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I just moved to a tick-infested land...HELP! How to keep them off my dog?

The Menagerie
#19

I have a small flock of Guinea hens. (actually I have boys) They not only keep my area tick free but have substantially reduced the fly population by going through the manure!

They won’t give you eggs, but they can fly short distances so I have lost very few to the local Coyote population unless the birds have gotten old. My current birds are 8 years old and still lively.

I haven’t found but one tick on any of my four dogs this year. I haven’t found a single one on any of the 30 horses on the place!

I swear by them! :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#20

Another vote for the guineas, they do an excellent job of getting rid of ticks.

#21

I love the suggestions for Guinea hens and InsectShield dog clothing. I like that the guineas can fly - there are coyotes in the neighborhood, for sure.

#22

[QUOTE=walknsound;6395022]
Another vote for the guineas, they do an excellent job of getting rid of ticks.[/QUOTE]

I love the idea of guinea hens, but my one and only encounter with them in person left me less than enamored – they were so NOISY. Way noisier than chickens (I don’t mind chickens or roosters). Is that typical of them or are there certain varieties that aren’t so… annoying?

#23

[QUOTE=paintsrgreat;6394992]
I have a small flock of Guinea hens. (actually I have boys) They not only keep my area tick free but have substantially reduced the fly population by going through the manure!

They won’t give you eggs, but they can fly short distances so I have lost very few to the local Coyote population unless the birds have gotten old. My current birds are 8 years old and still lively.

I haven’t found but one tick on any of my four dogs this year. I haven’t found a single one on any of the 30 horses on the place!

I swear by them! :)[/QUOTE]

Absolutely. Four years ago I had a hideous tick problem. Found them on the dogs, crawling all over the house, up the walls. Its was disgusting. DISGUSTING. I got 4 keets, grew them up…I got them young so they would know my property was their home. Ever since then, not a SINGLE tick…not one!

1 Like
#24

Yes, if you have a mixed flock of birds they can be noisy. I only get boys, I can get them in the fall when they are already big enough to turn loose.

We haven’t found them to be noisy except when they are stressed (Coyotes). Sometimes they get on the roof of the indoor (metal roof) and the horses spook a little but my horses seem to have gotten used to them.

#25

[QUOTE=witherbee;6387572]
Get thee some chickens or a rooster. We have one rooster and he keeps our whole yard tick free. My poor Corgi used to be loaded with them, but no more. Wish my rooster took care of the fleas![/QUOTE]

Would you believe just yesterday I found a tick next to my hen’s eye?! A tiny one; good thing I have an O’Tom!

#26

Reviving an old thread.
Anyone use the Vet’s Best brand for tick and flea control? I will want to spray my yard when I move in and want to know if this brand works or if there’s another that you like. It’s a natural which is one of things I like but want to know if it’s effective. I ordered prescription Advantico Trio and Heartguard from Chewy, are there any others I should give my pooch to ease her transition to a new part of the country?

1 Like
#27

I’ve never tried the yard spray.

I do use the Vet’s Best spray for use on dogs on my dogs before we go on walks. It does greatly decrease the number of ticks we find on them, and I continue to use it for that reason, but it’s not 100% effective, in my experience.

I am not familiar with Advantico Trio. Heartguard is a good product for heartworm.

Personally, I use Advantage Multi as a heartworm preventative because I have one dog who has drug resistant hookworms (and one who had them before we FINALLY killed them). And then I use NexGuard for tick control.

A very good habit to adopt is to check your dog for ticks whenever he’s been in an area where you know it’s likely he’ll pick them up. I always check our dogs after walks in the woods. Even with the NexGuard and the Vet’s Best Spray, I usually pick off at least 2-3 ticks. Thankfully, my dogs have short hair so it’s not that hard to see them. They rarely have attached but are crawling around.

#28

I scrolled most of the way through this thread wondering where Seresto was before realizing how old it was. Predates Seresto?

I have Seresto collars on my dog and barn cat. I find it very effective for both. I would never, ever spray the yard. There’s nothing out there that’s selective to JUST fleas and ticks. There are a LOT of other important bugs. Keep it mowed, border it with a width of rock or sand or stone dust.

3 Likes
#29

I am in North Central PA and I have two dogs. One is a tick magnet, the other is not. We have deer ticks.

Both get Nexgard all year due to false springs and the possiblities of a warm winter. Our first year here we were still tackling the understory/weeds/brush. And the magnet dog, would be covered in ticks.

