Someone at the barn said they use show sheen on their horse’s legs and tail to keep the ticks off, and it was recommended by a vet that does a lot of back woods hiking - he sprays his pants with it to keep the ticks off.
I’m thinking a bottle of show sheen isn’t too expensive to try the experiment on myself and my horse. I wonder if it would be safe to use on the dog as well…
Dogs lick themselves. Do you want your dog eating silicone hair products?
Not really, but I don’t want her bit by disease carrying ticks either. Pick your poison?
Choose one of many tick repellants formulated for dogs.
On the other hand I see that folks groom dogs using the same range of silicon products so presumably nontoxic.
http://www.animalbehaviorcollege.com/PawPrints/paw-prints.asp?ArticleID=205
I have to say show sheen is not cheaper per ounce than insect repellent.
I am all for creative ideas but I can not picture how Show Sheen would work as a tick repellent unless the horse was soaked in it.
I had a horse with white legs, I have put lots of show sheen on legs (to keep those whites clean). They never seemed slippery enough to make a bug not land there. The flies had no problem, I still had to use fly spray.
I think it just makes things to slippery for the ticks to climb, mmmmaaayyyybee the smell is offensive to them. I basically hate showsheen always have even as a kid I was like “ummm I swear this is making dirt stick even more??? and my pony’s coat looks duller” and OMG the slippage if you got any near the girth or saddle area. Guess even before the days of feedxl and more feed formulations than can be counted she had proper nutrition and good genes.
There’s tons of tick repellents specifically for dogs. Depending on your location, the dog should probably be on a flea/tick preventative anyway. (But no, the ShowSheen won’t hurt your dog, I spray mine down every now and then after a bath, makes them super soft and nice feeling.)
WRT ShowSheen … I’d think MTG was a better “solution,” the oilyness and sulfur will do more to deter bugs. Of course, some horses react to daily MTG. I want to say some of the higher-end fly sprays work against ticks, too.
You could also try EquiSpot or something.
I doubt SS is that much cheaper or more effective than these other things.
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