IDAHO — As temperatures start to warm up, and with more people recreating outside tick season is ramping up.
Habitat Veterinary Hospital said they are already starting to see an increase in animals coming into their clinics with ticks.
"It's that time of year and recently we have treated more dogs for ticks," Dr. Steve Baker, Habitat veterinarian said.
You should be on the lookout for ticks when you are hiking or in any wooded or grassy areas.
"Ticks like to crawl to the end of these branches and they stick their little feet out and fly down like little parachutes, and then they land right on you and look for a place to attach so if you get them before they attach no problem," Baker said.
He said it usually takes ticks up to 36 hours to attach and become a problem.
"You can find ticks and pull them off before they attach because the diseases that they spread is in the saliva which is inside the tick and they will insert that part in," Baker said. "So if you remove them before they have a chance to do that, and it takes 36 hours to do that before they start to make you sick."
If your pet is in a wooded or tall grassy area it is important to check your pet for ticks as soon as possible.
"The reason people should be checking for ticks right now even though there are very few cases of Lyme disease here in Idaho is that there are starting to be more cases of Rocky Mountain
Spotted Fever and the ticks that cause that are slowly spreading into our range here," Baker said. "Every year it is getting worse and every year I see more cases."
Your vet can also provide you with tick prevention products.
