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.