I’m in NY. My vet is really serious about NexGard being the best option, particularly since we have cats. I haven’t used it through tick season yet but friends have had good experiences.
I’m from MD and we had a huge tick problem. A combination of Frontline or Advantix and a Preventic collar was the only thing that kept them in check. And still, I had to keep the dogs out of long grass or woodland edges.
Ticks are the only creature on earth I would happily eradicate off the face of the planet with no remorse. I am an organic slightly granola-ey type person but I will use chemicals when it comes to ticks. I’ve used front line plus in the past but I noticed it didn’t work that well. I am slightly skeptical of advantix. But preventic collars have worked well for me, and in addition I use a cedar based spray called Wondercide. One thing about preventic- if dog is constantly in the water or getting baths, it won’t work. Wondercide- some dogs can have allergic reactions to it. I spray it on every few days or so, and she smells like a cedar closet.
And I’m sure I will get berated for it, but I clip my corgi. Yes, a double coated dog. Yes, I know. I’ve done it for 9 years, no problem with hair growing back in winter. I know for some dogs that might not work. I don’t let her stay out too long in the heat of the day and risk heat stroke or sunburn, full coat or not. I also live right smack on the edge of the woods and on a farm that’s not great about mowing. The ticks are horrendous. And if I didn’t live here, she goes with me to my barn, and gets into even more ticks there. Using the preventic and wondercide and clipping, there’s a big difference with the number of ticks she carries in on her. Not very many attach, even if they don’t, I have a better chance of finding the bastards before they get on the couch.
I bought Seresto collars on the advice of my veterinarian but had to remove one from my pug mix after less than 24 hours. She became lethargic and didn’t want to eat. Since it was the only change in her routine I removed the collar and she was back to her normal self within a few hours. The other dogs have had no adverse reactions to the Seresto.
It will be back to a topical for the little puggie mix.
The only tick I had ever seen in 8-9 years living on the farm was on me. A little one. Several years ago. Until yesterday when I saw my first engorged one that was attached to our little dog just above one eye that I ended up cutting off because I didn’t have a clue what it was! I found one more engorged one and several little ones - about 7 or 8 in total. She has been on Sentinel up til now but now on the recommendations of others on this thread will be looking into different options for her. I ended up taking the clippers to her head to make sure I got all of them and clipped some patches on her coat as well so she looks rather “odd” now but wanted to make sure I could see and find all of them
You should be able to access this page - its my FB page where I posted some pictures and some wonderful friends offered some terrific suggestions on here as well …
[QUOTE=TrueColours;8654799]
You should be able to access this page - its my FB page where I posted some pictures and some wonderful friends offered some terrific suggestions on here as well …
Some, um, odd 
advice in the comments. It’s good to get in the habit of a nightly tick check in Spring and Summer. Your cute scruffy should love the finger massage. Remove any ticks by the head. That’s important. It’s preferable to get them off before they’ve been attached for 24hrs.
Yeah some very odd comments. It’s a tick. In the future pull it off so you don’t leave the head embedded
Yes…smothering and what-not isn’t the best way for tick removal. It’s more popular because the tick does back off, but based upon the genuine tick information sites that I’ve read it will cause them to possibly disgorge mouth contents as it backs out.
Tweezers and gently pulling the tick off is the recommended way. I do a daily tick check on my dogs, goats, sheep, horses and myself.
Yes - daily tick checks are very much now on the daily agenda for sure …
[QUOTE=TrueColours;8655147]
Yes - daily tick checks are very much now on the daily agenda for sure …[/QUOTE]
Found an Amazon Canada link to the Tick Key. Some friends swear by them and gave them to all their friends as a stocking stuffer this winter. Fortunately for me, I haven’t had occasion to test it -yet.
New England - SouthEast MA specifically here, supposedly very close to where Lymes was born (Lyme CT IIRC). We use every tick preventative known to man…Frontline, Advantix, Seresto collars, NexGard, will look into the Preventic and the Parastar, as I always love new weapons against these horrid little creatures.
One tip I received a few years back, which I absolutely love, is how to easily make a tick back out after they’ve bitten (I’ve always managed to catch them before they’ve engorged, if they do manage to get through my first lines of defense!). Take a Q-tip, dip in HOT water, and make tight circles around the tick’s head, fairly quickly (Think 3 or 4 circles per second), the ticks absolutely hate this and will back out of the skin. I’m sure it works on engorged ones as well.
Another tip for removing, if using one of the “tick keys” mentioned above, spin the key in gentle circles and the head is almost guaranteed to come out with the tick.
I agree - they are the creature I would most like to see eradicated from this planet. They serve absolutely no purpose as far as I have ever found while researching. Why hasn’t evolution knocked them outta here yet???
BRAVECTO. I call it the miracle pill. You will never see another tick again.
^^^ I was going to give it a try but then I thought I read about some bad side effects possible with it???
I am also going to get a Tick Key as well - the site I ordered the other products from didn’t have one
DO they work on the big engorged ones and the little ones equally as well?
Until frontline came along, all of our lawn chairs had bloodstains on the arms from Grandpa pulling ticks off of the dogs and squishing them with his thumbnail on the chair arms.
Frontline ruined his evening entertainment!
^^^ 
That is TOO funny!!! :lol:
[QUOTE=TrueColours;8656303]
^^^ I was going to give it a try but then I thought I read about some bad side effects possible with it???
I am also going to get a Tick Key as well - the site I ordered the other products from didn’t have one
DO they work on the big engorged ones and the little ones equally as well?[/QUOTE]
This is the second year I’ve used Bravecto and I’ve noticed no ill effects in the dogs that get it. The only side effect I’ve noticed is gassiness. I gave Sally Mae her pill a day before I took her in for spaying. I had to roll the windows down on the ride in.
I put the Seresto collar on my Sammy back in October. It says it works for 8 months, I was skeptical but haven’t ordered a new one yet since May is 7 months. I was pleasantly surprised when the tick I found on him Sunday (the only one in the entire time, and we hike almost every weekend) was dead.
I will be re-ordering the Seresto collar next week. It’s hard to beat 8 months of protection for $45 shipped on Amazon Prime.
EDIT: Just looked - the large dog Seresto collar is $41…guess I’ll be ordering sooner than next week!
[QUOTE=Bicoastal;8655325]
Found an Amazon Canada link to the Tick Key. Some friends swear by them and gave them to all their friends as a stocking stuffer this winter. Fortunately for me, I haven’t had occasion to test it -yet.[/QUOTE]
I have one, I’ve used it once but the one time I needed it, it worked perfectly and as described.
[QUOTE=o0rxkxrox0o;8669268]
I put the Seresto collar on my Sammy back in October. It says it works for 8 months, I was skeptical but haven’t ordered a new one yet since May is 7 months. I was pleasantly surprised when the tick I found on him Sunday (the only one in the entire time, and we hike almost every weekend) was dead.
I will be re-ordering the Seresto collar next week. It’s hard to beat 8 months of protection for $45 shipped on Amazon Prime.
EDIT: Just looked - the large dog Seresto collar is $41…guess I’ll be ordering sooner than next week![/QUOTE]
I’ve been using Frontline Plus on my Std poodle and so far so good (but I don’t take her places where I know ticks abound) - but a friend of mine recommended the Seresto collar. Is it safe for cats tho? My cat loves to sleep on the dog’s bed…
MTA - yes ticks and mosquitoes just should NOT EXIST.
Bravecto. It’s awesome stuff. Forget the Advantix and all those other over the counter medications. They just aren’t working that well anymore.
