Mild weather brings tick risk back to Kamloops

Dr. Rob Higgins, associate professor in the biological sciences department at Thompson Rivers University, says the tick Hoye saw was likely a winter tick.

“Winter ticks are picked up by large mammals in the fall, usually in the thousands,” Higgins said. “What happens is if you’re seeing a tick in the winter… it’s the winter tick. The animals become really itchy and they start rubbing up against trees. Horses will rub up against hay bales. Quite often some of the ticks are knocked off, so you’ll see them walking around, sometimes on the snow.”

As soon as the snow melts, the Rocky Mountain wood tick is likely to find its way onto people and pets.

“We have seen a lot more than we normally do this time of year,” said Petland’s Small Animal and Bird Manager Shauna Gesy, “mainly because our winter was not cold enough for long enough, so it wasn’t enough to stop their season, the fleas and ticks from reproducing themselves.”

Gesy says dogs are at risk of picking up ticks, especially if they are going off the trails. In addition to tick medication from a vet, pet owners have a few other prevention options.

“Using something like either a topical solution or a collar that repels the ticks,” Gesy said. “We have a great spray that you can use on yourself and on your pets that’s all natural; it’s lemongrass. It helps to make your pet unappealing to the fleas and ticks so that they don’t actually attach themselves to it.”

If you want to make sure you’re not bringing any ticks home with you after a hike, it’s best to check yourself and your pets over before returning to your vehicle.

“Ticks in particular like nice dark and wet areas,” Gesy said, “so around the collar, in the armpits, base of the tail, between the toes, even eyelashes.”

Ticks can carry the risk of tick paralysis, especially in dogs. According to Higgins, Lyme disease is less common in this area.

“Lyme disease is carried by a tick which is not common, but it definitely would be present in this area,” he said. “It’s carried by what’s called the Ixodes pacificus, or the western black-legged tick. I’ve got to say, because I do a lot of tick identifications, in the last few years receiving over 100 ticks, I haven’t received a single Ixodes tick.”

While finding a tick on yourself or your pet is alarming, Higgins says people shouldn’t be overly fearful.

“I know a lot of people are quite tick-phobic and I can sort of understand that, but the risks here associated with our local ticks are really quite low.”

by Jill Sperling

Mild weather brings tick risk back to Kamloops

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