Tis the season...for TICKS!

[Alysser]

I've never been one to have problems with ticks. I've never had a dog to really go hiking with, and Mikey has been getting ticks the past two times. Our lawn is treated for ticks, so he doesn't get it from the yard or anything. I took him to the park today and he got 2 on his feet. I got them off immediately. The first one happened last weekend after a four mile hike. It was HUGE by the time we caught it but dead. He is on Frontline plus and has always been. ISN'T this supposed to keep ticks off?? I'm just frustrated because my mom is flipping out and saying I'm not allowed to take him anymore. We've just never dealt much with a dog with ticks. I know it's a normal occurance for a lot of people including FRIENDS. Many don't get their lawn treated. Their dogs get ticks from their own yard. I am just mad right now, this is such a normal thing, and she freaks out of course. She is NOT taking hiking away from Mikey...I refuse to let that happen. He enjoys it to much. I DON'T enjoy ticks obviously, I hate them, they are gross...but what can I do other than keeping him from hiking and using frontline?? Are there any over the counter sprays that legitimately work for ticks and fleas?

Just wondering..maybe someone who walks in the woods with their dogs can help me out? Thanks guys.

[Freedom]

Frontline Plus does not repel ticks; it kills them after they bite the dog. It is a pesticide you are putting on your dog's skin. The skin is the largest organ of the body. From the spot you apply the stuff, the skin spreads it all over. When the insect bites, it gets the insecticide and dies.

I've just this past week started using Cedar-cide, which IS a repellant, and which is chemical free. Here is a link, I don't know if you can get it in Canada:
http://www.cedarcidestore.com/NON_TOXIC_FLEAS_CONTROL.html

Three folks in Willy's Agility class use it. They have dogs, cats and horses. You must mist your dog daily with this. You can also spray the bedding. It repels fleas, ticks, lice, gnats, no see ums, and a few others. A fourth person in class also uses it on her dog, Darcy. Darcy is a cancer survivor, he has had chemo, and his mom is very cautious about using ANY chemicals on him at all. She swears by this stuff. I must say, when all 4 of them and their dogs attend, class smells nice! Ha haaa.

I've never had tick issues. This year due to the warm Spring, everyone says it is bad for ticks. I have found 2 this year, one on Willy and one on Lacey! So I have started using this. Only been 2 days, though, for me.

You can also spray it in your closets, to keep moths off the wool winter clothes!

[Jessika]

The way Frontline works is the tick has to bite the pet before it kills it. So you may still find a tick on your pet, but it should be dead (unless you catch it pretty quickly).

That having been said, over the past year we've been seeing pets come in to the clinic on Frontline covered in fleas, and we are starting to see more and more of them as the summer months continue. Until recently though the tick properties we assumed have still been working. But we had THREE pets on Monday and one on Wednesday that we found live ticks on (and there have been more, my surgery days just come to mind because I was able to search better for ticks while they were asleep and on one dog I found A TON of them...), at least half of which the owners claimed that they were using frontline. I'm starting to wonder if Frontline is just becoming an ineffective product or if the fleas and ticks are starting to become "immune", but we have been recommending to clients to try other products. I don't wish to list them here because I don't want to sound like I'm an advertisement or endorsing them, but if you do want my recommendations I'll PM you what we're doing in clinic :)

[Varga]

Vectra 3D is suppose to keep fleas and ticks off without them having to bite. I used that for Taggart while we lived in upstate New York and I never had any problems with fleas or ticks. I've actually never once picked one single tick from any of my animals or ever dealt with fleas, haha. But that is mostly because I've only lived in America for two years and in the Faroe Islands there simply aren't any ticks or fleas! Only time I've ever seen a flea was one I found on Taggart while we lived in NY. And that flea was already paralyzed, so the product did what it promised. It basically paralyses the pests as soon as they come in contact with the fur. I'm not saying the product is flawless though. I only used it for a year and when I tried to get it over here in California, every vet I called either hadn't heard of it, or they had stopped carrying it because they found it ineffective... So yeah, I dunno. It's kinda difficult to get since you have to get it directly from a vet.

Right now I use Canine Advantix (which doesn't repel but only kills when they bite) and so far it's been working fine and we haven't had any problems.

