Thursday

Ticks in the HRM

Ticks are pretty much everywhere in the Halifax Regional Municipality now and lyme disease IS on ticks in some areas - if you didn't know before, you should know now that ticks in Bedford - specifically Admiral's Cove Park have been found to have lyme disease in them for quite a while now - as they have also had in Lunenburg and Gunning Cove, and area near Shelburne.

It's believed that lyme disease entered Nova Scotia via Lunenburg years ago. Lyme disease may cause a rash, fever, fatigue, muscle aches and headaches. If untreated, it can lead to facial palsy as well as chronic joint and heart problems.

from the Chronicle Herald:
TICKS TIPS: How to protect yourself when in an area known to have ticks:
•Dress in appropriate clothing, including closed shoes, long sleeves and pants tucked into your socks; •Apply an insect repellent with DEET to skin and clothing; Wear light-coloured clothing, which makes it easier to spot ticks;
•Check your clothes and body for ticks after spending time outdoors. Do an initial check when you return home and another several hours later;
•Don’t forget to check your pets as they can pass a tick along to their owners;
•If you find a tick, pull it off right away (a tick must be attached to your body for more than 24 hours to contract the disease).

GROSS! I used to find ticks on the dogs about once a year - and it was only when we went for walks way outside the city. I used to completely freak out and call all my friends and my parents and holler and cry and say "what am I going to do! I don't know how to take a tick off the dogs! I've never seen a tick! I'm a girl! Girl's shouldn't have to deal with this stuff!"

But then in recent years - starting in about 2008 - I started seeing more ticks on the dogs - until recently I'm getting almost one tick a week on them.

Personally - I've seen ticks in Spryfield, Point Pleasant Park, Prospect Bay (has a ton of ticks), - they're all over the place - So I've been researching around and have discovered that ticks have infiltrated the whole of the Halifax Regional Municipality. Instead of paraphrasing what the professionals have been telling me - I'm just going to paste the relevant parts of the emails that they sent me.

When you find a tick on your dog you should: The basic procedure it to remove the tick (intact), place it in a suitable container (film cannister, pill bottle etc), and include who you are, from what was the tick removed, where you found it (geographic location/ address etc), if picked up while walking, where the walking trail etc was.

If you are concerned that it might have lyme disease in it - you can:

Send, or drop off the tick the nearest office of NSDNR, the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, or mail it either to:

Andrew Hebda
Nova Scotia Museum
1747 Summer Street
Halifax NS
B3H 3A6

Local websites of interest about ticks are:
As for links, your first point of entry should be http://novascotia.ca/dhw/cdpc/lyme.asp
as well - there's the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation at http://www.canlyme.com/ which has a whole section on Lyme Disease and dogs

There is also a vaccination available for lyme disease and dogs - so if you are living in an area that has lyme disease or you go to those areas - consider getting that vaccination.

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