Help Your Dog Stay Tick Free
Tick season, yuck! While I do love my home in New England, I have to say I’m not overly fond of the long winter, except for the fact that we get to spend that time tick free. So, every March we start planning on how we will protect our Dogs (and ourselves) from the tick infestation that now happens every year. This is not just because they are gross and creepy, but ticks carry and spread harmful bacteria that may cause Lyme Disease or Rocky Mountain Fever, just to name a couple. The trick is to find the solution that works the best for you and your Dog.
Avoid Ticks
There is the basic prevention of avoiding where ticks like to reside. Unfortunately for us and where we live that’s basically everywhere. Ticks tend to like damp, shady places. Avoid tall grass and you know those leaves you forgot to pick up last fall, well there is probably a rather large tick community there as well. If you like to hike with your fur babies, you can try to keep them on wide open trails and out of the woods.
Topicals
These are usually applied directly to the skin between the dog’s shoulder blades. Some examples are Frontline or Advantix and usually they prevent fleas as well as ticks from invading your dog. If you have children, then topicals might be tricky because you will need to make sure they don’t touch or rub their faces on the treated spot. Topicals usually need to be reapplied monthly. The way most topicals work is that they kill ticks when they come in contact with your dog. Therefore, lower the chance for the dog to become infected. Do not use topicals on puppies without explicit permission from your vet.
Collars
Flea and tick collars can be used as well. It is necessary for them to touch your pets’ skin for them to work properly, but make sure you can fit two fingers between the collar and their neck so they are not uncomfortable nor do they choke. The Seresto collar is a popular brand and does work well for tick prevention. I had to stop using them because it aggravated the skin around Zion’s (one of my Berner’s) neck where the collar touched. It didn’t aggravate Jeremiah (my other Berner) which was surprising because he has skin allergies, but I stopped using it for him because my sister’s Berner liked to drag him around by the collar so it would come off. I also didn’t want to risk her becoming sick from the collar. But when we were using them they seemed more effective than even the topicals and the collars didn’t seem to leave any residue on our skin.
Baths or Dips
Pyrethrin Dips or Flea & Tick Shampoo are another method, but the results are short term, on average about 10 days. So, it depends on how often you are able or want to bathe your dog. Dips usually use Pyrethrin which is a pesticide found in some Chrysanthemum plants. While toxic if ingested, it is not as toxic with skin contact. Tick Shampoos use a variety of ingredients to protect your dog from ticks, some natural and some chemical. You will have a variety to choose from to find what works for you.
Pills or Chews
Monthly pills or chews such as Nexguard seem to be the most popular choice. As long as your dog will eat the pill or chew it is less messy than topicals, particularly if you have children and you are worried about them coming into contact with the topical treatments or medicated collars. If you are worried you won’t remember each month Bravecto has a new chew that is active up to 3 months. The difference with this treatment choice is the bugs die after they bite your dog. Now this should still help prevent the spread of harmful bacteria, but if your dog has an allergic reaction to bites, which one of my Berners does, then it doesn’t protect them from that.
Sprays
Sprays are similar to shampoos. There are a lot of options to choose from. With sprays you pretty much have to use them the same way you use bug spray. If you’re going outside in an area that has bugs, spray your pup down, making sure to avoid spraying their facial area. If you live in an area that doesn’t really have ticks and your dog isn’t going to a sitters or visiting with other pets, then a spray would work for the occasional outing as prevention.
Home Remedies
If you are worried about the ingredients in the Tick prevention treatments or if your Dog has certain medical conditions that make it impossible to use these treatments, you can always try some natural home remedies. Remember the same rules follow for your dog that do for you, test on a small patch of skin first to make sure they don’t have an allergic reaction, or it doesn’t aggravate their skin.
On that Note, we are currently using a trio of preventions on our Bernese Mountain Dogs, after a lot of trial and error with what worked best for them. We now use Only Natural Pets Tick Tags and Only Natural Pet’s Herbal Blend Essential Oils, which you rub into their fur. The only thing with these products is that they work best as a preventative. Meaning start using the oils and the tag before your pet gets infested with ticks or fleas.
Remember some of these treatment options contain chemicals that may have adverse reactions with your fur baby. I always recommend doing a little research on your own before talking to your vet, so that you know specifically what to ask them in reference to your pet. Our dogs are like people, what may work for one may not work for the other dog.
Until Next Time,
B&B
