A tick a day and I've had it

[ejano]

It's been a tick a day on one dog or the other or the cat and once or twice on DH since fair weather broke and we've started walking in the far fields and as DH lets them all over the furniture and up on the bed, they are all on their way out the door - the cat and DH included - until I get this under control.

 

We use Revolution and until this year have not had a problem.....does anyone have any suggestions for another spot-on heartworm/flea/tick/worm preventative that does not contain Ivermection (yeah, I know - but better safe than very sorry)

 

Thanks,

Liz

[Mark Billadeau]

We've been using Frontline (Plus) for tics with good success. We buy the largest weight size and split it based upon each dog's weight. I have a vial to save the remaining portion of an opened packet for the next application time.

 

Mark

[Carlasl]

I have heard really good things about the "preventic collar" I don't use them myself because I have small children and just don't feel comfortable with that type of collar and the chance they could chew on it or stick their hands in their mouths after touching them.

 

So far Advantix and frontline plus seem to do a pretty good job with ticks for us. We have had some major flea problems (even with advantix and frontline) in the past but I think that was because of a stray cat that was hanging around and getting fleas in my yard, it is gone this year and so far not a sign of a single flea.

[MaggieDog]

I don't think there are any other spot ons that cover heartworms, so if you use another product you'll need to add an oral heartworm prevention med (Interceptor is ivermectin-free). We use plain Frontline Top Spot and have had good results for both ticks and fleas on the dogs.

[AmandaMJL]

I give garlic and last year (we live in the boonies!) on the 6 dogs and 1 cat we have, I picked off ONE tick! This year I am giving Revolution for heartworm but still will continue with the garlic. I hate ticks!!!!!

[Tommy Coyote]

It's been a tick a day on one dog or the other or the cat and once or twice on DH since fair weather broke and we've started walking in the far fields and as DH lets them all over the furniture and up on the bed, they are all on their way out the door - the cat and DH included - until I get this under control.

 

We use Revolution and until this year have not had a problem.....does anyone have any suggestions for another spot-on heartworm/flea/tick/worm preventative that does not contain Ivermection (yeah, I know - but better safe than very sorry)

 

Thanks,

Liz

I use Revolution and I think it says it is only good against dog ticks - not other kinds of ticks.

[gcv-border]

I currently use Frontline Plus AND a preventic collar --- and Iverhart Max.

 

I had been using Advantix since their marketing led me to believe that it provided more complete coverage, but we (2 dogs and 2 humans) kept getting ticks. There is nothing I hate more than seeing a bloated tick that has fallen off one of the dogs.

 

Based on the advice of my rehab vet, who works with a search & rescue team that is always in the woods, I have been using my current regimen for about a year and see very few ticks (on the dogs). She says that you can use Frontline Plus with the preventic collar, but NOT to combine the preventic collar with Advantix since Advantix is a much more toxic chemical.

 

A friend's vet does not think combining the two are a good idea, but it is the only thing that has worked for me here in SW VA. (I do not have kids, but do have cats - which should not be exposed to the preventic collar. No problems so far.) I just heard of someone who religiously uses Frontline Plus and just had her dog diagnosed with both Lyme and erlichia.

 

I don't know what it is, but I keep hearing about how one product works welll in one region, but not another. Or how one owner is happy with a product, but the same product doesn't seem to work for the neighbor down the road. I wouldn't discount different body chemistry between dogs and regional differences in tick populations.

 

Jovi

 

 

It's been a tick a day on one dog or the other or the cat and once or twice on DH since fair weather broke and we've started walking in the far fields and as DH lets them all over the furniture and up on the bed, they are all on their way out the door - the cat and DH included - until I get this under control.

 

We use Revolution and until this year have not had a problem.....does anyone have any suggestions for another spot-on heartworm/flea/tick/worm preventative that does not contain Ivermection (yeah, I know - but better safe than very sorry)

 

Thanks,

Liz

[ejano]

I give garlic and last year (we live in the boonies!) on the 6 dogs and 1 cat we have, I picked off ONE tick! This year I am giving Revolution for heartworm but still will continue with the garlic. I hate ticks!!!!!

 

How do you give the garlic? Tablet? Sprinkle on food? Fresh? Freeze dried?

 

Liz

[ejano]

I use Revolution and I think it says it is only good against dog ticks - not other kinds of ticks.

 

These are not deer ticks -- I guess I'm not sure what kind of ticks they are...kind of flat then latch on and puff up over the course of a few days....I'd seen them in Virginia but not up here in PA until last summer - at least on my dogs, though they were around the area.

