Spring is not just about TikTok videos and ticking things off your to-do list. It's also the time when ticks are highly active. Ticks do more than just bite dogs, ticks also spread disease.
One of these ticks that can spread disease is the Australian brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus). It can be found in many parts of Australia, especially in central and northern regions.
While brown dog ticks do not cause tick paralysis, they can cause skin irritation and heavy infestations may result in anaemia from excessive blood loss. More concerningly, they can also transmit potentially fatal diseases to your dog.
One such disease is canine monocytic ehrlichiosis, or “ehrlichiosis” for short, which is caused by the Ehrlichia canis bacteria. Brown dog ticks can transmit the bacteria to dogs when they bite. Symptoms can range from fever, lethargy and weight loss, to bleeding disorders, blindness and death. Treatment can be expensive, long term, and unfortunately, not always successful.
There is no vaccine against this devastating disease, so to protect our dogs we must prevent ticks biting.
While most of the tick products available for dogs (for example, tablets or chewables) are effective in killing brown dog ticks, they require ticks to bite the treated dog for hours to receive a lethal dose of the drug with the dog’s blood. Because Ehrlichia canis can be transmitted rapidly (within three hours of tick bite), most tick products cannot effectively prevent disease transmission.
To protect dogs from ehrlichiosis you must use a tick product that works in a different way – one that can repel and kill ticks before they bite.
Seresto™ dog collars repel and kill ticks and are the only product that reduces the risk of tick-borne diseases in dogs, including deadly ehrlichiosis, for four months.
Importantly, Seresto is water-resistant so does not need to be removed when dogs get wet or go swimming. Seresto is safe for puppies of any weight from seven weeks of age, can be combined with any other products and is designed with a safety-mechanism to allow for quick release in the unlikely event that your dog gets trapped by their collar.
So this spring, put getting a Seresto collar for your dog at the top of your to-do list, and stop ticks biting, keeping them safe from deadly ehrlichiosis.
This article was written by Natalie Vlakic, Senior Brand Manager for Seresto ,Elanco for Seasons magazine.
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