In an excerpt (Sep 22, 2022) from Canadian Cattlemen’s magazine Dr. Ron Clarke describes a recent incident with a patient afflicted with ticks.
“Wyatt managed a community pasture southeast of Regina. Being an excellent horseman, one of the gratuities his job offered was starting young horses for clients, the opportunity to instill cow-sense into green horses while conditioning them, readying them for competition and ranch life.
Wyatt’s call conveyed panic. He had found a promising and expensive filly down and unable to rise with no history of being ill. “Saw her yesterday and everything seemed fine,” he lamented. “There are no signs of struggle or other injury. Please come right away if you can. She’s a good one.”
The bay filly lay quietly on a small rise in the pasture. She appeared to be a picture of health but was totally unresponsive. Basic health parameters such as temperature, heart rate and breathing seemed normal. Neurological signs other than a depressed response to pain stimuli seemed within normal ranges. I initially drew a blank until I lifted a hind leg and looked in the inguinal area. In an area covering the size of a pie plate were at least 50 ticks in various stages of engorgement. They appeared to be Dermacentor variabilis.”
After removal of the ticks, the horse recovered quite quickly and seemed to be back to normal the next day. Dr. Clarke’s advice for horse owners is to check them regularly for ticks after rides or at least once a day if they are on pasture.
In North America, D. andersoni (the Rocky Mountain wood tick) and D. variabilis (the American dog tick) are common tick species. Many species can be infested like sheep, cattle, dogs and people.
This precautionary tale plus a longer season in which ticks are active make this week’s cool tool a must in any grooming kit. This tool (pictured) named a tick twister is used by approaching the tick from the side until it is held around the “neck”. Then lift lightly and turn. The tick should detach after a couple of rotations. Two sizes are provided.
There are several other types of tick remover available including tick key, tick spoon and even tweezers can effectively remove ticks.