Since we have managed to wrangle the property and get rid of the overgrowth, the ticks are not so much a problem.

I have deer that come on to the property and plenty of chippers, squirrels, fox, raccoons, etc to drop off ticks.

I also removed most of the Barberry bushes. They are a Japanese bush that apparently attracts ticks. We would walk by a Barberry bush with magnet dog and he would be covered. They are invasive and there is now a ban to sell them in PA. I would love to have Guineas.

2 Likes
#30

My vets swear by Seresto collars.

#31

Found this online regarding Seresto collars, just released yesterday.

#32

I posted this in response to a similar article about Seresto that was shared here:

I don’t doubt that there are rare problems with real, actual seresto collars. These are pesticides we’re putting on our animals, and there are risks.

Those risks apply to all of the flea and tick stuff, though.

But (using the numbers from the linked article) 2500 deaths & 100000 incidents, across 34 MILLION collars? Even if those are all actually attributable to bonafide seresto collars, which they are not, that’s an incredible safety profile.

0.007% risk of death

0.29% risk of “incident” which is reported to be mainly skin irritation

Given how counterfeit product and reporting issues are inflating those numbers, I’m very confident in using seresto, and feel very comfortable with the very reasonable risk profile.

Here’s that thread:

#33

This.

The risk of tick borne illness is very high in my area and I literally pick ticks off my dogs every night. They run through heavy, tall grass daily, but even my SO”s dog who lives in a condo and is rarely off pavement has had 3 ticks on him this year.

I’m very active in my breed and know hundreds of owners of multiple dogs wearing Seresto without incident. It’s the best option out there.

Everything is risk v benefit but for ticks I’ll take my chances with Seresto. If a tick bites then it will be dead pretty quickly.

1 Like
#34

I no longer have dogs, but I have heard good things about Vestra 3D.

#35

Man, no kidding. I feel like people forget, or never realize, that flea and tick stuff is toxic. That’s the point. “The dose makes the poison” and for the majority of pets with real actual EPA or FDA approved products, risk is minimal. But there will always be animals that don’t tolerate or react poorly, just like with any other drug.

I feel like Seresto, with it’s low, consistent basal dose, is a better choice for putting pesticide on my dog and cat over a monthly topical bolus application of pesticide, or a systemic oral pesticide. I’m not really a fan of collars in general, but that’s a compromise I’ll make because this does seem like the lowest overall exposure that is still effective.

If not treating them was an option, I’d certainly do that. But like you, it’s just crazy talk to skip. This year has just been especially bad…we saw some ticks in Feb, and I got a collar on the dog. But not soon enough, because she still picked up anaplasmosis. Sigh.

#36

Many years ago, I had a great vet who has now retired give me the medical explanation of why tick repellents work on ticks/fleas, but not on dogs. I can’t really give the explanation but it had to do with interfering at the chemical level of nerve receptors, and essentially did something like fill a receptor with something that “fit” into that spot and therefore the real chemical couldn’t fill the space. So it caused ticks to become paralyzed and die, for example. But because dogs/cats have different body chemicals, it didn’t have the same effect on them - the chemicals in the tick preventative can’t fill the chemical receptors for dogs in the same way.

Not to say that there are no ways that animals can be harmed by them, but his explanation made me feel much better about the idea of using a “poison” on the dog. It was far more toxic to fleas and ticks than to mammals because of the differences in their makeup.

But I try to remember this when using it – it’s designed to target specific types of species – it’s not just a general poison and we just hope for the best.

1 Like
#37

Sort of. Pyrethrins/permethrins for example. They screw with the sodium channel in neurons. Insects are far more sensitive–but it’s still toxic to people and pets with sufficient dosage, as we all have those sodium channels, too. Some people and pets are going to be more sensitive to it. Given that it’s a neurotoxin, overdose is pretty ugly.

So, as you say–far more toxic to insects than mammals. But not non-toxic to us or our pets, either.

For the vast majority, the “proper” dose is fine. But some are going to be more sensitive, for whatever reason, and suffer adverse effects. Kind of like how certain breeds can’t tolerate ivermectins.

Oh, here’s an interesting paper about just this:

#38

I realize I am a little late to join this thread but after scrolling through I have not seen any mention of Bravecto… I have been using it on my dogs for several years now and no longer find any ticks or flees on them. I give a pill every three months and have not seen any adverse side effects.

1 Like

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