These Damn Brown Dog Ticks

Ticks in Europe and the US are a thing. Lyme disease is more common than we think. The number one thing that bothers me about hikes through woods is ticks, not even leeches. We have no vaccines against tick-borne diseases and treatment options are limited. 

In the US, there're 15 states where ticks are considered endemic, primarily in the north east of New York, Maryland, Connecticut, and also California. When tourists go hiking, the last thing they would think of is to check for ticks when they come home. 

This was why I wanted a mud room when I was in W.A. And even now, when I travel, I shake out everything in my suitcase before re-packing them for the trip home. I also leave suitcases in the bathtub. I don’t use bathtubs because I don’t like soaking in a bath. It does nothing for me, and I have better uses for a bathtub in a hotel room. I DO NOT WANT TO BRING HOME TICKS AND UNKNOWN BUGS.

Of course ticks are present in Singapore. We have 11 species of them. Plenty of tick-borne diseases to go around. It's simply a matter of time. But we don't seem to have an issue with Lyme disease in humans in this city, yet. I'm glad that there are studies going on about ticks in Singapore and vector diseases.

A recent study published on January 17, 2025, led by Hokkaido University parasitologist Mackenzie Kwak, along with researchers based in Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia found loads of information about ticks in Singapore.

While ticks are less dangerous than mosquitoes, there is a risk of an uptick in tick-borne diseases going under the radar because Singapore does not conduct systematic surveillance of ticks or tick bites outside of research settings, according to Prof Tambyah and the researchers.

This dearth of knowledge prompted the study, which is part of an ongoing nationwide tick surveillance programme that began in 2018. The programme, based at the National University of Singapore, has involved veterinarians, clinicians, wildlife biologists and members of the public across the island.

I would not want to be bitten by fleas, bed bugs or ticks. Especially not ticks. To have a tick in my eyelid, ear or scalp. OMG. This is an urban nightmare! 

This is why I'm not as keen to go hiking or traipsing all around Singapore. If I do, I literally shake myself off before I get in the car, and I do it again before I step into the home. But with Choya around now, I'm even more careful not to have any bug get onto her from me, or from where we go.

Now, the dogs. The dogs. Dogs don't need to walk in forests to get ticks on them. They could simply be walking in an urban park or along the grass patches of any green space. This line in the article killed me because this was what exactly happened to Choya. She happily walks through piles of leaf litter and tall grass. I discourage it, but often she's too quick. 

Hidden in leaf litter near wildlife corridors, a poorly known threat to public health lies in wait for hikers, cyclists and dog owners frequenting Singapore’s green spaces.

That night, I was too tired and didn't do the usual nightly pat-down for her. It's disguised as 'rubs' which she loves. I use that time to check her body for lumps, bumps, ticks and nonsense that shouldn't be in her fur or on her skin. I had time the next morning to do a pat-down. And at 8am, I FOUND A TICK ON CHOYA. Firmly attached already. DAMMIT. This is the first tick that I've found on her. Looking at its size, it shouldn’t have been attached for more than 14 hours. Excellent. 

I didn't even bother to take photos. I calmly and firmly removed that tick with my bare fingers, so that I could control the strength. (I'm very practiced at removing ticks. Everyone tells you to twist it. That's dumb. It's not exactly a twist.) I didn't want it to burst in my hands, and I didn't want it to react and sink its mouthparts even deeper into Choya or release toxins and pathogens into the entry wound. It was a clean removal. Eight legs, head and mouth (two chelicerae and one hypostome) all intact. I placed it in a small ziplock, poured in Dettol, then squished it to death within another ziplock. 

Luckily the tick was found on her chest, slightly under her right 'armpit'. It's a spot where she can't bother with any paws or tongue. Ha! I didn't even have to cone her when I layer antibiotic cream on it. This doesn't require a clinical eye. There's nothing for the vet to go on anyway, not without any symptoms of infection of the bite wound or tick fever. In this case, an AI bot would be more helpful than an inexperienced doctor. I cleansed the wound and sprinkled Baneocin on it. That would be done twice daily for the next week till the scab formed and the redness in the area subsides. The little bump would be less swollen and remain so for a week. Other than that, everything is beyond my control. I'd just watch Choya for anomalies. 

Thank goodness I'm not an anti-vaxxer or anti-preventives. Choya is on Frontline Plus, monthly. I use the drops. Without those, she would have likely gotten tick fever thrice over (either ehrlichia and babesia prevalent in dogs here). You can preach all you want about poisoning the dog with flea and tick preventives since it kills the pests when they take her blood. But without these preventives, she will die even faster and in a more horrible manner. So take your anti-preventives speech and go away.

