Ticks are still tocking

UPDATE: as of Nov. 10th we've harvest 99 ticks off the cats! Daisy, who likes to sit in the grass looking for mice friends, account for 66 of them!

Fall means ticks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Poor little Daisy had a huge tick on her this morning. I removed it, and popped it into the jar of rubbing alcohol. You can see the bodies of the other ticks we've removed.




This one had been on Daisy likely sucking her blood for days, it's terribly large.

Poor Annabelle

This is the adult creepy crawling around.

They're back: Ticks

Poor Dorah!

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month however, they are back up and running, as always, in the fall.



The ticks had slowed down in the summer heat. They are back. Daisy has brought one home every day for three days. We just grab a piece of tape, and stick it on, lifting the tick away.

In 2014 there were 145 confirmed cases of Lyme disease reported in Ontario, 628 in Canada in 2013. 
It is best, of course, to remove them before they become attached and engorged. Lots of neighbours have been successfully treated for Lyme Disease.

We use tweezers to remove them if they are NOT attached, including the proboscis.

2015

I've been keeping specific statistics of them for two years. In 2015, TOTAL 72, and we have another 2 months to go! In 2014, we harvested 78, but that went right up to November, when we must have had snow and frost. In 2013, TOTAL 89.

2014

2013

Lyme disease numbers ticking upwardIn the past five years, reported cases of Lyme disease in Canada have jumped nearly 400 %, increasing to 628 in 2013 from 128 in 2009, according to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Lyme disease resources :

• Lyme Disease : Frequently Asked Questions
• Health Canada, It's Your Health: Lyme Disease
• Public Health Agency of Canada: Ticks and Lyme Disease
• Healthy Canadians: Lyme Disease
• Canada Communicable Disease Report
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.A)

A tick survey in Huron County turned up three blacklegged ticks with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Huron County Public Health Inspector Keshia Hackett says in all, 69 of the 170 ticks collected were of the blacklegged variety.

How many ticks have you found?

I'm up to 20 ticks from the four cats, May 24th. Daisy was the latest. She leads the numbers with 15 harvested off of her alone. She loves Oliver's Lot, a grassy spot. She'll come home with 2 or 3 crawling, which we duly remove with finely pointed tweezers.

Her poor little face, she has scars from their bites! Both she and Buster have ripped them off of their faces or Buster, it was on his ear. We have antibiotic goo I put on them. I usually take off the ones crawling with tape. This one I chucked into the goldfish pond, as we were outdoors.

Deer, Loons and Lady Slippers

My planters have flowers!
Stay away, Bambi!

He has some sort of tumour...

Must be ticks on his face.
Too soon for deer flies

We have a male who trods across the back yard every few days, or at least when I'm out there! They know they are safe here. The poor guy has a growth on his hind quarters. We don't normally see the males. Ours is more a winter yard for the females. The odd time Tigger and his twin brother come by, but usually there is only the one female who hangs out on the property over the summer. I've scared her, standing munching in the frog pond. Scared me, too! They are not tame, by any means.

The ticks are beginning to cause trouble.
I researched it and there are about 850 tick species. Deer tick or black-legged tick; dog or wood tick, but the bottom line is to spot them and remove them. (Easy on the white cats!)

Daisy is the definite winner. Despite Revolution, which doesn't prevent them from latching on anyway. We are vigilant and check them every time we see them indoors. We have a new cat door and they can come and go during the day time. Once, Buster brought in his late field mouse friend, but otherwise it is working well!

They've been much more active.

Daisy - the winner

In other news...our kind neighbours permit me to dock my canoe on a piece of their property. They sculpted out a nice spot. Hubby helped me take it over on the wagon. 

lovely pair

Off I went for a brief canoe ride - heading into the wind. The wind was harsh, and I managed to get up to 4.4 km/hour to get myself around a bend! My arms will be sore. There were a pair of loons in the bay, trying to avoid the cool winds. It was a riot trying to steer the canoe and take their photo. 

The Lady slippers had their brief moment in the sun! We have 5 Lady slipper plants, I was so excited! I'd spotted their leaves last summer, and was determined, despite the black flies and mosquitoes, to grab a photo. Dorah came with me.