EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — What should have been a peaceful late spring walk in the park turned into a nightmare for one East Brunswick family, as their dog came home bitten by more than 200 ticks last Saturday afternoon.

The family, who has now shelled out hundreds of dollars in vet bills and is still waiting to find out if their dog has Lyme disease or worse, wants the Monmouth County park system to put up warning signs, so other families and their pets can avoid what they've endured. Rutgers researchers warned in March that New Jersey could see a "surge" in ticks this spring, thanks to the mild, wet winter. Additionally, a spokeswoman for the Monmouth County park system said this is not the first report they've gotten of an unusually high number of ticks in county parks.

"To say that this was a horror show is really underestimating what we had to go through," Leon Gurevich, the East Brunswick father of two, told Patch.

This past Saturday, Gurevich, his wife and their two children went to Perrineville Lake Park in Millstone Township (Monmouth County). They took their Schnauzer Yorkie mix, Phoebe, on a one-mile stroll through the park, which is known for its serene walking trails and fishing pond. The dog stayed on a leash the entire time, and the family only walked on well-manicured trails. Not only that, the small dog (the breed is nicknamed "Snorkie") also takes an oral tick and flea repellent, NexGard. She's taken it for months now, Gurevich said.

"We got to the park at 1:30 p.m., had a picnic first and then went for about an hour-long hike," said the dad. "We never went into long grasses; we stayed on a trail that was completely groomed and well-manicured for the entire time. And it was only a one-mile walk." It wasn't until the family was back home in East Brunswick that Gurevich said he "felt something."



"I found a tick climbing on me, so then I went over to the dog and saw her biting her leg," he said. "That's when we found one tick. And then another. And another."

Gurevich said he is not exaggerating when he says that he and his wife pulled anywhere from 150 to more than 200 ticks off their dog that afternoon. The ticks were not merely crawling in her fur; each tick had bitten the animal, he said.

"On every square millimeter of her body there was a tick. We called our vet because we were just so alarmed," he said. "And they told us to just keep pulling the ticks off using rubbing alcohol and make sure to get the head of the tick, not to leave it burrowed in the skin." Gurevich said he and his wife starting pulling ticks off their dog at about 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon and didn't finish until midnight. Exhausted, they put Phoebe in her crate and collapsed into bed. Then at 3 a.m., they heard the dog whimpering.

