Ticks: Everything You Need to Know | Part 1

Hi, this is Rita Hogan and welcome to the Dogs Are Individuals podcast. I'm a clinical canine herbalist and I've been practicing for over 20 years. This podcast is all about your dog through an herbal lens. So let's get to it and dive right in. Hi everyone. It has been a week. I don't know about you. I'm getting ready to go to Super Zoo. I'm unpacking, doing laundry and thinking about herbs and dogs and people and everything. So when you work for yourself, it's a challenge to go out of town. But I'm doing it. I'm doing it. So we're going to talk about tics today, but first we're going to thank our sponsor, realmushrooms.com I was talking to Joni, who is in charge of the kind of the veterinary section of realmushrooms.com and we were just talking the other morning on Facebook live. Had a great time. They have just such dedication to their product line and to purity and to using full mushroom body and being open to other ways to look at mushrooms and other companies that sell mushrooms and just trying to be an advocate for good, clean, healthy products and truth in labeling. And I think we all can benefit from that because there is some really poor, nasty products on the marketplace that are just ground up mushrooms and sometimes they're not even mushrooms at all. It's just ground up rice sold as mushrooms or ground up mycelium that isn't good mycelium. It's just again, mycelium and rice and oats or the substrate that they're being grown on. So I love real mushrooms for that. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So, so appreciate it. Going to go to Super Zoo this week and I'm gonna check out real mushrooms. I know that Joni's gonna be walking around, gonna hook up, talk mushrooms. So I'm excited. Really want to say thank you for realmushrooms.com I sell them on my website and go to realmushrooms.com they are celebrating their, I think their, I think their anniversary sale is coming up. So I think it is happening right now. So check that out. And I learned from Joni that Sky Shilton, the man who runs Real Mushrooms, his father started the mushroom farm that I live literally 20 minutes away from. Didn't know it. I guess Olympia, Washington is the mushroom capital of the world. I super excited to hear about that. I love history and that was awesome. Okay, we're going to talk about ticks today. Little nasty little buggers. They are needed on the planet. They serve as a food for many, many, many creatures. However, they're nasty and they cause a lot of problems.

Okay.

Cause a lot of problems. Depending on time, I'm sure we'll have lots of episodes about tics on this podcast, but this is Tics number one, and it is not a series. I won't be talking about tics next time, but I will be talking about tics here and there. I will have a tic course coming out next spring and it's going to be fantastico. But I just wanna get this out of the way. So this is not as an essential oil talk, but the essential oils for ticks that are, I would definitely say the most beneficial are lemon eucalyptus oil, rose geranium, cedar and cedar, Cedrus virginiana, and turmeric oil. Do not put turmeric oil on your dog. Just use it on a bandana, but do not put it on your dog. It's very warming oil and just don't want to do that. Be very careful with that one. Many of the products that repel fleas also repel ticks that are on the market because they have to adhere to this little thing called the 23B that's put out by the EPA. And that's why every, like, large natural tick remedy is a mixture of a combination of what's on that list, because that's the only thing they can use or the EPA will shut them down. A lot of people don't understand that either. There's lots of wonderful things we can use in the natural world, but commercially you are really bound to just a few items because the EPA finds things like glyphosate and like Roundup safer than, let's just say lavender essential oil. But again, that's another episode of the podcast. I kind of want to focus the fear around ticks and tick bites and, and exposure to tick bites. One thing I can say is if you have a cool dog, apple cider vinegar is very good internal tick repellent. You add about 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, organic apple cider vinegar, to your dog's food or water bowl and that's very good natural tick repellent. It tends not to be very good for dogs that are warm to hot. So be careful with that. You could put that on the outside of your dog for sure, but I'm talking about internally. So ticks and fleas are different from each other, even though we want to address them with the same herbs and medicines. It's just like dogs and cats, completely different species and we treat them the same. Not good. So using the concept of individuality, you have to try different natural remedies to see which one works for your dog. I mean, it's kind of like wearing perfume, right? It smells completely different on different people. That's, you know, the beauty of that is, in my opinion, I'm not a big perfume person. But it's definitely. It wears differently on different people. So the current theory, according to the Centers for Disease Control, is that a tick must be attached more than 36 to 48 hours in order to spread the bacterium Borella. Okay. However, experiments with nymphal tics, those are those little, tiny little bastards, right? I'm sorry. I swore it did it. I apologize. I'm sorry if I harmed your ears. However, I get very angry when it comes to ticks. But nymphal ticks, they have definitely seen transmission happen in less than 24 hours.

