Pets bringing ticks into the House

Serrepeptor (?) is an excellent collar you can get from the vet. I think it not only repels, but kills ticks and fleas.

Most dogs seem to tolerate it pretty well, but my Chronic Lymie dog got sick from it.

So maybe it's not so excellent after all, huh?

Margaret

Before my mini-vacation, I went online to find a healthy tick repellent...and the one I used is with essential oils - water, lavender and geranium essential oils, plus witch hazel - I think the witch hazel is so that the oil and water mix better?

This lady was using it on her dog...but I thought essentail oils could be dangerous for dogs. She uses Rose geranium oil - but I also add the lavender that I read about on another website.

www.primallyinspired.com/easy-natural-tick-repellent-that-really-works-essential-oils/


I don't have a dog...so please do your own research before using essential oils on your dog like this lady did...

I just looked at the packaging for the Scalibor. IT does kills both fleas and ticks on the dog (or I assume there is a cat version), but also fleas and ticks "in the environment". I don't know what distance that means.

The active ingredient is Deltamethrin.

My reason for starting this thread was to make people aware that if they have outside pets, it's possible for the pet to bring them inside. This occurred in my backyard. The grass is cut every week and the dog does not get walked in areas where there is tall grass. So people need to be aware that the ticks really live anywhere.

I live in an area where there are probably more vets per capita than anywhere else. So my vet cycles in newly graduated vet students for 2-5 years at a time. Kind of like Resident doctors.

We (my husband and I) got our first dog just before my son was born (he's almost 16) and a few years before he died, he had multiple tick bites. One gave him a really bad skin rash. I brought him in and one of the other vets said we could run a Lyme test. It came back negative.

When I talked to the vet a few weeks ago, he said that he has the same concerns about the screening tests. They use the same testing model. A screening test, then a second test to confirm. He said he follows the report of human Lyme cases because where you find people with Lyme you also have dogs with Lyme.

The other thing the vet said is that a year ago his 18 year old was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. He said that he thinks that Fibromyalgia is just a big word for "we don't know what's wrong with you." I totally agree. So I gave him the info about the forum and the Igenex test. He had problems with the idea that Duke Hospital would be a bad place to get treatment. Apparently, one of the professors at Duke is one of the leading authorities on Ticks.

Now after talking to my vet, I look back and see that he could of had Lyme. He died of cancer, but he had so much pain especially in his joints for the last two years. I think the vet resident only did the screening test. I wish I had know more. If I was paying for the test out of pocket, I would rather have paid for the more specific test.

At least now I know and am protecting not just me but the rest of my family.

I trust my vet. When we talked about it he said that they have had to make several changes over the years depending on what's happening locally and with the biggest threat ticks or flees. Some are better at ticks and some are better at fleas.

I remember him telling me that they had a vaccine for Leptospirosis and we had it done because he said that is was becoming a bigger issue.

Kim

Isn't it amazing that our relationship with our vets tends to mirror our relationship with our Pediatricians. We moved to NC in Feb, 1996 and have had the same vet and the same Pediatrician for the entire time.

Both are very conservative. When I talked to the vet a bit ago about lyme/fleas, he did not recommend a Lyme vaccine. He felt that the best choice was Bravecto oral to protect the dog and the Scalibor collar to prevent the dog from bringing ticks in since it is a repellent.

I understand people's concern about it being "poison" but like you said you use Deep when you have to.

My vet did recommend a vaccine for leptospirosis because at the time they were seeing a lot of cases and he felt the vaccine was safe.

Pet's are people too. We need to be just as concerned about them.

I'd ask the vet what kind of data the manufacturer has on safety and efficacy or if the vet can point you to a website so that you can make the decision. There have been many times when manufacturers have had change their packaging because they couldn't support their claims.

I know you're dogs have had lots of ticks. I thought I remember coming across something on the forum that was an herbal repellent.

Good Luck,
Kim

Using a tape lint roller on pets helps remove ticks before they get in the house.