Tick prevention

[dannie_kl]

As many of the older members know, I have a real problem with ticks in my garden and have to frontline my dogs every single 4 weeks to keep them at bay however it doesnt repel them. At Crufts this year I found a stool with information about ticks and it is the most informative place i have ever found relating to ticks. all this time i have asked questions, got mixed reviews, theories but never a definitive answer. I have been given some really helpful hints, tips and advice of which i am already beginning to implement and of course i would like to shar this with you folks
It is tick prevention week from 26 march-1 april 2012
http://www.tickbitepreventionweek.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
here you can download a tick awareness pack

http://www.bada-uk.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
i got some great leaflets from them and they recommended using calendula oil as a deterrant, planting calendula in the garden and also a product called Billy no mates available from CSJ specialist canine feeds
I hope some of this information will provide helpful for you guys

[Wookie Woo]

Thanks for the info, the links are really good, Wookie had two ticks last year (Lucy only had one in the 8 years we had her, but then Wookie does go into all sorts of things where as Lucy was a little bit more reeserved ha ha) & we got them out with the O'Tom tick remover (the only one we've ever used) & will be taking it with us next weekend when we go to Dartmoor for a week

[Flynny]

Helen, we were in Dartmoor and Exmoor last year (although in late summer, so more ticks about) and Flynn had about 20, so be wary. Poor Flynn, we missed one and a week later it dropped off the size of a baked bean from his lip

[Wolfmother]

Yuck I hate ticks, my then 5 year old daughter had one last year attached to her belly button, we caught it the same day thank goodness but it was horrible for her she ended up with a very weep navel and was on antibiotic ointment and medicine. But thats what you get when you dig a giant hole under trees while wearing only shorts

[stevenlisa]

We do alot of traveling into the EU with ours. I had never seen a tick until then. We were so worried when we found 1 on our zeva, as we had read how the heads can get stuck in them if you pull them out wrong. Then 1 of the locals showed me how to easily remove without a problem.

The tick treatment our dogs receive to get their passports signed for border clearance is supposed to be very good at killing everything.

[mummysnoo]

My Vet doesn't use Frontline anymore as she implied it isn't as effective as it used to be, so we are using Advantage now which also has an added treatment against lungworm.

[murphygrowl]

The best product for fleas and ticks is a seresto collar.you will never find another tick or flea on your dog again.bye murphygrowl

[daisymay]

Hi,
My vet prescribed a combination of heart worm/flea/Tick medication -- Trifexis. It is a bit pricey but, I do not have to deal with putting the advantage on. It is all wrapped in 1 pill once a month! I will never go back to the tubes!.

[Max-s Dad]

Max has had a few ticks, but last summer on holiday, we were taking up to ten a day off him. Luckily we had just bought the proper tick remover tools. This year he got one in March so on his 6-monthly vet checkup, we asked about a treatment and were advised to try Advantix, which is applied to the back of his neck in the same was as his Advocate worming treatment.

Unfortunatley, he developed a very strong reaction which made his skin very itchy and sensitive, and caused it to "crawl" which was as distressing to us as it was for him.
We will let him settle down for a week or two before we consider another preventative treatment, and revert to the tick tools in the meantime.

It seems we are not the only owners to experience this reaction, and our vet was pleased we had taken him back him as it allowed her to do a referral back to the manufacturer, and provide us with some other options.

Interestingly, on a walk yesterday with a friend and her standard poodle, the poodle got four ticks and Max got none, so maybe even though it gave a bad reaction, it still worked!

[25Jack]

We changed to advantix for this month to see if it helps. It covers fleas and ticks, I gather it prevents the tick from latching on. Now we need to worm separately. I will be getting some calendula products as well to see how that fairs out. Thank you for the information.

[SchnauzerOfPower]

What do you think of Bravecto? I heard it's dangerous.

[zeta1454]

What do you think of Bravecto? I heard it's dangerous.

