SASKATCHEWAN – March is National Tick Awareness Month (NTAM) and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) and Merck Animal Health are reminding Canadians they can take several steps to protect their pets against ticks.
The 2025 NTAM campaign kicks off on March 1 with this empowering message: “Will Ticks Get Through? Not With You!” NTAM says pet owners can it more difficult for ticks (and the pathogens they may carry) to navigate their way to pets by layering these three crucial steps:
- Performing daily tick checks and avoiding locations where ticks can be found
- Using veterinary-approved tick control products for the duration of the risk period
- Considering Lyme vaccination for canine patients
“When you think about tick control and trying to reduce the risk of exposure to tick-borne disease, it helps to imagine a maze,” says CVMA president, Dr. Tim Arthur.
“If we do nothing, ticks can have a straight path to our pets, but by layering tick and tick-borne disease protection efforts, you can make the maze more and more complex, so it becomes harder for ticks to get through.”
The CVMA and Merck Animal Health will host a webinar for veterinary professionals on Feb. 28 with Drs. Catherine Bouchard and Jason Coe. Dr. Bouchard, Public Health Agency of Canada, will share some “pearls of wisdom” from recent literature and summarize key updates related to ticks and tick-borne diseases in Canada to help veterinary teams effectively communicate changing risks to pet owners.
Dr. Coe, University of Guelph, will focus on how vets can help pet owners understand the value of tick control recommendations and how this understanding can minimize gaps in protection. Using the Spectrum of Care approach, Dr. Coe will explore the benefit of providing options to pet owners when engaging in tick control discussions.
