Tick season blues - Page 1

Has anyone ever seen a convincing review of the efficacy of natural tick remedies. Lots of people making claims but nothing that's made a believer of me so far.

Thanks,

Koach

Not really in particular. I have known a few people who used a combination of natural things with good success, but not one thing alone. Among them, essential oils on a bandanna they wear when out in tick areas and garlic in meals. But I think a lot of the tick debacle is dependent on your geography.

Koach,

This time of year when the tiny eggs are hatching and the nymphs are coming out, I can tell you from first hand experience, you don't want to be the leader in a group walking along a brushy trail. This would be advice for the four legged one's, too. The movement and your breath, even, are triggers for their leaping. I had a head full of the nasty critters years back, with my uncovered hair and head exposed while leading a group walking the trail. No one else had become so utterly infested. Covering yourself is the best natural defense there is, and learning their lifecycle to make best decisions to avoid becoming a host. And then of course, a thorough tick check at the end of the day.

Ticks find their hosts by detecting animals´ breath and body odors, or by sensing body heat, moisture, and vibrations. Some species can even recognize a shadow. In addition, ticks pick a place to wait by identifying well-used paths. Then they wait for a host, resting on the tips of grasses and shrubs. Ticks can't fly or jump, but many tick species wait in a position known as "questing".

While questing, ticks hold onto leaves and grass by their third and fourth pair of legs. They hold the first pair of legs outstretched, waiting to climb on to the host. When a host brushes the spot where a tick is waiting, it quickly climbs aboard. Some ticks will attach quickly and others will wander, looking for places like the ear, or other areas where the skin is thinner.

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/life_cycle_and_hosts.html

Thanks Jenn,

Deer ticks are recent here (last few years) but most sent to the lab come back Lyme positive so one positive tick on a human is one too many. Three years ago local vet had few dogs with signs of LD, last year same vet had more than 30 positives,

I know that you are pretty much up to date on these things and was wondering if you knew which of the chemical applications is least harmful to the dog.

TX,

K.

Koach I dont know about natural but we are in the wooded areas and grassy parks up to 7 times a week and I have literally seen only 2 ticks on my dog in almost 32 months. I use a combo of sentinel spectrum and nexgard .
2 ticks in 900 plus days.

On a warm day like today, go out as the leader in a group in very brushy areas that haven't been sprayed with pesticides. Let me know what happens. You have to know that the worst season for the voracious hungry newborn ticks, is now. But you are a city, guy, then, aren't you?

Topicals still are safer than the orals, if they work. If I had to (we have deer ticks too but not as many positive for Lyme- I just test them if I find them engorged at all but most I catch with a lint roller when they come in) I would use the Preventic collar if Frontline or K9 Advantix did not work. While those are all problematic neurotoxins, they don't seem to cause the number of deaths the Nexgard and Bravecto-type products are causing, AND more importantly, at least these are older, studied substances. They're not good, but at least we know what they are. Nexgard and Bravecto are so new we have no idea what they do longterm. I just recently (like a week ago) did some research on this very question. I would much rather have something kill the tick on the dog than have the tick die later from feeding on the dog whose blood has now been made poisonous for that purpose. Keep in mind, Nexgard takes up to 48 hours to kill all ticks- in that time, a tick could have infected the dog. In that sense, I feel Frontline, Preventic, Advantix, etc. are safer bets, too. Can't hurt to feed some garlic, use a topical, AND a bandanna with good repellent oils to avoid having to step up the poisons. JMO.

As I have breeding dogs that I am not going to use that stuff on, I make good use of a lab testing the offender for me and telling me if I need to act prophylactically. Worked for me so far.

Thought this was a pretty good article on ticks/Lyme:  http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2017/04/05/canine-lyme-disease-prevention-tips.aspx?utm_source=petsnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20170405Z1&et_cid=DM138711&et_rid=1954073739

 

There is some good advice for non tick prevalent areas in that article. I would be more proactive in the known hot beds, because then those statistics and consquences don't add up and especially when the results of ignoring them become quite obvious and much too common.

Thanks for all your answers so far.

There exists a LD vaccine for dogs but not sure I want to go that route as there are conflicting views on it's benefits vs it's hazards however if there was a relatively safe vaccine for humans I would use it. LD, from what I have been told, is quite a debilitating disease and rare are those who manage to go through it without some kind of permanent sequel.

K.