Changing Infestation Rates of Rhipicephalus Sanguineus (Latreille) (Ixodidae) Ticks On Dogs On Singapore Island, 1965–19661

A survey of ticks, including information on the prevalence of infestation, species, and stages of tick development, was made from September 1965 to November 1966 on stray dogs electrocuted at Kampong Java Road Animal Infirmary, Singapore. While meteorologic parameters for the areas from which the dogs came seemed to have little effect on observable dog-tick relationships, systematic removal of stray dogs decreased the proportion of dogs infested with one or more ticks from a high of 52% in October 1965 to a low of 19% in October 1966. Seventy-one to 81% of the variability or the data could be accounted for by using the logarithms of the cumulative numbers of dogs destroyed during the survey as the only predictor variable. During the 14-month survey 949 dogs were examined and 7020 ticks were recovered.