While the late professor and humorist Jim Boren used to boast about raising special saber-tooth ticks on his land near Tahlequah, flea and tick infestations are no joke to most area residents and their pets.
Conditions in northeastern Oklahoma – tall grass and other vegetation, shade, and plenty of moisture – provide a prime growing spot for these parasites. And you can also blame Bambi. The abundance of deer play host to ticks, which can carry Lyme disease and other serious maladies humans can acquire from their bites.
The ticks and fleas also are happy to hitch a ride on Fido and Fluffy when they venture outside, and accompany them inside to meet, and dine on, the animals’ owners.
“We’re a tick Mecca. The tick headquarters is right here in eastern Oklahoma,” said Dr. Kyle Rozell, of The Pet Clinic on Main Street. “There are more ticks than there have ever been before, because there are more deer than there have ever been before.”
In the not-so-distant past, pet owners had to make do with frequent flea dips or bathing, much to the animals’ chagrin. Flea collars, flea powder, and the flea sprays that made most dogs cringe were about the only alternative.
Today, pet owners have a choice of methods to repel and kill ticks and fleas. Once-a-month drops, such as Frontline, Advantage, Revolution and others have the convenience of easy application.
Simply squeeze the contents of the tiny vial onto the back of the pet’s neck, and you’re done for a few weeks. Other products include Comfortis, a chewable chicken-flavored flea tablet for dogs; and a natural product that can be added to the pet’s water bowl.
“Advantage Multi or Revolution are probably your best products for cats,” Rozell said. “There is not a great product out there for ticks on cats.”
Besides fleas, they take care of internal parasites and ear mites.
Frontline Plus is labeled for use on cats, but Rozell said its effectiveness is somewhat questionable.
“The nice part about cats is they usually don’t have as many ticks,” he said.
For dogs, there are “a jillion products,” Rozell said. Among them are Vector 3D, Frontline Plus, K9 Advantage and the Preventic collars.
“They all have their pluses and minuses,” he said. “A lot of clients complain about Frontline. They say it doesn’t work like it used to.”
He said there is no evidence ticks have become immune to Frontline Plus. It’s just that the number of ticks in this area has expanded.
He likes the Vector 3D because it’s a new product and has some repellency against the pests for the first three weeks.
All of the products are close to 100 percent effective for the first two or three weeks after application, dropping to about 95 percent effectiveness after a month.
“If there’s one tick on a dog, that’s a failure to most people,” Rozell said.
But if the dog has five ticks, owners can still count on the remedy having done away with 95 others.
The remedies can be applied every two or three weeks, or combined with a flea and tick collar for ultimate protection, he said.
Rozell cautioned against some of the lower-cost remedies available at discount stores. In the past week he’s had two people complain about these products making their pets sick.
“Fleas are not only a big nuisance to cats and dogs, they’re a big problem in the home,” Rozell said.
A female flea can lay 2,000 eggs, and these hatch every 14 days.
So fleas can get out of hand quickly once they establish themselves inside the house.
Ticks, on the other hand, have a longer life span.
“A tick may be seven years old when it bites your dog, but it’s only on your dog for about five days,” Rozell said.
To keep down fleas and ticks in your yard or inside the house, a visit to the co-op or home store is in order.
“Fleas seem to be real bad this year. We’re getting a lot of calls on that,” said Roger Saunders, general manager of the Tahlequah Farmers Co-op. The Co-op stocks a selection of shampoos, sprays, and Frontline-type products for use on the pets.
“We also have a product that you put in your drinking water and it will keep the fleas off,” Saunders said.
No Flea is a food and water supplement billed as a natural method of flea control. Saunders said it’s a new product this year.
He finds Frontline works well on his pets.
“For the yard, we carry two types of tick granules,” he said. “The Bug Blasters work pretty well, and also the Maxcide. It’s more expensive, but if you put it out one time it’ll last all summer.”
The granular tick repellents are put out using a spreader, and then watered into the soil.
As Saunders was discussing the tick granules for the yard, one of his employees entered the office.
“There’s a guy who has fleas in his house. What should he use?” he asked Saunders.
Saunders said there are several products that can be dissolved in water and sprayed around the house, including Bifen, Pestabs and Viper.
“We probably sell more of the Bifen. It doesn’t leave a residue if you use it inside the house,” Saunders said.
Whichever product people choose, he recommends supplementing it with IG regulator.
“The IG Regulator will keep the eggs from hatching, and that’s really important when you’re trying to break that life cycle,” he said.
Roger Williams, extension educator for agriculture at the Cherokee County Oklahoma State University Extension Office, is used to fielding questions about flea and tick control.
“Mow as short as possible,” he recommends.
“Keep the limbs trimmed up on the trees, so you don’t have a shady environment for them. They do have flea and tick crystals for the yard. I don’t think they work as well [as a formerly available insecticide spray].”
Williams said tall grass, weeds and a shady environment contribute to the proliferation of ticks.
Control methods can be effective when people use them properly.
The arrival of summer heat early this year may serve to stem the rapid population explosion of ticks, Williams said.
“These types of temperatures are going to slow down the grass growing as much,” he said.