Earlier in the year, my skin crawled at this news headline 'Tengah facility with over 40 animal shelters, businesses hit by ticks'. Businesses. That meant breeders... with vulnerable puppies too. The animal shelters noticed an ermm uptick in tick infestations since 2022, making this in August 2025 the first major tick infestation. Even the volunteers visiting the shelter found ticks on their clothes and skin. Eioooooow! I hope the situation is resolved for the now. With this many dogs and cats housed in one Tengah facility, it's impossible to clear them all. But hopefully this round of infestation had been controlled.

By the way, ticks don't jump. They crawl. You can spot them and catch them. Just don't crush them please. Imagine if that one you crushed is a pregnant tick, thousands of eggs bursting... and hiding from your eyes, and hatching. LOLOL.

It's Definitely Gabapentin Season

It's damn sian to be woken up when I'm fast asleep because of a thunderstorm. Well, it isn't the crackle of the thunder or the rain pelting against the windows per se. I can easily sleep through those. But Choya can't and she's frightened to death of thunderstorms. So I have to be awake to sit with her. 

It's even more deplorable in this scenario — if I'm not asleep by 10.45pm and am awake to do chores and such, and when I'm ready for bed at midnight, the thunderstorm booms at 1am. WTF. It has been doing that for a few nights now. At least these 1am storms do mean that I can sleep by 2.45am or so. Not too bad.

I can't even like sleep in the living room when the thunderstorms roar. She needs me awake and moving. Music doesn't calm her down. Only Gabapentin does. But it doesn't work instantaneously. Sumatra squalls simply decide to form, rather unpredictably. I'm not awake to catch it. My voice seems to calm her down.

She vacillates between wanting to be carried, then put down, then be carried. It's rather exhausting. Reading a random essay seems to calm her down. She doesn't want me to talk to her; she wants to hear my reading voice. The academic tone. Okay. Can. That's my work voice.  

The Sumatra squalls are really annoying. They bring thunder that rumbles every 15 minutes or so as they pass. It takes about 1.5 hours for each squall to fully clear. We're still in inter-monsoon. Good lawwd. I can deal with the 1am storms. I might lack sleep but I'm not incapacitated the next day. These Sumatra squalls that come at 3am and 4am are the worst. Those are debilitating. Or when it stops raining, and I think the thunder has stopped, it happily rumbles again an hour later. wtf, truly.

I've eased off on Gabapentin for a few months, but it's the season to dose Choya again. I do need to keep her cortisol levels constant, and her body's immune system calm and not thinking that it has to fight inflammation (and anxiety) all the time.

It's not as if the thunderstorms will ease up when the Northeast Monsoon finally arrives in like 10 days. We're just going to get dunked with rain and thunder crackling again daily. Bringing out rain-gear and dealing with the wet ain't difficult. Dealing with a dog with true astraphobia in a full-blown anxiety attack is quite another. 

Nam Kee Chicken Rice

Our friends' dog went in a routine check at the clinic. We went to kaypoh and lend emotional support. It was a 7.30pm appointment. None of us minded figuring out dinner around the appointment. 

The best part about this vet clinic at Upper Thomson Road is that it's sited next to Ming's Pub. It was a rainy evening, so nobody wanted to traipse far and get soaked. The dogs wouldn't like it. At this venue, people who wanted to drink, simply stepped in next door to Ming's Pub to have a Guinness. 

After the vet appointment was concluded, it was dinner time. We didn't mind a pint of Guinness either. But we needed dinner. So Ming's has no issues with us ordering in food from the eateries along the stretch. Of course we opted for Nam Kee Chicken Rice! Hahaha. It has been a long time since any of us had it. And no, chicken rice doesn't all taste the same. 

The table sent me to order. They were hungry but I knew they wouldn't need that much food. A whole chicken plus two side dishes (including one veggie) would do it. I didn't even order two bowls of rice. I ordered one portion. These people aren't rice eaters, especially not at dinner. So one portion of tasty chicken rice fed us all nicely. 

Ordered a steamed chicken with skin, some sort of tofu, choi sum, and hae zhor (crispy prawn rolls). I only wanted the vegetables, a bit of tofu, a wee bit of meat and a lot of chicken skin. 

The kitchen was closing up and in a happy sort of mood. They fried up our liver and gizzard in sambal. Wahhh! So nice of them lah. It was so tasty, especially with the chilled Guinness. Kekekekekke. We couldn't finish a whole chicken, so the rest was packed home for the friends' meals the next day.