 

Liz

[Alchemist]

We use Frontline for Duncan for flea/tick control. I deliberately opted for the Frontline over the Frontline Plus because I felt the risk of fleas was low. (The difference is that Frontline Plus contains S-methoprene, an insect juvenile growth hormone mimic; it prevents insect pupae from maturing. An environmental breakdown product of S-methoprene has been shown to result in developmental abnormalities in frogs, and I'm fond of amphibians. Even one swim in a pond soon after application can release enough S-methoprene to cause problems, according to a paper I read).

 

We did find a tick on Duncan yesterday. Wasn't engorged so I can hope it would have dropped off on its own. He retreated to his crate after we pulled it as if we'd been engaging in some exquisitely sadistic form of canine torture.

 

Last year we used Vectra 3D for flea/tick control. I spotted three or four ticks on him at various times. He hated it when we applied the Vectra; I think it must have made his skin tingle. So we switched over to Frontline.

 

I live in Tick Central, USA. I might consider using garlic as a supplement, but I'm sufficiently leery about the risk of TBD that I feel the use of stronger chemicals is warranted. The last vet told me that he runs into dogs in his practice all the time who end up dying from TBD. So, my advice is to ask your vet how prevalent TBD is in your location. Are strong chemicals warranted? Vaccination for Lyme? (Doesn't cover everything a dog might pick up from a tick - just ask Liz P: http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.p...howtopic=28491).

[Journey]

Advantix worked here last year but I will never give up the PrevenTick collars, ticks are too nasty to not go after full bore.

[ejano]

We use Frontline for Duncan for flea/tick control. I deliberately opted for the Frontline over the Frontline Plus because I felt the risk of fleas was low. (The difference is that Frontline Plus contains S-methoprene, an insect juvenile growth hormone mimic; it prevents insect pupae from maturing. An environmental breakdown product of S-methoprene has been shown to result in developmental abnormalities in frogs, and I'm fond of amphibians. Even one swim in a pond soon after application can release enough S-methoprene to cause problems, according to a paper I read).

 

We did find a tick on Duncan yesterday. Wasn't engorged so I can hope it would have dropped off on its own. He retreated to his crate after we pulled it as if we'd been engaging in some exquisitely sadistic form of canine torture.

 

Last year we used Vectra 3D for flea/tick control. I spotted three or four ticks on him at various times. He hated it when we applied the Vectra; I think it must have made his skin tingle. So we switched over to Frontline.

 

I live in Tick Central, USA. I might consider using garlic as a supplement, but I'm sufficiently leery about the risk of TBD that I feel the use of stronger chemicals is warranted. The last vet told me that he runs into dogs in his practice all the time who end up dying from TBD. So, my advice is to ask your vet how prevalent TBD is in your location. Are strong chemicals warranted? Vaccination for Lyme? (Doesn't cover everything a dog might pick up from a tick - just ask Liz P: http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.p...howtopic=28491).

 

They're not the deer ticks, which carry Lyme disease....the vet says they are just the regulation run of the mill ugly tick and they started appearing here in March - which is when I saw the first one.

 

I'm so afraid of both over medicating the critters and exposing all of us unnecessarily to chemicals but on the other hand, I read some warnings about giving too much garlic to dogs ...sigh, I don't think I worried this much about my son, but I didn't feel quite so vulnerable back in those days...

 

At any rate, the vet suggested one of those collars and to bring in the PrevenTick collar and the Revolution and he'll cross reference the dosages in both to see if there is any possible interactions...whew!

 

I did however, think up one thing on my own....when I pulled the big fat tick off Ladybug this morning, there were all these little white dots that I assumed might be eggs based on a post from Desert Ranger last year. He suggested using Head and Shoulders shampoo on the spot where the tick was to get rid of any eggs -- didn't happen to have any handy but I held her on my lap and DH used Scotch tape to pick up all the (assumed) eggs with the tape....the little white dots were very easy to spot on her black coat and the tape worked very well...didn't pull up any hair at all, but picked up the eggs very nicely. If (when!) I find another tick on these mutts, I"m going to do the same thing again...might be harder to spot on Brodie or Robin because of their coat color, though....

[AmandaMJL]

How do you give the garlic? Tablet? Sprinkle on food? Fresh? Freeze dried?

 

Liz

 

I've done the pills in the past, but for the past several years I just sprinkle a bit on their food a few times a week. Including the cat food!