Okay.

This was based on a really low percentage study, about 10%. But transmission can definitely happen. So, you know, I like to fortify the inside of the dog or person so that when they get bit, it's not such a big deal.

Okay.

For those of you living in kind of endemic areas like the east coast or certain parts of Canada that are near the East Coast. Right, east coast. Anyways, very high vector of Lyme proliferation, it's important to check for ticks, especially small ones, less than like three centimeters, kind of big, those nymph ticks, which definitely, again, have the highest percentage of transmission. You need to check for ticks. I use a flea comb I. To check for ticks. I've seen some people in really high vector areas during the highest, you know, the height of tick season, dress their dogs in those crazy body suits to bring them outside to go to the bathroom. They got a little hole for the peep and the poop. Crazy. But you gotta do what you should do. Please don't let put those suits on for very long, okay? Dogs need. Their skin needs to breathe. But the key to dealing with kind of effectively with any type of tick is prevention. There are many types of herbs and herbal remedies that can be really effective in repelling ticks. But I think, first and foremost, ticks can smell you and they can smell your dog. They can smell really far, which is crazy because they're so tiny, but they smell with the end of their front legs, nasty little legs. They are, like, constantly searching for a host through chemicals and odors in the air. So that is something to know. Ticks are especially sensitive to human and animal carbon dioxide. They are set up that way.

Okay.

They have this kind of unique way of attaching to our dogs and ourselves. They produce saliva which adheres them to any area of your dog. It's like a glue.

Okay.

And just has a. It's kind of like. It's like Spider man. Right? And then it thickens and the tick gets engorged with blood. Right. And then when that happens, the little glue dissolves. How gross is that? It's fascinating, though. I kind of like it, but it's gross. So it's important to know that people and dogs who are susceptible to ticks need to own a tick key, which is a little instrument that pulls the tick out of the skin and including the mouth parts. Ish. I carry tick tornadoes in my store, but you can get tick tick keys anywhere. So when you find a tick on yourself or your dog, use a tick key. Another thing is get a little glass jar and put that tick in it. That way the tick can be tested. And always save your pulls. Ticks. I save them for about six months to a year in a glass jar in the bottom of the freezer. And I label the tick. I stick the tick on a piece of masking tape, I fold it over, and I write with a Sharpie when it was taken off and who it was taken off of. Nasty. I know it's gross. It makes me feel kind of like a cereal. However, I am definitely a serial tick killer. It's true. Don't tell anyone. I don't want to find myself on the tv. But they're nasty. They're nasty. So antiseptics are good for using after a tick bite.

Okay.

There's lots of things to use. I even, you know, I like to mix a little CBD oil, which is not an antiseptic, but I like it for this reason. And mixed with oregano infused oil, not essential oil infused oil.

Okay.

You can use an essential oil, but I dilute it down to point, point, point, point 5%.

Okay.

0.5%. That means you put it in a different oil. You could put it in CBD oil, you could put it in MCT oil, and then you can put it on the tick bite.

Okay.

I usually do that. I let it sit for about 10 minutes, and then I cover the tick bite. Now, this is only when you find a tick on your dog. And then I cover the tick bite in bentonite clay. I let it dry, I take it off with a warm washcloth, I put it on again, I let it dry, and I do that three times.

Okay.