Anyway. Maybe you could give Vectra 3D a shot. But it is a pesticide, just like frontline and advantix, so maybe Freedom's suggestion would be worth trying first! :)

Here is the website btw
http://www.vectrapet.com/

[SWHouston]

I use Comfortis for both mine, and have never found a Tick on either, though they are taken into brushy areas quite frequently.
Oddly, My Female Becca will ingest the pill without hesitation, but My Male Sneakers doesn't like them, and no matter how much cheese I wrap around the pill, he manages to spit it out. I have to literally shove it down his throat. (I really don't like to do that :()

[pomtzu]

I use Advantix II on the Fuzzbuttz, and don't have any kind of bug problem. I live in a wooded/semi-rural area and we don't do any lawn treatments here. Granted - the dogs don't actually go out into the woods, but there are plenty enough just in the yard to hitch a ride on one or both of them.
I too heard that Frontline seems to be losing it's effectiveness. Maybe it's a geographical thing tho - depending on what area of the country you're in. I've always used the Advantage/Advantix line, so I can't speak negatively about Frontline, based on my own experience.

[Alysser]

Thanks guys for the advice!!

I talked to my mom, she said she was over-reacting and she didn't really mean it. She also hadn't told me that she ordered K9 Advantix II instead of Frontline, which is why I THOUGHT he was on Frontline. So, he is on k9 Advantix. The engorged tick we found was dead, so I guess it did work. I would like something that essentially repels ticks AND fleas though, and I would like to have peace of mind when I take him out in the woods. I think we're going to look into finding an all natural spray that repels bugs and spray his paws with. That is where we find them. He was in tall grass too, which was my own fault. My biggest worry is that he could get Lyme's Disease because these aren't wood ticks, they are deer ticks. We have such a huge deer problem out here, that they're just about everywhere now. I had a tick on me the other day just walking to the store...on the sidewalk, go figure. I've started using Deep woods off! everytime I go out.

I will check out Cedarcide and a few others I've looked up (Adams and PROTECT from pet naturals of Vermont). I guess I'll just have to use my K9 Advantix II and a spray to fight this, and when I get home ALWAYS check. I am good at finding them and I usually check everywhere.

Pomtzu, you are pretty close to where I live. Granted, I don't know how much deer reside in Delaware, but I'd imagine it's a lot. You're lucky you've never had ticks on your pups! I am hoping this was a one time thing, but I will do anything to combat these gross bugs. For those who mentioned Vectra 3D I am not sure I have heard of that. It is something to look into when we're done with our supply of Advantix.

[Jessika]

Thanks guys for the advice!!

I talked to my mom, she said she was over-reacting and she didn't really mean it. She also hadn't told me that she ordered K9 Advantix II instead of Frontline, which is why I THOUGHT he was on Frontline. So, he is on k9 Advantix. The engorged tick we found was dead, so I guess it did work. I would like something that essentially repels ticks AND fleas though, and I would like to have peace of mind when I take him out in the woods. I think we're going to look into finding an all natural spray that repels bugs and spray his paws with. That is where we find them. He was in tall grass too, which was my own fault. My biggest worry is that he could get Lyme's Disease because these aren't wood ticks, they are deer ticks. We have such a huge deer problem out here, that they're just about everywhere now. I had a tick on me the other day just walking to the store...on the sidewalk, go figure. I've started using Deep woods off! everytime I go out.

I will check out Cedarcide and a few others I've looked up (Adams and PROTECT from pet naturals of Vermont). I guess I'll just have to use my K9 Advantix II and a spray to fight this, and when I get home ALWAYS check. I am good at finding them and I usually check everywhere.

Pomtzu, you are pretty close to where I live. Granted, I don't know how much deer reside in Delaware, but I'd imagine it's a lot. You're lucky you've never had ticks on your pups! I am hoping this was a one time thing, but I will do anything to combat these gross bugs. For those who mentioned Vectra 3D I am not sure I have heard of that. It is something to look into when we're done with our supply of Advantix.

If you want repellant properties, I would recommend Vectra 3D. This is actually the product we've switched to at my clinic from frontline. Our clinic price for it vs Frontline is only a few dollars more per package, too, and since it covers so much more than Frontline does, it's definitely worth the money.

Also someone mentioned Comfortis. Comfortis is actually a fantastic flea preventative but does not have any tick preventative properties (at least, none that they can legally put on the label).

[robinh]

We live where there are lots of ticks. I have always used Frontline Plus because our vet practice recommends it. But I have the rescue dachshund Shamus that I've tried to put it on twice and he started spnning, rolling and got whale-eyed both times. I wiped it off and called the vet. They've never heard of that reaction, but I'm really nervous about using it again. Is there something holistic/natural out there to use for ticks?