*Ticks are more similar to spiders and scorpions than they are to insects.

*There are about 850 species of ticks.

*Ticks feed on blood and transmit diseases such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ehrlichia and Anaplasma to a variety of hosts such as birds, reptiles, wild and domestic animals and humans.

Tick infestations are more common in dogs than cats because most cats clean themselves constantly.

*Pets may contract multiple diseases from a single tick bite.

*To remove a tick, do not use your bare hands, instead use tweezers and grasp the tick close to the skin and gently remove.

*Ticks like to hide (burrow) in crevasis such as wood and bricks and tree bark up to 4 feet off the ground.

*Treating tick infestations can be extremely difficult to the life cycle of the tick in the environment and on the host (your pet).

*The life cycle of the tick includes an egg that hatches in the environment when certain temperatures and humidity are optimum.  A larva emerges (6 legged) and attaches to a host (small mammal, lizard) and feeds.  It then drops to the ground to digest the food and grow into the larva.  This takes approx 1-3 weeks.  The larva then molts into a numph which has 8 legs. It then again finds a host and depending on the species, can go through multiple molts before coming an adult.  The female adult then finds a host (namely your pet) and feeds for 24 hr or more before mating.  The male attaches next to the female and will feed prior to mating also. The engorged female is multiple times bigger than the male after taking a blood meal.  The male often dies after mating and the female will also die, but can lay 2,000 to 18,000 eggs and the cycle begins again.

We recommend the following products for tick control: Preventic collars (3-month collar), Parastar Plus* (monthly topical application), or Certifect* (monthly topical application).  Read precautions closely before applying or call us for more information!