Ticks, any suggestions?
Just moved to a wooded house. Been there one day and took a tick off one dog yesterday and this morning found a tick embedded in our second dog(puppy). Looks like both were Lone Star ticks based on web pics. These are not known to carry lymes but can carry rockymtn spotted fever.
Anyone heard of problems w/ the lymes vaccine? Our breeder said not to use it because it caused brain damage or some neuro condition on one of her puppies. The vet says its safe but I'm wary.
We use frontline and the dogs have not been bathed since it was applied on 5/1.
Our yard is about 1/2 acre surrounded by dense woods and the dogs were walked on leashes so I know they have only been in the grassy yard. Grass is not overgrown.
Any suggestions on keeping my dogs safe or treating the yard? The yard is also above our well so I don't want to use any chemicals that could be a problem to the ground water obviously.
I use frontline on my dogs. ticks will bite them but fall off dead after a few hours. also have the lyme vaccines given to my dogs. I spray othro bug killer on my lawn. both dogs are healthy. my dogs and i haven't died from drinking our well water.
Frontline is NOT a repellent.
The Fipronil stays in your pets oil glands and kills fleas I believe in 6 or 12 hours of contact with their fur, and IIRC ticks are 24-48 hours.
The ticks still have a chance to bite your dogs, but they will die. I've pulled dead ticks off of our GSDs after taking them bushwacking through the nearby state park
As for the Lyme vaccine, both our GSDs have been on it since we got them (our male 5 years ago, female 2 years ago) and have shown no signs of side effects. The anti-vaccine crowd for dogs is full of the same nutjobs as the anti-vaccine crowd for humans.
As for insecticides, last year I treated our yard with one of the EcoSmart products from Home Depot, it hooks to the hose. I believe they make two products both claim to be effective against ticks/fleas, one is specifically for mosquitos and ticks. We didn't see a single tick and it cut down the gnats, mosquitoes, other annoying bugs. This year I haven't treated the yard yet, and I've already pulled a tick off of our female and the little gnats/flies are obnoxious. Neither dog saw any ill effect.
Thanks for explaining the frontline effects. I recall now that this was explained to me back a few years ago.
I'll talk to the vet about the vaccine, I'm almost wary cause it just seems like something else to sell me. Lymes seems like the easiest tickborne disease to identify/treat so I'm not that worried about it anyways.
To do list this weekend: spray the yard. Thanks for the tip about ortho & ecosmart.
I think they require a bit more land than 1/2 acre, but this was my first thought when i read the thread title:
Guinea Fowl for the Control of Lyme Carrying Ticks
Thats some out of the box thinking. I don't have enough open land for them though.
This ought to be a sticky. The "why doesn't Frontline" work question comes up at least once a month.
As Hellbound says, Frontline has no repellent component. But K9 Advantix II does. K9 Advantix, in addition to the usual flea/tick killer stuff, also contains Permethrin, which is a repellent. Switch to K9 Advantix, it works substantially better than Frontline.
Avon skin so soft. It's what I put on Rusty and myself when I take him out checking game cameras in the off season.
Never heard of using Avon for ticks, but I've used it for mosquitos. Dogs had a vet check yesterday and the vet gave us some frontline alternative, I beleive the name starts w/ a "V". It is a preventative unlike frontline.
I also ordered some permethrin treated cotton "tick tubes" that I"ll stick in my crawlspace, shed, and a rock pile on one edge of my yard, they are for traating mice on the property and supposed to help cut down overall tick population.
This weekend I plan to treat the yard w/ a pest spray, treat the dogs w/ their new med, and weedwack. Might lay tarps on the overgrown garden to kill it all, its overgrown and I beleive only tall weeds at this time.
Originally Posted By aa777888-2:
This ought to be a sticky. The "why doesn't Frontline" work question comes up at least once a month.
As Hellbound says, Frontline has no repellent component. But K9 Advantix II does. K9 Advantix, in addition to the usual flea/tick killer stuff, also contains Permethrin, which is a repellent. Switch to K9 Advantix, it works substantially better than Frontline.
That is why I use for my dog as well.
The new flea/tick stuff is called Vectra 3D, supposed to keep the ticks off completely. we'll see.
