Pets
Pets are like tick magnets, and pet owners are more likely to encounter ticks than people who don’t have pets. Researchers at UW-Madison want to learn what pet owners can do to protect themselves and their pets from ticks. We are running a study this summer about how tick exposure, tick prevention and pet ownership are related.
Do you own a dog or cat? Did you just get a new pet, are you getting a new dog or cat? You can join the study!
Enroll at: bit.ly/PetsAndTicks
Other ways to help: Do you work at veterinary clinic, animal shelter, humane society, dog training facility, pet store, or are you a member of a dog or cat club? You can help by downloading and sharing the flyers below online (#PetsAndTicks) and at your facility!
Flyers
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Please contact us at tickteam @ wisc .edu with any questions and for newsletter content.
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Additional study information:
Why are we doing this study?
The purpose of this research study is to better understand how getting a dog or cat might change your use of tick prevention methods, your exposure to ticks and how you think about these topics. We are doing this research because Lyme disease is the most common tick transmitted disease in the United States and Wisconsin, and pet owners find ticks on themselves more often than people who don’t own pets.
What will happen in this study?
If you decide to participate in this research study, we ask you to complete two 5-to-10-minute surveys; the first one today and the second one later in the summer. You may skip any question on the surveys that you do not wish to answer.
The first survey asks about you and your pet, your experience with ticks, the diseases they can transmit and tick prevention, and what you think about these topics. At the end of the first survey, we ask for your email address so we can invite you for the follow-up survey.
The follow-up survey in the summer will ask if you visited your veterinarian, if you encountered any ticks, if you or your pet got a disease transmitted by ticks, and what tick prevention you used. It also asks again what you think about these topics. This survey will be available on the website, we will invite you to participate and remind you once by email.
Lastly, we ask you to download the Tick App and join the Tick App study. In the Tick App you can share your daily outdoor activities, tick prevention used and send us pictures of the ticks you find. Based on your email address, we will combine the information you share in the Tick App with your surveys. This gives us a better idea which ticks you find on yourself and your pet for example. Joining the Tick App is not required; you can still take part in this study even if you say no to the Tick App.
This study is intended to be informational; it provides no clinical assessments or diagnoses. Please contact your doctor or veterinarian if you have medical concerns.
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