Beninite clay can suck things that are in the body out of the body if you find that tick in right away. And it's better safe than sorry in my opinion. Again, it's not an essential oil talk, but there are a couple of oils that are good at repelling ticks. And I just thought of a couple other ones. There's basil, lavender, an essential oil that's close to myrrh, which is called apopanax. I probably just destroyed the pronunciation of that. But eucalyptus, bay leaf, myrrh, cedarwood, atlas, cedarwood, virginiana, and geranium. I think I mentioned geranium. Those are all good repellent oils. But again, what I do with those oils is I want to make sure they're compatible with your dog so that they work. So offer the oil to your dog. You only have to get like a little tiny, itsy bitsy, itsy bitsy bottle, Take the cap off, offer it to your dog, Just say, hey, you want to smell this? And if they have a huge aversion to it, like they walk out of the room, don't use that oil on your dog.

Okay?

If they're like, yeah, I'll come sniff it for a second and then just kind of watch their body language. Only use the oils that your dogs self select, you're going to have better effectiveness with those oils and your dogs aren't going to suffer.

Okay?

If your dog runs out of the room every single time you open up a flea and tick remedy, you're harming your dog.

Okay?

They're not going to like that. And so offer the individual oils and see which ones they like.

Okay?

And you can use the other ones on you if you like them. Again, I like to put them on a handkerchief, or handkerchief as some people call it, and put that around my dog's neck. In really highly infested areas, you can dilute the essential oils in a base of like neem or karanja oil, which smell very strong. And apply that from the kneecap down on the top and under the tail, the tips of the ears and around the neck area and collar. Again, I still like to use a handkerchief. You can dilute those oils down. And the ratio of essential oils to carrier oil is 12 drops to every 20 milliliters of carrier oil.

Okay?

And ticks can smell really far. Even though doesn't need to be overpowering. Like, you don't need to be like, oh my God, that smells so strong because ticks can smell it even when you can't remember That I also like to make like a bay leaf, lavender and eucalyptus mist that I can spray my dogs with while I'm out in the forest and tick areas. I just keep spraying. And again, make sure your dog is not averse to bay leaf, lavender and eucalyptus. Okay. Because you can mix it with something else. I put it in about an 8 ounce spray bottle of alcohol mixed with water, and I dissolve the. The essential oils in alcohol first and then I mix them with water. Water does not dissolve essential oils. I'm going to say it again. Water does not dissolve essential oils. And I miss them about every 30 minutes or so. I know it seems like a lot, but I am not a fan of ticks whatsoever. Okay, so when your tick has. When your tick. When your dog has been bitten. Right. When your dog has been bitten, make sure it's the type of tick that transmits Lyme. But also there's a lot of other little ditties out there. There's Babesia, there's Bartonella, there is Ehrlichia, there is Anaplasmosis, there's rocky mounted spotted fever. So it's more than just Lyme. But it's important to identify the species of ticks. There's a lovely little key. I'll have it in my course, but that's not until next year. But there's a lovely little key out there that you can use to compare the tick to. You can look at it online. Just look like tick tick identifier, and it'll come up. Dog ticks are brown with white with like a white line near its neck. They're pretty large, they're larger and about the size of a pencil. Eraser line ticks or deer ticks are brown with black legs. And you'll also want to look to see if it's engorged with blood. Okay. If this happens after taking the tick out, I would send it out for lying confirmation if you can afford that. Otherwise, again, put it on the masking tape, get a Sharpie, write it down, and if your dog has any issues, you can have it tested. So when you see a tick, avoid squishing the tick because that causes its guts to go into your dog. And we don't want that.

Okay.

You can use a cotton ball with witch hazel, and that can help loosen the tick and release its mouth parts and dislodge it from your dogs. But there is some controversy about that. I used to put this product that I made called chigger block on the butt of the tick, right on the. Like on the Top. And it would come out and every time it would be a whole tick. Mouth parts everything like it never, ever went in the dog. I have since stopped making that, which is sad, but the state of Kentucky made me stop and the EPA, nice, because it didn't have those ingredients in the 23B. It had some nice natural ingredients like lavender and karanja oil. So I digress. I'll stop talking about that. When you use a tick tool, you want to turn counterclockwise, okay. While gently pulling the tick out. Have someone hold your dog while you're doing this.

