Rutgers has a few publications on ticks. Here are the links. You need adobe to read them. They list recommended pesticides and treatments in the documents.
We had dog ticks lay eggs in the base board once when I was growing up. It was not a good situation. The vet gave up something to spray the boards with and that worked. You might try contacting one.

Here is a link that might be useful: RCE Publications on ticks

Dont worry , if you have any cats or dogs in the house , the ticks will go to them and not you .

That's not true. Unfortunately, I know that from experience.

re birdman -
first of all, I would not want a dog or cat to get Lyme either.
secondly, Loretta is correct. Ticks are attracted to the carbon monoxide all living things emit. So if you emit carbon monoxide, you may attract ticks.

ellen

Curses, foiled again!

Here I am sitting up in Hunterdon County being all smug about the fact that my creatures have produced all of 3 "dog" ticks since the season began.

But then this evening, I took look at the young cat and his upper and lower eyelids are full of tiny, tiny deer ticks. I pulled them off and he is not a happy kitty.

Guess it's time for Frontline or some such thing.

Our dogs have just been full of the bigger dog ticks this year. Breeding conditions must have been perfect for them in South Jersey-never have seen so many!

NJTea, how did you get those out? I can't imagine a cat sitting still for that.
Don't forget to check between their toes. That was one of the worst spots on my dog. She would get several everyday when the ticks were at their worst.

Loretta, I use a pair of tweezers - yesterday, being the first time I've done this on this particular cat, it was a bit of a struggle. Hopefully, it will become easier as time goes by.

My oldest cat used to just sit in my lap and allow me to remove the ticks. Sometimes her eyes would swell a bit, but I think she appreciated the fact that they were gone.

NJTea,
I suggest you get your cat checked for Lyme and/or watch for symptoms. Yourself too.

ellen

Ellen, I've asked the vet about Lyme in cats and they assure me that it is extremely rare in cats. It must be because no cat I've had has ever had the disease, while all of my dogs have had multiple bouts of it, in spite of wearing tick collars.

I've had it several times unfortunately but have yet to see any of the ticks that caused it, even when the rash appeared on one of my legs.

I had a kitten who had it, according to the vet. Had only had him a couple weeks, my roomate picked him up along the road. One day he got very lame and was lethargic and had a fever. The vet said it was lyme disease; and I have to say the antibiotic she prescribed got rid of it almost immediately. The vet I take my own cats too was dubious, but according to the internet sudden lameness is a symptom. We never saw a tick on him, but I think he'd been living outside. He's fine now.

On a related note, we got the antibiotic flavored with fish. Expensive, but boy, he got all his medication with no struggle at all. Apparently you can get a lot of pet medications with flavors now.

WW

Flavored medicine is great! It was a nightmare to give any of my cats pills. Once they got the first dose, they always knew to hide after that.
My son and my FIL had Lyme last summer. My FIL got it real bad. He was delirious and spent a few days in the hospital while they tried to figure out what was wrong. My son only had the rash without any other symptom. It wasn't even a bulls eye except when it was almost faded.
I will just ask them to add the test to the yearly blood work now.

Guess who is being treated for Lyme as she types! I found a huge red bite and that was concomitant with my feeling less and less well over a period of about 3 days. No bulls eye and it could be a spider bite but doc felt it best to treat for Lyme just in case.

Loretta, don't count on adding a Lyme test to your regular blood work - insurance companies often won't pay for diagnostic lab work unless it is connected to symptoms.

Probably but then I will just pay then. The pediatrician will do it in the office if I ask her, even me. I think I did pay $20 to $40 to have my other son tested as a precaution.

I thought that once you'd had Lyme (or had the vaccine) that you'd always test positive after that.

WW

Actually, I believe that is true - I think it's a matter of degree as to what your antibody levels show.

Yes, I've heard that.