| A Preventable Disease: Lymes Disease, do you know enough about it to save your pet ? Lymes disease is a danger to all dogs as it can cause Lymes kidney failure, too often resulting in death. 1. The lyme vaccine in across the board testings is 80% effective in preventing lymes in retrievers. Too many dogs have died from Lymes Disease that received the vaccine alone as a prevention. 2. Ticks are active all year round once the temp has reached 32 degrees, which I have tested in the winter and found to be true. 3. The use of topical flee and tick monthly and the lyme vaccine yearly prevents lymes disease. 4. Mice are the biggest carrier of lyme ticks and deer are second, so protect your dog even if your not near the woods. 5. The use of garlic powder is now being tested here as a replacement to not use topicals. Many people I have talked to in high tick areas using it have gotten great results. If I get the same I will stop using topicals all together. Dogs will still have to be wormed for round and hook worms. Go to www.petwebstore.com about the garlic product. 6. Pups cannot have topicals until 12 weeks old unless you find a special soultion for under that age. If you have a cat that lays against the dog or rubs up aganist it often, make sure the topical is safe for cats. 7. Dogs live an average of 2 plus years longer if they are kept leaner, Loved, exersised, and feed quality food. Good genetics ups the odds of a more longer life also. Several folks have called looking for a pup after their lab passed that had lived 13 -15 yrs and one 16. 13-16 is well above the average of 10-12 yrs for a labrador. 8. Auto strikes and Lymes are the two biggest threats to dogs. Giving dogs the DHLPP booster vaccine every year hits the immune system too hard and puts the dog at risk. The dogs get over loaded when often they are protected for life after 3 shots as pups. But this is not always so and a titer check is wise every few years as each dog is an individual. Moving boosters to every three years is a wise move. 9. Enjoy your beloved pet as they really become a family member. 10. An up date, the garlic at 19 weeks is working very well in preventing tick problems. If the results continue so in my 10 month test the topicals are history. The dogs coats have more shine also using the garlic, 11/29/09 update one tick was found and 4 dogs got flees after months of no problems. 11. I now have to rethink the garlic use. The one dog that had the tick was pregnant and the amt was not increased though she gained wt so that may be why it did not work stopping the dog tick. I did not like using the topical flee and tick solutions but they do work well in most cases. The garlic against flees failed in late fall. 12. The pet web store sold me a good product. Organic powder or granuals of garlic work well also. Going organic cuts out the worry of chemicals being sprayed on garlic plants while they were growing . 13. I have decided to continue the garlic at increased amounts and do the Lymes vaccines. In another 10 months I will evaluate the results again. 14. If you find a solution without use of toxic chemicals that is very effective in stopping all types of bugs please contact me. |
