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?

Like I would assume that everyone who loves their dog and is a responsible owner would give them flea and worm treatment! Does your vet never ask or mention this?!

Statistically about 4% of ticks carry Lyme Disease. 1 to 5% of tick bites are likely to cause Lyme Disease. For the majority of people with Lyme disease who are treated early, they have minor symptoms and made a full recovery.

Yes, it can be a horrible disease which is more likely but still unusual if not detected and treated early.

It is important to be aware of the possibility but the main thing to do is to prevent being bitten in the first place or to remove any tick at the earliest possible opportunity. Tick repellent, physical checks, removing ticks early are the recommended ways to protect oneself. It's shocking that so many posters think that tick treatment is the frontline of prevention and consider that all that they need to do.

https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2024/03/21/what-is-lyme-disease-and-why-do-we-need-to-be-tick-aware/

what a git your "friend" is

They could always have asked you if your dog was covered.

One of my dogs attracts ticks despite everything we do. He has a monthly tablet and he wears a tick collar and still he gets them - we pulled one off him this morning. He did actually get lymes disease 2 years ago. He is a bernese mountain dog and apparently they are particularly prone to ticks / lymes. But my other bernese isn't bothered by them at all.

So I reckon you have a tick prone dog.

EVEN MORE REASON TO TREAT AND YES I AM SHOUTING

Ticks are not a big deal unless you are unlucky enough to be bitten by one infected with Lymes. Chances of that are slim.

I'm sorry, but when you weigh up risk, you look not only at likelihood but also at the impact on you or your animal, should you become one of the "unlucky" ones.

I have friends whose dogs have died from piroplasmosis, mine was very close to dying, and I have a friend whose daughter missed a year of school because of Lyme - and is still not right at all, being kind of paralysed on one side of her body.

So I posit that the likelihood of being infected is higher than some people imagine, and the impact, in the case of infection, is too great to just leave it to chance.

Hedgehogs, foxes, rats, mice, birds can and do harbour ticks, mites, fleas so assuming that it only affects country living dogs is untrue.
Obviously some parasites are species specific but that won’t stop your cat or dog bringing parasites into the house. Regular worming is essential too.

You can take whatever risks you like, that's your choice. But you don't get to decide what risks are acceptable for your friends. They get to decide, that's why its on you to be open and honest.

I think ticks are particularly rife this year. I’ve been bitten twice in as many weeks while gardening - strimming long grass/weeds. Never had a tick bite before in my life til this year.

The lymes cost an absolute fortune. Our dog got ill 10 days before his annual insurance renewed, and in those 10 days we spent £5k from that year's insurance and the following year we used up most of the £15k cover we had (we had to stop the insurance the following year as they wanted £350 per month and we had to pay 20%).

Part of the problem was that the vet didn't know at first what was wrong with him and so he underwent loads of tests, including GA, overnight stays. It soon adds up.

Lymes caused him to develop poly arthritis. He nearly died. He needed so much medication. He was having daily injections.

Anyway, we live by Richmond Park, which is overrun with ticks, so we have always been careful (we never take the dogs in there). But the tick that did for our dog was from a trip to Scotland. The vet said it was probably because of the unfamiliarity of the tick variety in Scotland that it got through despite all the anti tick treatment.

while I like hedgehogs and do put out water for them and food in hard times, where I live its not unusual to see multiple ticks on them. I suspect that the growing trend of encouraging them and putting hedgehog holes in fences could be contributing to an increase in the tick population in gardens....actually the same with foxes and badgers of course.

Sorry if this has been posted already - i havent read all the messages www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/dog-breeds/a60715803/dog-breeds-prone-tick-infestations/

I also have a golden retriever and use preventative flea/tick/worming treatment. My dog is 5 and has never had any ticks and he is walked off lead and rolls in long grass. I’m very surprised to hear that you find them often on your dog and haven’t ever treated him.