We do not use any of this kind of insecticide treatment with our dogs and there certainly have been some disturbing anecdotal reports of serious reactions in some dogs following its use.

Bravecto contains fluralaner which is a systemic insecticide and ascaricide ( killing ticks and mites) and it is under continuous monitoring by the European Medicines Agency due to the relatively high number of reports from the public of serious adverse reactions in dogs to whom it has been administered. However it is of course licensed for use and is still prescribed by some vets.

This is from the National Office of Animal Health website:

"Following oral administration, fluralaner is readily absorbed reaching maximum plasma concentrations within 1 day. Food enhances the absorption. Fluralaner is systemically distributed and reaches the highest concentrations in fat, followed by liver, kidney and muscle. The prolonged persistence and slow elimination from plasma (t1/2 = 12 days) and the lack of extensive metabolism provide effective concentrations of fluralaner for the duration of the inter-dosing interval. Individual variation in Cmax and t1/2 was observed. The major route of elimination is the excretion of unchanged fluralaner in faeces (~90% of the dose). Renal clearance is the minor route of elimination."

As you can see from this, the insecticide is stored in fat, liver, kidneys and muscle and slowly released. No long term studies on the effects of this insecticide on dogs appears to have been carried out. The following link gives the detail of the safety study on the product carried out on twenty four 8 week old beagle puppies raised in a laboratory under controlled conditions over a period of 168 days after which they were all killed and a post mortem carried out to assess any internal damage.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3975339/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You might also find this article of interest:

http://dogthusiast.com/2015/04/30/exami ... entatives/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lou78]

What do you think of Bravecto? I heard it's dangerous.

Hi there. I am interested to know in what way Bravecto could be dangerous? I am worried as Ollie has had this for two years now. He has had no adverse reactions and thankfully, nor has he ever had any fleas or ticks. Our vet told us it was a good product (which i know they are inclined to do!) but to be honest, at the time, i had no reason to doubt them. I haven't had any cause for concern since or any reason to take him off this. He has one tablet every 12 weeks.

I have scan read the articles Leigh has attached and I am still none the wiser (that might just be me not understanding though and trying to read things quickly at work).

I would welcome any further info on this, as they say, knowledge is power!

[zeta1454]

The problem is that most of the evidence for adverse reactions to Bravecto is "anecdotal" inasmuch as it is from owners reporting issues in their dogs after its use. Manufacturers trials for safety are for use over short periods of time and in a limited number of dogs. There is a petition online from the removal of Bravecto from the market which lists some of the reported issues and itemises the breeds and numbers of dogs of those breeds in which serious reactions have been reported. There is also a Facebook group for those who believe their dogs to have been adversely affected by the product where the types of reaction are detailed. The link to the Facebook group and other sources of information are given in the petition too.

https://www.change.org/p/petition-for-t ... the-market" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think the problem with adverse reactions to any pharmaceutical product is that very few people ever actually report reactions through the official channels so "evidence" tends to be dismissed as anecdotal and therefore statistics for problems related to them may make the product seem much safer than it is. Sometimes reactions are instantaneous but others may simply occur over years as the impact on the liver and kidneys builds up. However there may be dogs in whom this does not happen and so as with any product it is weighing up whether the benefits seem far greater than any potential risk.

As we do not use any pharmaceutical products for ticks, fleas, worms etc with our own dogs I cannot comment on safety / reactions from personal experience with this or other similar treatments.


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[Robin black mini]

In Italy the ticks are a serious problem...in May they are at their peak .my st poodle was bringing back up to twenty tiny nymphs each time we did a walk...so for us we HAVE to use a treatment.We always used frontline plus,safely for years( 24) but last year we were hit by harvest mites as well which didn't get killed by the frontline. last year we used bravecto which did a good job overnight.Both my mini and the poodle were fine on this.
This year the ticks are as bad and we gave bravecto again,without any problems for the dogs...the ticks are under control but the more I read on this medication the more worried I become for my dogs long term health . I've decided not to redose with bravecto in August,and return to the frontline plus.