[Alchemist]

I talked to our vet today about ticks (Duncan is due for an update on his Lyme, but he was getting his second leptospirosis injection today and I wanted to give him a bit of time between vaccinations).

 

She said our area may well have the highest incidence of Lyme in the country. A while ago they tested a random sample of dogs and found 75% were positive for Lyme. I've known a number of humans who have gotten it, too. It's not fun for canines or for humans. On the other hand, she said when she lived in Vermont, they virtually never encountered Lyme. So, if you're weighing whether or not to use some sort of chemical for protection against ticks, talk to your vet and find out whether you're in an area in which tick-borne diseases are endemic.

 

We regularly have deer in our back yard. Duncan frequently goes for walks in the woods. There's no way I'd ever spot a deer tick - something the size of a poppy seed - in Duncan's coat.

 

So: balance the risk of cancer from the Frontline (probably on the order of 1 in 1 million), plus the risk of adverse reactions from the vaccine, against the near-certainty of Lyme if I did nothing. Even if he were to turn out to be one of the fortunate dogs who had asymptomatic Lyme, I'll take the chemicals and the vaccine. If I had to choose between them, I'd choose the chemicals, as they'd confer protection against a broader range of tick-borne diseases.

 

Lyme vaccine is somewhat controversial (see http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_lyme_disease.html ), and it's no guarantee against getting the disease, but I have been told it tends to reduce its severity. My practice has just switched to a different Lyme vaccine, by the way. It apparently confers protection against 8 surface proteins instead of just two. They haven't used it long enough to know whether this provides a substantive advantage.

[pammyd]

A different part of the world I know but I walk my dogs in deer, sheep and cow areas where my friends regularly get ticks (friend was treated for Lymes last year - nasty) as of yet (touch wood) my pair have never had a single tick

 

All I do is raw feed - I havent used any chemicals!! Its up to the individual what you think the risk is

[BCjetta]

I use revolution, but ticks aren't horrible here and I also brush Hannah very well just about every day. The rep for Advantix did a lunch seminar for us recently. Some differences between it and revolution - revolution goes systemic which means the tick has to be attached and sucking to injest the revolution. Apparently the advantix remains topical so the tick starts to absorb the product just from being on the dog. She did say on larger dogs put it in several spots because if you only use it on one spot, the concentration in the areas far away from that spot may not be high enough. There is also one type of tick (can't remember which) that revolution doesn't work well for.

[ejano]

I use revolution, but ticks aren't horrible here and I also brush Hannah very well just about every day. The rep for Advantix did a lunch seminar for us recently. Some differences between it and revolution - revolution goes systemic which means the tick has to be attached and sucking to injest the revolution. Apparently the advantix remains topical so the tick starts to absorb the product just from being on the dog. She did say on larger dogs put it in several spots because if you only use it on one spot, the concentration in the areas far away from that spot may not be high enough. There is also one type of tick (can't remember which) that revolution doesn't work well for.

 

Thanks, this is good information - re the Revolution...we do put it "spot on" between the shoulder blades as the directions suggest. We've used it for years and never had a tick or a flea but this year has been exceptional for ticks, beginning back in March. I understand from our vet that there's been quite an outbreak in our area.

 

The ticks are around the face and shoulders where they are sticking their heads in the tall grasses and so forth on their mousing expeditions - .so the ticks are actually attaching in the areas closest to the spot where I applied the Revolution. The one I found yesterday was about three inches down Ladybug's back from the spot where I apply the Revolution...it's becoming apparent that the stuff just isn't working all that well for these particular ticks - though it must be doing some good or they'd really be infested. They're not due for another dose for ten days....I wonder too sometimes about the quality of the products...it seems you can't trust anything anymore. Every other week they're yanking Tylenol off the shelves!

 

With the vet's okay, I'm going to add the preventatic collars...as long as we're not overdosing the dogs. That should give those little creepy crawlies something to think about!

[WWBC]

For anyone wanting to go with the preventic collars, Zema makes a collar that is the same active ingredient as the preventic collars. Right now Jeffers has the preventic collars for just under $10 apiece and the Zema collars are actually on sale for $5 apiece, cheaper the more you buy. So if you are using or planning to use tick collars you might want to check out Jeffers.

[urge to herd]

Apparently the advantix remains topical so the tick starts to absorb the product just from being on the dog. She did say on larger dogs put it in several spots because if you only use it on one spot, the concentration in the areas far away from that spot may not be high enough. There is also one type of tick (can't remember which) that revolution doesn't work well for.

