Lyme Awareness Month
May is Lyme awareness month and for all of you who enjoy the countryside it’s important to know a little bit about it. As a dog I have tick treatment regularly to keep me safe from ticks, but you humans are at risk too. Ok, so you don’t run off into the long grass nose down in search of the finest sheep poo to eat, but ticks can hide away in any long grass, even in your garden and are so small you may not be aware you’ve been bitten by one. Ticks carry disease and I’ll come back to that in a minute. They can be as small as a poppy seed so you may not see them as easily as you would larger flies and stingy things.
Check for Bites
Check your dogs and yourselves for tick bites after time outside. You humans can help yourself by wearing long trousers and socks so it isn’t so easy for the ticks to get to your exposed skin. That’s one of the reasons it can be so difficult for us dogs.
Wear insect repellent if you are a human. Also treat us dogs against the risk of ticks to help reduce the problem. It is also work carrying tick removers and learning how to use them. If you don’t want to carry everything then your dog will probably be happy to have a rucksack and carry them for you.
What is Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection which can cause serious illness with many symptoms overlapping with Covid-19. There are 3000 new recorded cases each year in the UK. However the real number is likely to be much higher. You can find out more about what to look for and what to do at the Lyme Disease Website. There’s also more about about their Wake Up to Lyme campaign.
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