Ticks parasitizing dogs in northwestern Georgia

From January 1998 through September 1999, 324 dogs in three northwestern Georgia counties were examined for ticks. Six species of ticks were recovered. The three most commonly collected ticks were the American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis (Say) (310 male male, 352female female ; prevalence, 97%; mean intensity 2.1); the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille) (118male male, 119female female, 38 nymphs; prevalence, 22%; mean intensity, 3.8); and the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (L.) (8male male, 26female female, 2 nymphs; prevalence, 5%; mean intensity, 2.4). Other ticks recovered were Ixodes cookei Packard (3female female); the Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum Koch (2male male); and the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say (1female). Another adult female specimen of I. scapularis was recovered from a cat, further reinforcing that this medically important tick is present in northwestern Georgia.