Friends Upset Over Tick Situation – Are we really in the wrong?

[Dogowne91]

Hi everyone,
Would really appreciate some honest opinions on something that’s left us a bit stunned.
We just got back from a 2-week holiday and had left our dog with close friends who kindly offered to look after him. They also have two dogs, and they spent loads of time together — running around the house and their big garden, playing, sleeping near each other, out on plenty of walks, the usual.
When we picked up our dog, they told us they’d found 8 ticks in a matter of days — some on our dog and some around the house (sofa, bed, floor) which explained why they had asked if our dog was on tick prevention whilst we were away. We were honest from the beginning: he wasn’t and hasn't been for at least a couple of years. Totally our fault, just hadn’t gotten around to it. We also discovered they have treated him straight away once they discovered he wasn't up to date with it (they spoke with a vet first).
They’re clearly really upset and, honestly, we’re a bit taken aback. We obviously didn’t mean to put anyone at risk and feel bad — but also, we live in the Devon countryside where dogs are running through fields and long grass all the time and if we find ticks, we normally simply remove them from him. Ticks are kind of unavoidable here and the likelihood of Lyme disease is not that bad.
We’re now wondering… did we seriously mess up? Should we have flagged this before leaving him with them? We never thought it would cause this kind of fallout.
Would really appreciate some honest thoughts. Is this as big a deal as they are making it seem?

Totally agree with @doodleschnoodle with respect to ticks. Wormers, too, are only effective for a short time after treatment, and don’t stop dogs acquiring worms, just kill any which may be present.

I would , in future, be wary of hosting a friends pet unless I knew it was treated, and also that its vaccinations were up to date.

I treat for fleas if I see signs - treat the house annually.
Ditto, ticks I would treat if we were walking in high tick areas, or if any of them was a bit of a tick magnet, but we don't and they aren't so again if I started to see ticks I'd treat.
Worms, again we treat if they eat wild caught food (sometimes I get rabbits from a friend who shoots) or if we see fleas or worms.

I don't think its a smart idea to use antiparasitic meds 'just in case' - we use a couple of food supplements and an essential oil based coat spray, all recommended by my vet (who walks his own dogs where I walk ours) and treat if necessary.

Ticks do not infest a house the way fleas do - ticks will hop on a treated dog and won't be affected by whatever the dog is treated for, for a long time (they do get off pretty quick if the coat has some sort of repellant but you have to use those carefully too!) unless they bite the dog, so any one of the dogs in this situation could have brought the ticks back into the house with them.

We give ours a quick groom in the yard after walks to check for grass seeds, ticks, burrs and any dings/cuts (saluki owner... this is standard practice as they tear like tissue paper).

I would ask, if someone were having my dogs to stay at their house, if they wanted me to do tick/flea/wormer, but I do think the OP's friends are massively over-reacting here, it really isn't the same as bringing a flea infestation in!

Worth mentioning that everyone, even non dog-owners, should be checking themselves for ticks after walking in areas with long grass. Tuck trousers into socks and avoid wearing shorts or anything that exposes skin if you are walking somewhere where deer are known to be and where you will have to cross through grass.

Exactly this. I posted on a recent thread about not allowing dogs in cafes etc and was met with the usual ‘ children are just as dirty ‘ etc etc. Here is yet another reason if more were needed. Totally irresponsible

Hmm, I'll be a little more sympathetic... So I treat my dog for flea/tick/worms as a condition of her going to the dog walker. I am happy to do this and have regular treatments posted by the vet....

Some time ago my dog came back from the (lovely, very responsible dog walker) covered in ticks - she had stuck her head in a bush and they leapt on her. Took two hours for the vet to pull them all out. SO I would say that treatment doesn't guarantee immunity.

Also, if I were to look after someone's dog for 2 weeks, I would check they were wormed/flead as my dog is.

That said, I think ticks are preferable to fleas, in terms of treatment and removal. I would be fumin' if I had to fume-igate my house because of fleas. Ticks, not so much.

In 30+ years of dog ownership, I never used tick prevention. Despite living on the edge of open countryside and walking through pasture on a daily basis, I only ever found around 3 ticks on my dogs in all that time.

I used to give them brewer's yeast, which is supposed to be a natural flea repellent, and had very few flea issues, so maybe it's a tick repellent too.

I’d be really miffed if I was your friend. We do use prevention treatment and last year it stopped working. I was finding ticks for several weeks and every night I was steam cleaning, spraying the house once a week, checking the dog and cat every week - it was about two months before they’d gone. I also threw away rugs and soft furnishings as they spray wasn’t working as well as it should. Two months of extra stress and work after I got in from a full 12 hour day and that was from my H going for walks in an area with a lot of ticks - I was fuming with him, we both found ticks on ourselves.

Treat your dog, it’s much easier. Lyme disease is awful.

I think you should probably make sure he's up to date with all of his flea / tick / worm etc. treatments before he goes to stay with other people. It's a really important courtesy.

I mean, if you knew that ‘ticks are unavoidable’ around your area, then how can you have not got round to it? Surely you would keep it permanently up to date if the risk is always high and you walk your dog regularly. I don’t think not getting round to it is an excuse, OP. It’s poor form.

Mind you, if I knew that ticks were high risk in the area and you hadn’t used any prevention treatment on your dog, I think I’d have refused to look after him.

I don't really understand the drama of the OP's friends' deep-cleaning the house after the appearance of the ticks. Surely if their own pets are up to date with treatment there is no real fallout from the temporary presence of ticks in the house. They'll just lack a viable host and die.

