't something we have to deal with often, either. Surprising since we do have squirrels, but I only have to use Frontline about twice a year and that does the trick. How scary for those of you in the dark red and black areas! I would get the shot, no doubt.

 

[BeagleLover]

Thanks for posting that map. The interesting thing is I've never had a flea or tick problem, thats why I'm questioning what to do. I know quite a few others who don't use anything in this area and never had issues either.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Lyme disease is mostly spread by deer tick's and if you reside in an urban area the threat is much lower than a rural environment. Healthy deer populations are more resident to the effects of ticks and therefore less likely to spread the disease. Human’s can reduce their risk by wearing boots, long pants tucked into the boots, long sleeve shirts, etc. Your pet doesn’t have that option and if you camp at lot, get out in the stick’s so to speak, your pets are at risk in medium and high risk areas. Early detection and treatment is essential for humans, prevention is better for canines!

 

[angelaH]

We have a big problem with ticks here, due to two mild winters. Our dogs get an annual shot against borreliose, unfortunately there is no vacine for humans against this, one has to get antibiotics as quickly as possible after infection. Many people are being vacinated againt meningitis, caused by ticks.

 

[Murphys Dad]

I'm really surprised that the map says my area is a no risk area. There are both ticks and deer here, so it seems that this would be a risk area. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hihi.gif

 

[Murphys Dad]

Originally Posted By: SandyjI'm really surprised that the map says my area is a no risk area. There are both ticks and deer here, so it seems that this would be a risk area. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hihi.gif

I blame it on us. We have all but eliminated the predator side of natural checks and balances.
Deer-tick borne diseases can be effectively eliminated in an area by maintaining a healthy deer population. The ticks depend on deer for reproductive success. You have white-tailed deer and the biggest lyme transmission threat comes from the black-legged deer tick (Ixodes scapularis) which depends on white-tails for successful reproduction. I suspect there enough good-ole boys in your region to keep deer population at healthy levels. Look at the black regions, I bet there ain’t many wolves, cougars, or good-ole-boy hunters in those regions. Killing deer isn’t a viable solution where we have allowed overpopulation. In order to bring an unhealthy deer population down to the size where tick numbers can reduced to the levels where there are too few ticks to spread lyme disease requires drastically reducing populations of deer below the level for a healthy deer population. Once a deer population has been infested, you need to reduce that populat6ion to less than 10 deer per square mile for a period of time long enough to reduce the tivck numbers sufficiently. I’ve attached a paragraph from an article if you want to know more than most anybody about Ticks and Lyme disease.

http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/special_features/TickHandbook.pdf