Just a stupid question about ticks

lil96 · Super Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 1260

I recently thought about how dogs, cats, deer and a few other animals get ticks and fleas. Do horses and cows get them too and people don't talk about it? Or are ticks repulsed by soemthing in their blood? I just never hear people talk about that stuff.
thanks!

Shineillusion · Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:50 am Post subject:

As far as I know, horses and cows don't get fleas. They can get ticks, though. I don't think people talk about it because they don't realize they're there. Deer ticks, for example, are so tiny they're hard to find on a human. I can't imagine trying to find them on a horse.

hummingbird1994 · New member Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 4

We had a horse get ticks in their ears once. The ears were just full of ticks, hard to get out.

lil96 · Super Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 1260

but with dogs everyone is always trying to get the tick off and make sure to get the head out and all that stuff, is that just because people are vain and want to take them off the dog? bc if they are ok on horses and naturally fall out whay can't they do that to dogs, or is it that horses can lose enough blood to satisfy a tick? Do the horses not catch the tick borne illnesses? It has just bbeen one of those things on my mind lately. Thanks!!

horse_child · Member Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 433

Horses can get ticks and fleas. Horses that go to winter pastures usually are covered in fleas in the spring, because of the deer that they hang out with. Horses can get tick borne disease, though it seems to be alot less likely than a dog because they are so much bigger. I don't worry about getting the head out of my horse. I'll just spray a bit of fly spray on them and then wait about 20 seconds, then pull them out. If the head comes out, great, if not, it will fall out in a few days. I will keep track of the spot that the tick was on to see if there are any reactions to it.

Shineillusion · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 1:14 am Post subject:

I think the #1 reason people are so concerned about removing ticks from their dogs is because they don't want a hatch of hungry little ticks in their house! Most people don't bring their horses inside the house, and I think a lot of people aren't aware that horses can get ticks in the first place.