Okay?

Boreala, which is the bacterium that lives in the abdomen of a tick, disperses itself to other areas, including the tick saliva, as it goes through its stages of development inside the tick. It's through the saliva that boreala gets transmitted to ourselves and our furry little friends. Right? And again, ticks are gross. So the current theory is that, you know. Well, it's not really a theory. The current thought for me is that I'm not taking any chances. No matter what or how long a tick has been on my dog, I am taking all measures. I'm doing it.

Okay?

Another thing that you can do is mix a tincture cause called Usnia usne. A usnea is like nature's doxycycline. Make sure you use a very reputable source for this remedy. Because some people don't know their. What's not really an herb. It's a lichen. Some people don't know their lichens and they might use the wrong species of usnia Herb Farm makes a good usnia. Mix usnia and echinacea tincture and put it into the tick bite. And you can just use one of them, Usnea or Echinacea, Echinacea purpeia or Echinacea angustifolia. Use a cotton like a cotton batten or even a swab or the vet wrap to keep it on the bite. Kind of do a pulse on it, change it every few hours and keep changing. That also can really help keep things at bay. It will go into the bloodstream. It kind of. I kind of picture it following any type of bacterium, any type of borella, and killing it. But this is what I do. And I've never really had a problem. The only problem that I've had is ever with ticks is when I lived on my property in Tennessee, we had urleakia ticks. And I wasn't too afraid of those. Olive leaf extract. Olive leaf in general is a very good preventative for Tick borne disease. And also it cured every single one of my dogs. I had 16 at the time. Please don't make any judgments. I was running a rescue, you know, and I am definitely a bleeding heart. And so we had lots and lots of dogs at the time. And then I got down to 10. I adopted a lot of the dogs out, but all of the dogs over the period of 12 years that I was there, I had a total of 16 dogs during that 12 years. Almost all of them. Not gonna say all. Almost all of them came down with Ehrlichia when I would test them. Only a couple were symptomatic. But olive leaf cured every single one of them. So that was great. Usually herbs don't work for every dog, but it did this time. Olive leaf always give it in food. It can make your dog puke. So your dog can test positive for Lyme and not have Lyme disease. Remember that many dogs who get exposed to Lyme disease have antibodies and don't get sick. This is the reason that you should only treat symptomatic Lyme disease. Now, if your dog has antibodies to Lyme, I recommend giving them a Lyme nosode. I use Lyme nosodes to help the body deal with the Lyme in general. And so we don't get symptoms. You might get symptoms for three days because that's called an aggravation when you use homeopathy sometimes, but that'll go away after 72 hours. Treat symptomatic Lyme Symptomatic tick disease. I always use nosodes for every bit, like Bartonella, babesia, ehrlichia, Rocky Mountain Rocky Mounted Spotted fever. Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a different ballgame. It can be very deadly. Get your dog to a vet if they are showing symptoms of that disease.

Okay.

And treat it. Just because your dog has antibodies again doesn't mean your dog has Lyme disease. And here's another thing. Antibodies can stay in your dog's body for years. For years. So when testing, make sure your vet is using a sensitive test that can tell if your dog has been naturally exposed to Lyme and not through vaccination. And I highly recommend avoiding the Lyme vaccine. It was taken off the market for humans, but still on the market for dogs. I'm going to give a pause. A C6 antibody test is a good test.

Okay.

SNAP testing, which is called IDEXX testing, determines natural infection. This is a good test, especially if your dog has been vaccinated for Lyme.

Okay?

Dr. Diva Kasla K H A S L A she suggests following up with a SNAP test and doing the C6 antibody test in conjunction. And I totally believe that it gives you the kind of how potent a, how potent kind of a case is. Okay, I hope that makes sense. Do both. What I love about what she says is she says that she wants more than a yes or no answer, and you definitely want more than a yes or no answer. She wants to know what degree of infection. So do both tests. Antibody testing will give you an idea of how high or low the disease is.