 

Here in Northern California, we've had a ton of ticks this year. I've used Advantix on my dogs, and am still getting ticks that have latched on and are bloated w/blood. They do seem a little easier to detach, but the Advantix is not acting as a repellent for us.

 

Ruth

[HoosierMike]

We have deer ticks in our neck of the woods, bad too, April and October

are horrible. We have used Frontline plus for many years since it was the

only one that affected deer ticks. It works great, if you realize that the tick

must take a bloodmeal to have it kill them.

A drug company rep. came to the vet. clinic where my my wife works and

was pushing the advantages of Vectra. It was supposed to do everything

Frontline plus does, plus repel mosquitoes and flies too. Free samples, we

gave it a shot. NEVER again will I put that stuff on my dogs, they rolled and

bit at it, like it was painful to them. It never seemed to dry, it stayed greasy

for 36 hours after applied, but the worst part of it was what happened to our

youngest dog. He acted almost like he had heat stroke after being outside

for no more than 30 minutes, and later on that night, he peed in the bed

without ever waking up or even moving. We called poison control and bathed

him three times at 2:00 a.m. He seems back to normal now, but we're having

him checked at the vet today anyway. I've not been that scared for a while.

It's back to Frontline plus, but we have to wait a month, so it's a good thing

that they get the lymes vaccine to hold them over, just in case.

Lesson learned, at the expense of our poor little guy. Never again.

Mike

[Alchemist]

We have deer ticks in our neck of the woods, bad too, April and October

are horrible. We have used Frontline plus for many years since it was the

only one that affected deer ticks. It works great, if you realize that the tick

must take a bloodmeal to have it kill them.

A drug company rep. came to the vet. clinic where my my wife works and

was pushing the advantages of Vectra. It was supposed to do everything

Frontline plus does, plus repel mosquitoes and flies too. Free samples, we

gave it a shot. NEVER again will I put that stuff on my dogs, they rolled and

bit at it, like it was painful to them. It never seemed to dry, it stayed greasy

for 36 hours after applied, but the worst part of it was what happened to our

youngest dog. He acted almost like he had heat stroke after being outside

for no more than 30 minutes, and later on that night, he peed in the bed

without ever waking up or even moving. We called poison control and bathed

him three times at 2:00 a.m. He seems back to normal now, but we're having

him checked at the vet today anyway. I've not been that scared for a while.

It's back to Frontline plus, but we have to wait a month, so it's a good thing

that they get the lymes vaccine to hold them over, just in case.

Lesson learned, at the expense of our poor little guy. Never again.

Mike

 

I hate to sound cynical, but if you go to the website for Vectra 3D, and look at the part that relates to "what others say", you'll see a lot of testimonials that mention how it enhances the profitability of the vet practice, and how they like the fact that it's only available through veterinarians. (The two are clearly linked). In fact there are almost exactly as many comments that relate to profitability (or exclusivity) as there are comments on its efficacy.

 

I appreciate the fact that vets have the same right as any of us to make a living. But I did feel that "profitability" played a role in explaining why my former vet was pushing it. My dog hated to have it applied, and they kept telling me that they'd never heard of such a thing, and pooh-poohing my descriptions of his behavior when I applied it. Fortunately my dog didn't have as bad a reaction as Mike's dog, but I won't be using Vectra again (at least as long as I can find an effective alternative).

[bc4ever]

I use revolution, but ticks aren't horrible here and I also brush Hannah very well just about every day.

I know I'm being paranoid, but I'm always concerned that the brushing might break off part of the tick, leaving part of it still on Scooter, which I know you're not supposed to do. And, how do you find the little suckers on a mostly black dog?! I worry every time I take Scooter out for a walk.

 

We've used Top Spot for five years now, with time off during the winter months to give his system a break. What I don't like is it leaves the white fur yellow and stiff where I apply it. It also seems to me that he's a little lethargic right after the application. Would this be considered a negative or dangerous reaction? I mentioned it to my vet and she didn't think that the two were connected. I have no problem giving him his heartworm meds, but am still conflicted about the flea/tick things. I just want to do what's best for him and there are so many products and opinions out there. Tough to know which way to go.

[Sue R]

We rarely find a tick on our dogs here but Dan is in a place right now where there are plenty of ticks. I put a Preventic collar on him before taking him there. When I visited last week, I could find a number of spots on his body where ticks had apparently attached for at least a short time, but found no ticks attached, dead or alive. So, I'm glad I put it on (thanks, Lisa, for the advice) and hope it's effective quickly enough to prevent disease transmission.