Okay, you succeeded in making me paranoid. I walked the dogs over three miles thru meadows and woods by a creek today, and when I read this I started freaking. The dogs are mostly black and if it was so hard for you to see on your light skin, how will I find a tick on them?

Years ago when the kids were little , I worried about Rocky Mountain spotted fever from ticks and now Lyme. A year or two ago in the fall I felt my upper back and thought there was a mole there that wasn't there before. I, too, got a magnifying glass ,and it was a tick and I couldn't reach it. My daughter came over the next day and removed it and my doctor gave me a one day antibiotic to be sure. Scares the heck out of me.

Susan I am sick thinking about ticks this summer.
My daughter is finding them on my grandchildren constantly.
This is happening with jackets and long pants and socks on, can't imagine what it will be like when they are running around in shorts.

June

We have been seeing Ticks here in WV since back in March due to the unseasonal warmth. Last year I had to go on the one day meds because of a tick bite. I am not looking forward to this. Be safe everyone. I walk alot in the woods with my dog. I love the woods but Ticks freak me out!

I've gotten into seed ticks before that looked like pollen, they were that small. Best way to get them off is with packing tape, then a shower with flea/tick shampoo.

We live in the woods and ticks are just part of our lives. The dogs get them, the cats get them and we get them. We just stay alert to the warning signs and go about our business. Yes, we do use Frontline or Preventic collars on the beasts.

I also have dogs that I walk daily, but I will not walk through woods from March until it freezes due to ticks. It is not the big ones that you can see that are dangerous, it is the poppy seed sized ones that you cannot see. Even with walking the roads, I still find ticks on the dogs. They poop in the grass, and try to get over to the grass all the time. I'm not worried about them, they have frontline on, I'm worried about me. I have noticed that when the really hot, humid weather of summer comes, the ticks don't seem as bad. Certainly not as hungry as they are now.

Lily, your best bet is to run your hands over the dogs and find the ticks by feel. I believe a Lyme vaccine exists for dogs, BTW.

Flamey, I'm glad to see from this map that your ticks are annoying but non-threatening. The image is from the CDC. We in the northeast (and, I was surprised to see, in the upper midwest) are getting hammered. The focus is always on Lyme disease, but the same ticks that carry Lyme carry other illnesses as well. I've been treated for Lyme since mid-March, but my symptoms haven't improved much. Doing some research, I have reason to believe I have Babesiosis. The scientific community is beginning to pay more attention to this infection because it has infiltrated our Red Cross blood supply.

I'm going to talk to my doctor about it, but meanwhile, the ticks keep coming.

My husband just walked down to our lake a couple days ago (we live on a 1 acre lot), came back to find 2 ticks crawling on him. I think this is going to be a bad year for bugs of all kinds! I've seen 4 flying roaches so far. ICK!

My friend was just diagnosed with Lyme. She is really laid low. I had another friend who had it so badly that she had to have home health car for a year. Ticks are nothing to take lightly. We have wonderful trails through the woods around here and I do love hiking on them, but I will be staying out of the woods until next winter, presuming we have one next year.

Of course, I still watch out for ticks dropped off by the neighborhood squirrels.

Thanks for that map. It really emphasizes just how bad it is.

Alex pulled a huge tick off Chewie yesterday.

That is a very impressive map, Susan and I can see the reason for the concern! I thought that Lyme was everywhere! I see you're really in much more danger up there than we are in the south and I would have thought it to be the other way around. I hope you get a more definitive diagnosis and feel better soon!

There is a repellent that you can spray on your clothing and it's safe to wear once it's dry. It will kill ticks almost instantly after they contact it. I'll ask Woody what it's called.

One of our dogs had Ehrlichiosis several years ago, that is tick borne, and that scared us and cats are getting Cytauxzoonosis from ticks from bobcats, which is also scary because that is deadly.

Yikes--I never even heard of Cytauxzoonosis. Nor can I pronounce it! I have the strong feeling all these vector-borne illnesses will eventually spread everywhere.

I have the clothing spray, and I've been using it. But I discovered recently that I haven't been using it properly. Apparently you're supposed to get the fabric saturated with the stuff--one big bottle is enough for only a couple of outfits. I've been spraying much more lightly.

Also, the active ingredient (permethrin) is highly toxic to cats. Fine for dogs, but deadly to cats. Since I now have an outdoor cat (in addition to three indoor cats), I have to be careful where I do the spraying, and where I hang the clothes to day.

Kath, is Chewie a dog? The big ticks (dog ticks) are less dangerous than the little ones (deer ticks).

My latest tick is residing in a plastic bag inside an envelope, all ready to be sent off to be analyzed. Those guys who do the analysis are already on a first-name basis with me.....

I see I'm in the dark blue color. No surprise there. We have friends who got Lyme ,and it lays them low for many months. I guess dogs have the bull eye's too but can't be seen under the fur. I hate to give up the walks in the woods because it's so beautiful this time of year with bluebirds flying everywhere. But the one I got that October was from my own back yard while talking to a neighbor over the fence. It must have been on the forsythia bush. Not safe anywhere.

Thankfully, here in Tennessee...there are few cases of diseases from Ticks... but Larry is fixing to spray the entire yard with TRriazicide.... I am always in favor of battling things in as organic a manner as possible, but DE is just not enough.. and my dogs.. dark brown and black, are coming in with ticks on them...I tried Frontline on them, and dern it.. found a tick the next day right where I put the frontline on her...and frontline did nothing to ward them off... so..I am putting DE in her fur, and he is going to spray with Triazicide.. and hopefully it will help.. He burns off the leave clutter under the hardwood trees and probably burned up a lot of ticks too.... sure hope so...hate them dern things...

Carolyn

I just took a tick off my neck. It wasn't attached, and it was a dog tick, not a deer tick. But it added to my general itchy, on-edge feeling. I was outside for only about 10 minutes! At this rate I might as well give up on the garden this year.

My husband and son are going camping in NC and TN next week. I have already lectured him on ticks and spiders. I
think I am more concerned about them going now than when my son was little.

I'm sending plenty of bug spray with them and hoping they will be deligient about checking each other when they are finished hiking. They are camping out or at least that is the plan.

NC and TN don't look bad on that map. Be glad they're not camping out in . . . um . . . Boston. ;-)