Okay.

And you can see if you're making progress with treatment. So like super high antibodies, you don't want that. And she points out that something, something a little more important about the C6 antibody test because she wants to know if this is natural infection. She also wants to know if you're dealing with an old infection or a new infection or a re. Exposure. I like to do these tests every six months in high vector areas.

Okay.

Now there's another test, it's by Antech Labs. It's called an Acuplex 4 test. It checks for five antibodies. So like the SNAP test, it can determine if your dog is showing vaccinated exposure or natural exposure as well as registering new or older.

Okay.

So if your dog is showing a lot of symptoms, this might not be a bad test to do. But no, it can give you false results. If your dog has been vaccinated for Lyme. Another thing that Dr. Diva suggests is that you want to test your dog yearly for complications like nephritis protein dumping in the urine, if they've ever been tested via a tick. And I totally recommend this. It definitely is true. If your dog has had Lyme exposure and gets bitten by ticks all the time, test their urine for protein dumping every single year. Because a lot of times when your dog is diagnosed with this nephritis, it's too late. So we want to know right away, okay? So we can be proactive. And being proactive can help save our dogs in case they have autoimmune kidney damage. We don't want that.

Okay?

Test that. And if your dog is using a lot of vet profen, I suggest testing for nephritis as well. And kidney damage probably every six months. That's just a little off topic. That is something to know and I definitely believe in that. I recommend it all the time. It has saved lives. And tick borne disease is like, it's just. It's creepy, it's creeping, it creeps.

Okay?

So you want to make sure that it's not causing other problems. There is really great science right now looking at Bartonella and babesia and the things that they can affect in the body. Like, there is a connection between hemangiosarcoma and bartonella that they're figuring out that they've checked tissues of dogs that have died from hemangiosarcoma and a lot of them have bartonella in common. Okay, so we're figuring things out. I mean, not we. I'm not a scientist. I would say I'm a lay scientist. I don't have a degree in science. I do have some lovely microscopes, but again, I digress. So being proactive, not reactive, is one of the best ways to deal with any type of tick stuff.

Okay.

You might be asking yourself, like, how why does the kidneys get affected by Lyme? And one of the reasons is, is that the kidneys, like the tubules in the kidneys, they're very similar to the tail of bacteria of boreala. And our immune system, or your dog's immune system, confused that.

Okay?

They confuse the two, and then they start attacking the kidneys. We don't want that. We do not want that. Okay, So I did mention that I don't like the Lyme vaccine.

Okay?

It's also called the lameric vaccine, and again, it was pulled off the market when it was rolled out for people. It has a ton of side effects. Okay, let's talk about these side effects. Autoimmune disease, arthritis, kidney disease, nervous system disorders, seizures. Those are nasty. And it's not effective. The Lyme vaccine is not effective. It's not effective. It's not effective. Sorry, I sound like a record. But for those of you practicing, the Lyme vaccine is not a core vaccine for dogs, contrary to the words of some veterinarians, okay? The Lyme vaccine is not entirely effective, and dogs who are vaccinated can get Lyme. When your dog gets bit by a tick, you can use Homeopathic Ledum 30C.

Okay?

Dr. Michelle Yassin, who is a DBM Doctor of Veterinary medicine, she's really spoken out about how she sees more dogs get lame after the Lyme vaccination, and she recommends using ledum 30C. She uses it one time when removing the tick and for two days if the tick has blood in it. Now, I know different homeopathic practitioners recommend different potencies of Leiden, so that can fluctuate. I actually use ledum 200c. I use it one time for three days every time a dog gets bit by a tick. Spiral bacterium, which is Tick bacterium, it really loves to hide in the body, and it can remain dormant, especially in biofilm. And they can infect the brain, the lymph, the musculoskeletal system, the nervous system, the heart. And doxycycline is used for Lyme when you. I. I only recommend. Well, I don't really recommend doxy, but I support doxycycline usage when the tick disease is fresh or when all other natural options have been exhausted.

