Availability of Tick Control Options
Overall, 58.6% of veterinarians responding felt insufficient tick
control options were available. Fewer veterinarians in the Northeast
felt that there were enough control measures compared to the other
combined regions (9.5% vs. 32.4%, respectively; P=0.03). Most
veterinarians (79.7%; 47/59) across all regions have recommended tick
control to clients, but fewer veterinarians (61.4%; 35/57) were
interested in a new passive method of tick control. Respondents
considered tick research important (mean = 4.33 out of 5, with 1 being
not important and 5 being very important). These opinions on new methods
and tick research did not differ between the Northeast and the other
combined regions.
When veterinarians were asked to respond to topics that they wished they
knew more about ticks and tick control for horses, the most common
responses were related to preventing bites. Choosing the best repellents
or products for tick bite prevention was the most common response
(73.3% of responses, 44/60), followed by tick prevention on the farm
and (61.7% of responses, 37/60), and products or options available for
tick prevention on the farm (61.7% of responses, 37/60) (Figure 5).
Only 25.0% of respondents (15/60) wished to know more about finding
ticks/conducting tick checks.