I can understand the friends being a bit peeved, perhaps more from a concern for the infested dog's welfare (eight ticks!!) than their own home or pets. But I wouldn't think of it as being a huge deal. An ordinary apology would be enough I think

No, it doesn't. They can pick them up every single time they go out for a walk. Over a 2 week period at peak tick season, dog bouncing into undergrowth, picking up ticks is inevitable, not neglectful.

Not cool op

Why haven't you had the dog treated before? Just sounds irresponsible really

YABVU. After feeding/watering, suitable shelter, exercise and basic grooming (ie. fur not matted and filthy)- things like inoculations and parasite prevention is the 5th step of responsible pet ownership.

I know owners who struggle to do things like brush their pets teeth but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t pre-treat their pets to prevent fleas and worms (and ticks are usually included in this). A kennel would always check that you do this before allowing you to board your dogs - but if I was helping out friends I’d be a bit embarrassed to ask whether they did, because it’s assumed everyone does and you’d be implying that you aren’t sure they are a responsible pet owner.

You need to send a big apology - and preferably some sort of monetary compensation for all the stress and hassle of cleaning their house. Maybe some sort of gift certificate or at least offer to take them out for a meal or something. And always remember to protect your pets in future!

No the teachers didn’t see it at all. They had a letter sent to them about tick awareness for future trips!
Luckily (or not I’m not sure!) it was still on him when he came home so we removed it. It was behind his ear. Normally with Lyme disease you would get a red circular bullseye rash around the bite, but he didn’t get that so we thought we were ok.
About a week later he was complaining of a really bad headache and jaw pain along the side he was bitten, all his glands swelled up and he was really lethargic and had a temperature so we had ended up in A&E with him.
They dismissed it as nothing to be concerned about (like you say there needs to be a lot more education around it and we did actually get a Lyme disease charity to contact the hospital later on)
When he was still unwell after the weekend we took him to the GP and who was brilliant! Although there was no way of him knowing if it was Lyme Disease or not at that point, he put him on the preventative antibiotics anyway. You have to wait 6 weeks for the blood test to confirm it and his came back positive.
Im so glad that the GP listened to us as if it goes undiagnosed it can ruin your life. The two months were awful as he was lethargic and couldn’t play football or do anything other than go to school when he was ok and then rest when he got home. Not what you want for an active 11 year old. He’s 20 now and thankfully had no long term effects.

Yeah, no problem here, just knowingly taking an animal which is shedding live ticks left and right due to it's habits and human-induced lack of prevention to other people's homes and spaces.

Not the advice anymore. Our vet told us only treat when they have it. Prevention contains all sorts of nasty chemicals. That being said our dogs have never had worms or fleas. They are checked for tics when they come out of the field each evening.

your poor dog, treatment is basic care & so very easy to do these days

You are an irresponsible dog owner. You say that there is lots of long grass that your dogs run in but you can't be arsed to treat them for ticks! Shame on you!

Lots of the reactions on this thread are massively over-the-top.

Until recently it would be the exception, not the rule, for dogs to have regular preventative tick treatment. Probably loads of owners still don't do it diligently. I've often been late getting the repeat treatment for my dog and have consequently had to pick off a tick once in a while.

Not ideal, of course, but not a major sin. I bet that for every poster castigating the OP on this thread for failing to get the meds, there are ten lurkers thinking 'oh fuck I've kind of forgotten about all that. Must pop to the vet.'

For everyone saying use tablets, the tick has to attach and bite to get killed. And then you potentially find dead ticks around the house. Or they die but don't drop off.

If you want to stop them attaching, you need something that is labeled for tick prevention, such as a Seresto collar, not something that is specifically for killing them.

Also very few medications work against the nymph stages either, so even if you have treated your dog, they can still pick these up.

The tide is turning on prophylactic flea and tick meds for pets. It's really not the responsible choice some people think it is - the pesticides are nasty. We live on the edge of open countryside and have four pets. One of our cats gets a monthly flea and worm treatment as he eats mice, the dogs and other cat are just in the summer months. It seems to work ok and at least cuts down on some of the pollution of the wildlife.

Treatment does not stop them picking up ticks and bringing them home, just kills them once they bite. I treat my dog monthly but pick at least 5 ticks from her weekly - usually crawling across her head, but occasionally once they’ve latched on. So they are overreacting as treatment wouldn’t have made any difference.
I look after my neighbours dog who I know doesn’t treat. As I’m the one choosing to walk in tick infested areas, I treat the dog on the first day she’s with us (with my neighbours permission) then I know she’s covered while she’s with us.
By any chance is your dog lighter coloured than theirs? My dog has a white head so they’re easy to see when crawling. Those with darker dogs possibly just don’t see them as much.

My God, talk about another irresponsible dog owner. OP how can you have the utter lack of self awareness to even ask if you're in the wrong here 🫠

@Dogowne91 I'd temper what you take from this thread OP, no matter how strong the responses. Routine dosing with medications 'just in case' is not healthy for any animal, and it is a disaster for the ecosystem, with far-reaching effects which we barely understand. Hopefully pet care advice will catch up - or maybe not, given there is so much profit to be made in selling 'preventative' treatments.

I absolutely would not expect anyone else to be checking your dog for ticks and removing them! It’s really irresponsible and unreasonable. You need to offer to pay for their dog’s next treatment as well as apologise profusely.