Okay.

But when Lyme treatment fails, you definitely can use herbs and other treatments to get the bacterium to come out of hiding. I mean, they are definitely elusive, and they hide from the immune system. They do this by creating these things called biofilm and also cysts. And to make matters worse, co infections, those are, you know, Bartonella, mycoplasm, things like that. They can also cause issues. And so the treatment needs to be twofold for some animals and people experiencing Lyme. In fact, if you have a hard time eradicating Lyme, mycoplasma is usually at play with that issue. And this can cause autoimmune disease because your dog's immune system gets overstimulated throughout the entire process of trying to eradicate basically a hidden organism.

Okay.

So co infections, again, these are diseases that come from different bacterium, parasites. Protozoan mycoplasma. Okay. Babesia, bartonella, rocky mounted spotted fever, anaplasmosis, and Ehrlichia are the main ones.

Okay.

But there's probably some that science really hasn't found yet. Ticks may be small, but they're complicated little creatures. These types of issues are really challenging to eradicate, and they definitely prey. And dogs who have a weakened immune system are definitely more susceptible. And so I like to fortify the inside of the dog's body because that is the key to working with co infections.

Okay.

Because like Lyme, they can hide, and they get triggered by stress in life. They get triggered by antibiotics. They get, you know, when you stress out these creatures, they act differently than they normally would if they weren't stressed. So extreme stress, extreme toxic load, things like that can play a huge role in these types of diseases, becoming kind of like a cycle of infection. A study in France showed that pretty much ticks were positive for over four pathogens, including bacterium and protozoa. And that was over 45% of the ticks that were tested. They said that there was a very consistent sampling of ticks that were positive for at least one, but over 45% were tested to be positive over four pathogens. Okay, so this stuff is real and we have to look at it. I'm thinking that we do need a second part of this podcast. One thing I do want to say is that anaplasmosis is caused by. I want to talk just briefly about these main CO infections like anaplasmosis.

Okay.

That's caused by anaplasma. Anaplasma Phagocytophilium, I believe. And it's transmitted by black legged deer ticks and western black legged ticks.

Okay.

It's important to know your tick. Brown ticks can also transmit anaplasma, but it's a different type of anaplasma. It's anaplasma platys P L A T Y S. And both humans and dogs and other animals can get this disease. Signs of anaplasma is, or anaplasmosis is diarrhea, fever, cough, lameness, lack of appetite, joint pain, definitely a lot of joint pain, vomiting, different respiratory issues, and low platelets. Okay, so that can be an issue. And then Babesia is definitely. I mean, according to research, about like over 40% of human Lyme patients develop this CO infection, which is actually a lot. That's a huge number. So dogs can get Babesia, especially puppies with weak immune systems. And what's really creepy and scary is that there's over 100 species of known Babesia. Yuck. And Babisha is not a bacterium. It's a protozoan. And it hides in your dog's red blood cells and causes kind of like orange, dark urine in color and lethargy and wheezing and fever, enlarged lymph nodes, anemia and cause vomiting and then Bartonella, which they are doing a lot of research on right now. A lot that affects the nervous system. And it's Bartonella henselae. H E N S E L A E Bartonmella is transmitted by brown ticks. And it isn't as common as other kind of CO infections, but it is common and it can be transmitted by not only ticks, but fleas. Yuck. Yuck. These symptoms can definitely be heart problems, lethargy, lameness, fevers, things like that. And again, I'm looking into the connection between Bartonella and hemangiosarcoma. Right now I'm doing a deep dive and I'll let you know. The other one is ehrlichiosis, and that is a very common CO infection. It's transmitted by the Lone Star tick, which is Ambyloma americanum. It's found in the eastern and southern Central United States. And it's transmitted by brown dog ticks.

Okay.

