ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — Tick season is upon us and we’ll likely see more ticks around this spring and summer.
“We are right in the middle of tick season yet again typically March, April and May is when we see our big spikes,” said Dr. RJ Skalos with Windrose Animal Hospital.
With those ticks comes a risk for disease. It’s not just Lyme Disease that is being detected, Dr. Skalos said anaplasma cases have quadrupled in the last five years.
“Limping, lameness, lethargy. They can spike fevers, have GI issues, decreased appetite with anaplasma. If they test positive with our in-house test we go and treat and it’s very successful,” Skalos said.
While it is treatable, there is no vaccine for anaplasma for pets like there is for Lyme, that’s why it is important to protect your pet with prevention treatments.
What Dr. Skalos is seeing, matches up with what the Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania is seeing too.
“That area of Pennsylvania we have the highest density of ticks, we are seeing a lot of tick population in that area, through our preliminary research we see there are a lower rate of diseases but we are seeing a lot more ticks,” said Nicole Chinnici who’s the Director of the Dr. Jane Huffman Wildlife Genetics Institute.
That lower rate is about 40 percent of the ticks from our area come back infected compared to the statewide rate of 58%. So how do you keep this infestation out of your home and off your skin?
“You can reduce your leaf litter and debris. Keeping it tick safe by trimming back your trees to get direct sunlight because ticks don’t like dry environments, keeping your grass mowed short,” Chinnici said.
The Tick Research Lab also recommends if you have children playing outside to keep the playground equipment if possible out of direct sunlight.
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