NFT: Dog Owners: Deer Tick and Lyme Disease Info.

I have a Sheltie too. Amazing dogs.

he gets quite a few ticks because i live basically on a mountain with a ton of woods and ton of deer. In my backyard basically every night are a few deer.

I don't do much beyond check him every night and get the shot.

I did buy something called the tick twister that makes it much easier to remove the ticks
link - ( New Window )

I use frontline plus. I think our dog takes it monthly and it's supposed to protect from fleas and ticks.

It's worked perfectly for fleas. She is flea-less as far as we can tell. Unless a tick was on her stomach I'd never know since she has black fur, so hopefully it works, I assume it does.

and I too live in a semi-rural area. tons of wildlife, but I haven't seen any ticks on the dog.

A top spot preventative is the most effective. We use Frontline Plus.

in october of 2015 I would get a flea and tick collar that he would wear for like 6 months and then i'd replace it with a new one. I never found ticks on him, but he was not nearly as easy to find them on as my other dog because his hair would get very long and he did not like anyone touching him by the ears. He never got the shot and never seemed to have a problem and lived to 15 years old.

His brother, like him, would always rub the frontline stuff off immediately. So I gave up basically. My other dog hates having collars of any sort on too so i didnt get the flea tick collar for him and just use the lyme vaccine every year and check him nightly, he lets me do whatever i want and his hair is very short always so i can find them rather easily.

When I started getting the vaccine for my younger dog the vet said he didn't recommend it for my older dog, not sure why, I should have asked, so it's probably not recommended for all dogs.

I think he got one shot, then a booser 2-3 weeks later, then he gets a shot once a year since then for lyme disease

In comment 13371518 Jim in Fairfax said:

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A top spot preventative is the most effective. We use Frontline Plus.

Like hell there isn't.

and a few off my kids and myself (including one off my balls I shit you not)

so far we are all lymes disease free, its not as common as they make you think.

Still, you should use frontline or similar product. It wont prevent ticks but kills them when they attach.

In comment 13371512 robbieballs2003 said:

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I have a Sheltie too. Amazing dogs.

Ugh, I just pulled another tick off her. It was walking on her head!

Thanks Robbie, we're excited to have her.

Thanks for all the information everyone. I had Lyme disease many years ago and we are used to pulling ticks off ourselves also (Although not in the freaking winter), but it seems like there are a lot of them out there and it is still only February.

Although I heard about a lot of people losing their dogs from using frontline.

If it is occasional where you take your dog to certwin areas then you can use some essential pils which deter fleas and ticks because they hate the smell of it. You can put some on a handkerchief or dilute in another oil like coconut oil and put it on the back of their neck.

I heard about the collars but have no experie ce with them. I read reviews and they were all over the place.

..

Essential oils

In comment 13371519 MookGiants said:

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in october of 2015 I would get a flea and tick collar that he would wear for like 6 months and then i'd replace it with a new one. I never found ticks on him, but he was not nearly as easy to find them on as my other dog because his hair would get very long and he did not like anyone touching him by the ears. He never got the shot and never seemed to have a problem and lived to 15 years old. His brother, like him, would always rub the frontline stuff off immediately. So I gave up basically. My other dog hates having collars of any sort on too so i didnt get the flea tick collar for him and just use the lyme vaccine every year and check him nightly, he lets me do whatever i want and his hair is very short always so i can find them rather easily. When I started getting the vaccine for my younger dog the vet said he didn't recommend it for my older dog, not sure why, I should have asked, so it's probably not recommended for all dogs. I think he got one shot, then a booser 2-3 weeks later, then he gets a shot once a year since then for lyme disease

Frontline Plus is a pill my dog takes monthly, not a substance. Is there a substance too? The pill seems to work great my plus dog likes to eat it unlike some pills you try and give to a dog.

shoulder blades.

of Frontline on dogs for your information.
https://www.vetinfo.com/side-effects-fipronil-frontline-dogs.html - ( New Window )

In comment 13371526 robbieballs2003 said:

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Although I heard about a lot of people losing their dogs from using frontline. If it is occasional where you take your dog to certwin areas then you can use some essential pils which deter fleas and ticks because they hate the smell of it. You can put some on a handkerchief or dilute in another oil like coconut oil and put it on the back of their neck. I heard about the collars but have no experie ce with them. I read reviews and they were all over the place.

It is an everyday thing. We have a lot of wooded, open property. Lots of deer around, among others critters (How to get rid of the fucking flying squirrels in my attic will be my next thread!)

Thanks guys. I will ask the Vet about all these things you have mentioned.

And my parents have a house on Fire Island. I am extremely hesitant to bring my dog over there because it is infested with ticks because of the abundance of deer over there. So, I totally understand.

I had a bat in my house about 6 months ago. That was hysterical. I looked like Chris Farley in Black Sheep. No joke. I had the pots and blanket. Lol. I finally got that fucker out.

In comment 13371535 robbieballs2003 said:

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of Frontline on dogs for your information. https://www.vetinfo.com/side-effects-fipronil-frontline-dogs.html - ( New Window )

I don't use the topical, I use the pill (frontline plus). Would be interested to see if the same exists for the pill, it's probably also an insecticide, but it's not applied like the substance/ointment.

My dog has been using it for 3 years with no fleas/ticks and no side effects. Probably best to check with your vet.

and is toxic to ticks when they bite, they die and fall off. In upper Westchester the bests solution is to keep you dog out of the shrubs as much as possible. With the mild winter the ticks are out in full force this year.

At times I would put a tee shirt over my dog this way I would only have to check his paws and neck area.

Always check the dog for ticks when he comes in from outside. They can fall off onto your rug, couch, or bed.

In a few weeks if your dog seems sluggish, get him to the vet. Ticks can bite, fill up and fall off without anyone noticing.