It’s actually not - wormers kill worms, they don’t prevent, so only necessary if your dog has worms. And flea treatments are causing a resistance in fleas. Added to this, many dogs are intolerant to the various treatments and they can have serious side effects .

Worse as tick bites can cause serious illness.

I would have thought that tick prevention was a basic requirement.

Yet another example of dog owners' irresponsibility. I hope that with this in mind, you don't take the dogs indoors anywhere until you know they are tick-free. It's bad enough having to worry about dogs being brought to sit next to you on trains or in cafes, without now knowing that some owners don't bother to make sure they don't have ticks!

Or anyone who comes into close contact with the OP's dogs, whether by choice or not.

Really really poor animal ownership.

Flea and worming is the least you should be doing.

I would be furious. Ticks are awful and there is a risk of Lyme disease. I'm sorry I don't want to add to the pile but I am finding hard to believe you don't routinely treat your dog against fleas, ticks and worms. Also, poor dog.

@Dogowne91 well done for not bolting. I did had one dog who went for streams and paths and never had a tick in his life - and when I took my grass loving dog back to the same place in the highlands, wow, insane number of ticks.

that said, I live in a city and the local park has had ticks - no sheep here, clearly came from people who’ve had their dogs in the highlands then come into town for the weekend etc.

It is good that you have a better understanding of the seriousness now, Op. as someone whose dearest friend has Lyme, contracted in the UK, and whose life is severely negatively affected, I really wish more people understood the risks, and that it is becoming increasingly common in this country.
Regarding your friends, they are probably feeling the need to reassess how they see you. As you can probably tell from the responses on here, not flea and worming treating pets on a regular basis is viewed as irresponsible, stupid, and even cruel. They are going to be rethinking how they see you in light of this. You need to talk to them, explain that you weren’t being cruel or irresponsible, that you were ignorant (in the proper meaning of lacking knowledge), and are now working to rectify that. Otherwise, honestly, you may find them keeping you at arms length going forward.

Ticks can live anywhere, it's not the fault of dogs bringing them in. They live on foxes and hedgehogs and all sorts of wild animals, so there's no reason for them not to be in a city. It's just cities tend to have less long grass so they don't have as much habitat.

Yes that was the point, nowhere is Lyme/tick safe now although some places worse than others

Although you know if they’ve bitten a treated dog, they’re not likely to successfully transfer to a new habitat.

We gave our dog one of those long lasting Bravecto tablets from the vet and he had a strange reaction to it, that evening he ended up sitting upright in the corner of the room just staring at us, not coming to us when we called him, it was very disconcerting. When we got up in the morning the pupil in one eye was fully dilated. A MRI later showed he had swelling on his optical nerve and blind in that eye, after that night he turned from a bold brave labrador into a nervy dog, possibly the tablet impacted more, or maybe it was the lack of vision.

No one will ever convince me it wasn't that tablet. Our dog walkers/boarders were fine he wasn't treated as they never treated their dogs either for similar reasons. He ran offlead most days in woodland in 10 years he only ever had one tick, never had fleas or worms.

I would never give any future dogs these "treatments" either. It doesn't make me "irresponsible". It is a choice.

@Dogowne91 , there has been a lack of communication on both sides, perhaps you should have told them, perhaps if it was important to them they should have asked before the dogs stayed rather than assume. It is done, all you can do is apologise sincerely for the misunderstanding, if they don't accept it give them some space to cool off, to realise no real harm has been done, get a grip, and they can choose not to have your dogs again.

"they went quite extra on it already" - this comment alone shows you still don't think it's much of a big deal!
and maybe they don't need a cleaning service - but a decent "friend" should offer, regardless? Your sloppiness caused them to have to deep clean their house. I hope you're offering, INSISTING, that you'll pay for all the vet bills that they sorted out for you?

I don't own any pets, but you claim to love and care for your dogs yet you only just read up about worms and ticks etc when you've had them for two years?

I cannot believe the audacity of people who call themselves friends.