It's also in Canada. Again, I had these ticks all over on my property. Every single dog I had tested. Well, no, we just. We determined it wasn't every single dog. I would say almost all. I can't remember if it was every single. So to be on the safe side, almost all basically had this. And they had their own set of symptoms, but a lot of it was joint pain and uria. Kills white blood cells. And from a clinical standpoint, it's diagnosed in three phases.

Okay.

Acute, subclinical, and clinical. And I had dogs in all three phases of the disease. Clinical kind of means chronic. Subclinical means no signs of disease, but they're kind of testing positive. I had a lot of those dogs. And the acute phase of disease is it lasts about, I would say, two to six weeks, mostly four. And a lot of lameness and joint pain. Again, I took care of it with olive leaf, dried olive leaf. And let's see, for. Let's just say a golden retriever, it would be a thousand milligrams twice a day in food. A Spaniel 500, a Pug 3, 300. And a Chihuahua 150 twice a day in food. Always given food because it can cause vomiting. And the symptoms for that is like lethargy, swollen lymph nodes, low appetite, anemia, joints, neurological things. You could have vision loss, like, sudden it comes back. I can't say it always comes back. I don't know that. But the vision loss that I've seen with urlikia has come back and low platelets. So I would definitely say that eurelekia is diagnosed with a blood test for antibodies. And you have to look at the clinical signs as well, like the symptomatic signs. And I would definitely use olive leaf for that. If your dog can't handle olive leaf dried, if they get nauseous, then use the phytoembryonic of olive of olive.

Okay.

You can find that on my website. I'm just thinking if there's anything else I need to tell you, but we'll go. We'll deal with herbals for lime in our next episode of the podcast. How's that? So we will deal with herbals for Lyme at the next episode of the podcast. But what I would do is I would get the lime nosode and the co infections Nosod. I carry those in my store. They're by professional formulas. You can Google that. And then if you know a homeopath you can get the single remedies for that too. But I would give it in high vector areas. I would give it once a week, both the Lyme and the co infection the tick pathogen Nosode. I would give it once a week during tick season and then I would give it once a month in high vector areas. In other areas or if your dog is showing no signs and you're not in a high vector area, I like to give it one time a day for a week and then one time a week for a month. One time a month for six months and then every six months. I learned that from someone and I can't remember who. So if you are that someone please let me know cause it's been so long. But that schedule has worked for me and for my clients a lot and it just helps the body recognize these creatures in the blood in the body and helps prevention and treatment. Okay, that is tics 101 part one. I want to take a minute to thank my sponsor, adored beast. Adoredbeastapothecary.com I love adored Beast. I love what they're doing, I love what they're making. I like to work with them. They are a really great company. They're not going to be at Super Zoo this year, which I'm very saddened about because I'm going to Super Zoo and I wanted to hang out with them but something came up so they could not make it, which is just a bummer. But they will be having some Super Zoo sales so check their website out@adoredbeastapothecary.com and I definitely want to with the tick conversation. The remedy that I would use for basically ticks in general is their product called Rebalancer. It's for like vaccine exposure, but I also like to use it for tick exposure. So I carry that in my store. You can use it as directed, but check it out. Rebalancer from Adored Beast Apothecary thanks for listening to this episode of Dogs are Individuals. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app. And don't forget, sharing is caring. So if you love Dogs Are Individuals podcast, share it with your friends and family who love dogs. This will help me so much. And remember, as a listener, I appreciate you much. Thanks to Resonant Media, my podcast production team. This podcast is produced by Drake Peterson and edited by by Mike Fry. Any questions, email the show, go to k9herbalist.com Click podcast contact in the menu and then fill out that form and I'll answer any questions here online. Okay, so thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals Podcast and I'm going to talk to you in our next episode. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for veterinary care. This podcast doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor, veterinarian or healthcare provider first before starting anything new. And that includes herbs. I'm not a doctor and I don't treat disease or prescribe anything. I'm a traditional herbalist providing herbal support education only. Regarding any products I may suggest the statements made regarding these products have have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here on the podcast is not meant as a substitute or alternative to information from your vet. Please consult your veterinary professional about potential potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product.