Good Luck,

.

In comment 13371529 pjcas18 said:

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Frontline Plus is a pill my dog takes monthly, not a substance. Is there a substance too? The pill seems to work great my plus dog likes to eat it unlike some pills you try and give to a dog.

Frontline Plus is not a pill -- it's available as a topical treatment only. The company that makes it, Merial, also makes a oral pill treatment called NexGard. Perhaps that's what you're using?

In comment 13371545 Jim in Fairfax said:

Quote:

In comment 13371529 pjcas18 said: Quote: Frontline Plus is a pill my dog takes monthly, not a substance. Is there a substance too? The pill seems to work great my plus dog likes to eat it unlike some pills you try and give to a dog. Frontline Plus is not a pill -- it's available as a topical treatment only. The company that makes it, Merial, also makes a oral pill treatment called NexGard. Perhaps that's what you're using?

Yes sorry it's called NexGard, same manufacturer as Frontline but a pill.

It's a liquid we apply between the shoulder blades. Has been very effective.

In comment 13371566 steve in ky said:

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It's a liquid we apply between the shoulder blades. Has been very effective.

Interceptor is a heartworm pill. The topical you're using is something else - Frontline, K9 Advantix or similar.

just got a pup last month and have a beach house out on the north fork where there's tons of deer (and naturally deer ticks).

From speaking with our vet, the best approach was the lyme vaccine, Nexgard monthly pill and Preventic collar. The collar might be overkill, but I want to be sure to keep ticks as far away from him as possible if only to keep them far from us as well.

I've been spraying the property with peremethrin since we bought it, and keeping the lawn very short. We've never had a problem (knock wood), but I know our dog is going to be a bigger target.

bad allergic reaction to the collar - no issues re: frontline or other pills.

friend's dog got very sick from deer tick.

tested positive for the antibodies for lyme disease and had heart worm

We get the lyme vaccine yearly and give her the oral flea / tick pill. Liquid type applied to the skin is cheaper, but a messy PITA

I figure if she survived the heart worm, Frontline isn't going to kill her

If you live in a semi to rural area your dog will get ticks. Get him the shot every season, it's the only efficient solution.

In comment 13371621 bc4life said:

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bad allergic reaction to the collar - no issues re: frontline or other pills. friend's dog got very sick from deer tick.

Do you happen to know which collar made him sick? I've been researching this one pretty heavily for awhile. From everything I can find the Nexgard preventatives are more for fleas than anything else. The Preventic collars are supposed to be the ones (along with Soresto) that are focused mainly on the ticks, and the Preventics seem to have fewer mentions of reactions in the reviews I've seen online. Only downside to it compared to Soresto is that it can't be worn while swimming/bathing.

...use orals or skin topicals(not messy unless you're uncoordinated).

In comment 13371695 Torrag said:

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...use orals or skin topicals(not messy unless you're uncoordinated).

What's the reasoning behind that? Everything I've read says that the collars are more effective because they're slow, continuous release of medication and application by hand can be uneven. The only downside I've been able to tell on the collars is cost.

Including you and your kids, etc. I prefer orals, no exposure risk to anyone, anything involved.

In comment 13371699 jcn56 said:

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What's the reasoning behind that? Everything I've read says that the collars are more effective because they're slow, continuous release of medication and application by hand can be uneven. The only downside I've been able to tell on the collars is cost.

I think you may be misunderstanding how the topicals work. You don't spread them all over the dog. You apply them to one spot -- between the front shoulder blades (where the dog can't lick at it). It's a pretty simple procedure.

Has warned that you don't want to get the topical solutions on your hands. I'm guessing it is the same with the collars.

We live in a rural area and walk our dog in our hayfield. I have only seem one tick on our dogs in 20 plus years here. Neither my wife of I have ever discovered a tick on ourselves, in spite of spending much time outdoors.

My son, however, seems like a tick magnet. He's picked up numerous ones when visiting. As a firefighter, he would come back from brush-fires with many ticks.

In comment 13371705 Torrag said:

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Including you and your kids, etc. I prefer orals, no exposure risk to anyone, anything involved.

Yeah, and I hate exposing the dog to another chemical (I've already got him on Nexgard), but the vet was concerned that the oral alone wouldn't do the trick on ticks. From what I've read, reviews are mixed on it - really good for fleas, not as effective on ticks.

This shit is so toxic for people and their kids but have no issues using it on their pets.

In comment 13371514 MookGiants said:

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he gets quite a few ticks because i live basically on a mountain with a ton of woods and ton of deer. In my backyard basically every night are a few deer.

Mook- sounds like some good eating right there!

I will have to dig that info up. I moved out of the area and have a different vet.

In comment 13371720 robbieballs2003 said:

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This shit is so toxic for people and their kids but have no issues using it on their pets.

If it's safe for pets and vet recommended, why not? My vet is a buddy of mine from my hockey team so I trust him. He's not trying to sell a prescription to Nexguard.

Also comparing dogs and people isn't a valid comparison, for example my dog eats her own shit and while I'm not thrilled with it, the vet says it's normal, I wouldn't let my kids do that.

In comment 13371782 pjcas18 said:

Quote:

In comment 13371720 robbieballs2003 said: Quote: This shit is so toxic for people and their kids but have no issues using it on their pets. If it's safe for pets and vet recommended, why not? My vet is a buddy of mine from my hockey team so I trust him. He's not trying to sell a prescription to Nexguard. Also comparing dogs and people isn't a valid comparison, for example my dog eats her own shit and while I'm not thrilled with it, the vet says it's normal, I wouldn't let my kids do that.

Wait, kids are not supposed to eat that? :)

Thanks again for all your responses and good info. We will be seeing the Vet later this week and I will report back what they have to say about current treatments, vaccines, etc.