Tick Tock - Ouch!

Sage Canine Advice, by Sage Riverdog – April 8, 2012
I was in Nashville last week , enjoying the great spring weather. We hiked the Blue Ridge Parkway, along the Mountains to Sea trail on the way there, hiked wonderful trails in Nashville, and hiked the Graveyards Trail outside of Hendersonville on the way back.  There's nothing better than relaxing after a good hike.

With the mild winter we had, bulbs and bugs are out early.  Dogs are susceptible to ticks, snakebite, mosquitoes and bee stings. Be sure and ask your vet during your annual check-up their recommendation on how to prevent ticks. Some commonly used approaches include tick collars, tick topical monthly treatments and dips. You also want to keep your grass neatly clipped, keep bushes trimmed, keep piles of leaves and debris away from dog areas and do what you can to distract deer from your yard.  Deer are a common carrier of disease-carrying ticks.

Mosquitoes are a carrier of heartworms, so make sure you minimize standing water, change outdoor water bowls and bird baths daily and give your dog a monthly heartworm prevention pill. Remember, mosquitoes are most prevalent in early morning and early evening. Also, read ingredients of any products you might use on dogs. We can be hurt by ones that include the bug repellent DEET.

We are fortunate around Charlotte to not have many poisonous snakes, and the snakes that live around here will get out of the way if they have time. But we dogs are curious and snake bites do happen. If it happens, try to identify the type of snake but don’t go after the snake. Don’t cut open the wound and try to suck out the venom. Instead, put a compress bandage above the wound and get the dog to the animal emergency hospital as quickly as possible.  Non-poisonous snakes bite as well, and their bite has a lot of bacteria and should be disinfected immediately and repeatedly.

My sister Pepper has a bad habit of trying to catch bees. Dogs react about the same as people to bee stings; some are allergic and need immediate medical attention. Dogs can be given Benedryl, 1 mg per pound of dog weight.  Most Benedryl is in 25 mg doses. Pepper has gotten stung a couple of times, but it doesn’t weaken her determination to rid our deck of all bees.

Have a wonderful Easter and enjoy being outside now that you know a little more about what you might encounter.

About Sage – Sage is an 8-year-old black Labrador retriever who lives with River District Executive Director Edna Chirico and Edna’s husband, John Huber. Sage earned a Canine Good Citizen award, which allows her to visit nursing homes, hospitals and schools. Sage loves to run, fetch, swim, ride in boats, travel in the car and play with just about anyone, especially children.