Cat safe tick repellent

[Shiaway]

My dogs are on nextgard which only kills ticks once they have bitten and doesn’t repell.

I came back from a ride with my dog and must have pulled off well over 50 ticks and I think that is an underestimation. I’m really tired of it and my dogs have gotten anaplasmosis before.

The problem is I have cats who lay all over the small dog and even groom her so that means all the topical treatmens are a no go.

I’ve tried the sorresto collar but she managed to get it off somehow and chew it up twice. Anyway I sleep with her and don’t like the feel of those things.

So I’m wondering if there is even a mild type of repellent I could wipe on her when going for a walk and then wash off when we got home?

Does anybody know of anything like that? It would have to be easily washed off or maybe something that is cat safe even if that’s means it’s less effective. I’d still keep them on the nextgard but just use this to hopefully avoid having to pick off hundreds of ticks or find the dead ones on my bed.

[trubandloki]

I am no help. We tried several things and nothing worked until we went to the darn Sorresto collar.

[Simkie]

I also use the soresto collar.

[frugalannie]

Another Seresto user for my dogs and barn cats (no house cats here). I even take the cut off ends from too long collars and wire them to my horses’ halters on the bottom of the cheek piece to keep ticks from under their jaws. It works! I’m trying to figure out how to attach that little bit to tails without causing bucking

I heard of someone who cleverly modified her Seresto collar with Velcro so it would be easy on and off when her dogs wanted to go swimming. Maybe something like that would work for you?

[Simkie]

@frugalannie

I’m trying to figure out how to attach that little bit to tails without causing bucking

I have insecticide ear tags in my horses tails with no problems. I banded hair underneath, in the middle, just past the end of the tail bone, and then loosely zip tied the tag above the band. Works great, doubt they even notice.

@frugalannie

I heard of someone who cleverly modified her Seresto collar with Velcro so it would be easy on and off when her dogs wanted to go swimming.

IIRC swimming dogs (or bathing them) is addressed in the package insert, and that really reduces the efficacy of the collar?

I also use seresto for my barn cat, but don’t trust the break away nature of it AT ALL–they stiffen up so much over the course of the summer! So I glue his soresto inside his break away collar instead. Works great, and I don’t worry he’s going to get hung up.

[frugalannie]

Brilliant on both counts!

[trubandloki]

@Simkie

I also use seresto for my barn cat, but don’t trust the break away nature of it AT ALL–they stiffen up so much over the course of the summer! So I glue his soresto inside his break away collar instead. Works great, and I don’t worry he’s going to get hung up.

I like this idea.

I will say that our outdoor barn cat showed up one day without his Seresto collar on. No idea what happened to it. It certainly was not loose enough that he could have slid it off. Don’t know if it broke or someone (can not imagine anyone but… ) took it off him.

[Shiaway]

I honestly can’t use a sorresto collar. I bought her one and she got it off somehow and chewed it up to pieces. So I bought her another one and same thing. I don’t have that kind of money to throw away. Plus I don’t know how she gets them off and if she could end up killing herself in the process.

Any other ideas? Again I’m ok if it is only semi effective as she is on nextgard. I just would like to decrease the number of ticks on her after walks.

As for putting the sorresto collar on just for the walks… I was under the impression it has to stay on a minimum of 24 hours before it’s effective? If I’m wrong about that I could try that route.

[Simkie]

@Shiaway

As for putting the sorresto collar on just for the walks… I was under the impression it has to stay on a minimum of 24 hours before it’s effective? If I’m wrong about that I could try that route.

No, that won’t work.

It looks like bravecto says it treats ticks. Try that? (I’ve never used it, no feedback there.) They have to bite before it will kill them.

If your dog is getting out of the seresto collar, it’s really probably on too loose? You could try it one more time and make sure it’s truly snug. Or just glue it inside a regular collar, like I do with the cat. If your dog leaves a collar on at all, she can wear a seresto.

[Sandysmom]

Bravecto works good for ticks. Lasts for 8 weeks.

[Shiaway]

Thanks again for the suggestion s. She doesn’t wear a collar except for walks. I’m very resistant to the idea of leaving collars on even break away ones. It’s possible I had it on too loose. I thought it was fairly snug but she has a sort of whippet shaped head. I always have to use the martingale type collars for walks or she’ll slip out if them. She’s also a very smart dog.

I’ll ask my vet about bravecto if it works any differently than the nextgard.aybe better at repelling.

Although when my big dog wore the sorresto collar for a year I found a full blown up tick on her and it wasn’t past the time limit. So that’s also why I went back to nextgard even with the big dog who did ok wearing the collar. Maybe just bad luck. I live in the tick capital on america so that doesn’t help.

[4horses]

There’s a park near me with terrible ticks. They finally started spraying the trails for ticks. Perhaps instead of pulling ticks off your dog, you should get a sprayer and some permethrin and spray the trails?

I think I pulled 50 ticks off my horse after one ride. I still have tick bites on my back from before they sprayed. It was baad.

I don’t know what they sprayed the trails with but it is so much better!

If this was somewhere I walked on a weekly basis, I would just go spray - not even ask for permission… It is a health risk to pick up that many ticks.

[Simkie]

@4horses

Perhaps instead of pulling ticks off your dog, you should get a sprayer and some permethrin and spray the trails?

Oh god, please don’t do that. Pyrethroids kill ALL bugs. Including the good ones We have such a problem with pollinator death, please don’t contribute to it in this way.

[Shiaway]

I was actually thinking there might be something like permethrin(sp?) that I could wipe on my dog’s legs and neck/head where she usually gets them. But I’d worry that I wouldn’t be able to get it completely off without giving her a full bath which would defeat the purpose… and then my cats would get sick.

Don’t worry I won’t be spraying the trails. I’d have to spend a life time doing it anyway LOL. We go on a lot of them.

I think someone once told me there was some essential oil that was repellent to ticks (again I don’t need it to be 100% effective since she’s on nextgard and I’ll still check her over when we get home) but then I think cats are often sensitive to essential oils as well ?!?

[SusanO]

Do they make Revolution Plus for dogs and if so - is it the same formulation as for cats? I have been using that for my cats and I have not seen any ticks on them and I know I have ticks out there. Because they keep getting on me! I don’t know if it repels or kills after exposure.