TICKS FOUND ON 1 in 3 DOGS IN THE UK

Sep 13, 2016 | Uncategorised

The results of The Big Tick Project were announced by the media at the start of September following a collaboration between MSD Animal Health and Bristol University, this was accompanied by the launch of a new Tick Awareness Month Campaign by TV presenter Chris Packham.   Ticks infesting domestic dogs in the UK: a large-scale surveillance programme Research published 7 July 2016 Parasites & Vectors   http://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-016-1673-4   The largest study of ticks found on dogs in the UK showed nearly one in three dogs were infested. The Big Tick Project analysed ticks collected by vet practices across the UK and found almost a third of dogs (31%) checked at random during a visit to a vet were carrying a tick. The Big Tick Project saw 1,094 veterinary practices from across the UK participate in the 16 week study. Over this period 12,092 dogs were chosen at random for a tick inspection. Scientists received 6,551 tick samples for analysis.   Prof Richard Wall  at the University of Bristol said  ” We were overwhelmed by the veterinary profession’s support for the Big Tick Project – the vast number of ticks collected and analysed make this a robust study the results of which can only help to further raise awareness of the risk to pets and people from ticks. In Great Britain the distribution of ticks is estimated to have expanded in the last 10 years by 17% and the abundance of ticks to have increased at 73% of locations surveyed.”    Surprisingly, dogs that were restricted to urban habitats were no less likely to have ticks than dogs exposed to more rural...