By now most owners will have seen news media outlets alerting everyone, Australia-wide to this emerging dog disease.
There is Zero need for our clients to panic.
There are 2 parts to the disease: Prevention and Treatment.
Treatment is totally effective with appropriate safe, commonly used medication as long as you present your dog early on in the illness…
Prevention is a little more complicated.
For the moment our prevention recommendations below are solely for our own clients for our extended area.
The Brown tick is killed by Bravecto and other *’laners’ tick products, either by using a monthly product every 28-30 days or using the Bravecto chew every 8 weeks.
The killing of tick aspect is easy to achieve.
The problem arises because the tick is not killed fast enough to stop the transmission of this particular disease (many other tick-borne disease transmissions are stopped in time but not E.hr. Canis).
We don’t recommend *Nexgard or *Nexgard Spectra in general and certainly Not for this condition.
For the Paralysis Tick, Nexgard is slower than Bravecto, taking 12 hours to achieve what Bravecto can do in 4hours.
For this Brown tick transmitted disease, while you still need to use an extra tick repellent product, on its own Bravecto gave 70% approx. blocking protection to Ehrlichia, compared to only 39% blocking efficacy from Nexgard-so again not good for Nexgard.
Our Advice is to use Bravecto oral every 2 months if in an area of high risk for the Brown Dog Tick.
In areas of increased Ehrlichia risk, in the addition to your oral Bravecto, a Repellent Tick product needs to be added into your pet’s regime.
Tick Repellent Options
1) SERESTO COLLARS.
Much as I hate flea/tick collars in general, these collars seem to be THE answer to this specific issue.
My reading thus far is these collars appear safe to use with oral Bravecto.
Collars fall-off or owners forget to change them so collars are not what we recommend for good paralysis tick prevention; hence why need to co-use a back-up product with collars.
There are several fake Seresto collars-the seller uses the name within the title of a collar that only has perfumed oils in it. Currently we sell the correct collars at $30 each, whilst stocks last, so at to make it affordable for owners needing top-up protection for their dogs.
Whilst we are all concerned about children handling dogs wearing pest collars, the Seresto is less toxic as both ingredients are poorly absorbed past the skin.
Humans can get the same disease if bitten by the Brown Tick so we really don’t want our pets bringing home these ticks either. These ticks can live in kennels and houses. Once the collar wears off, the ticks swamp the dog etc and the dog becomes ill fast.
That is why we need to still also use a product like Bravecto that kills the tick. However, in severe infestations, houses and gardens/kennels also have to be sprayed.
Using the collar means less ticks get to come home and adding in Bravecto means less ticks get to live and breed in the home environment
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2)PREVENTIC Collars:
Sadly discontinued 18 months ago by Virbac
They may make a comeback.
Also great for repelling spiders.
However quite toxic if eaten by the pet.
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3)ADVANTIX
A great tick product but kills Cats!
I am not a lover of Advantix if it means swapping one severe dog toxicity for a lethal poisoning in cats.
Some dogs experienced a several allergic itch-reaction after the Advantix was applied.
Advantix has to be applied every 14 days and owners often forgot to do this.
Several packet sizes were discontinued in Australia.
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I asked all the drug companies to send me their research data and peer-reviewed papers on any information pertaining to this disease and any studies on the safety of combining 2 different tick treatment. Having now read many peer papers on this, this is now a summary of our plan.
Our current advice is;
A) Use Bravecto oral chews every 3 months.(in food-remember Bravecto MUST be given with food otherwise only 50% is absorbed by your pet).
But give Bravecto every 8 weeks if travelling to a Ehr. Canis area.
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B) ADD-ON A Seresto Collar if you are taking your dog North and or North West or the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands of S.A.
C) If travelling interstate-check each state new requirements and permits for dog movement across borders. The Dog Movement Permits have changed considerably or are completely new. This permit system will affect ANY one travelling with a dog to and from those high-risk areas.
D)To avoid your pet and house experiencing a surge-wave of ticks sitting in the environment ready to attack once the repellents wear off, keep up the oral products and be prepared to spray/fog the home environment.
E) Keep up the regular physical check-overs of your pet for the presence of ticks.
Hope this alert helps calm everyone and provides protection to your dogs.