Flea & Tick treatment

[Beekissed]

When is the best time to lime? Early spring? And should I looks for finely crushed lime (powder) or is barn lime sufficient?

Early spring, before the grass gets going well...try to spread it when you'll have 2-3 days of dry weather. Later on, when the grass is dying back at the end of summer and early fall is also a good time to spread it again. You'll want it to make good contact with the soil.

I usually just use garden lime, aka sweet lime. Can find it at Lowe's for around $3-$4 for a 50 lb bag.

 

[SustainableAg]

I also used Vets Best Flea&Tick spray this year, and would highly recommend it. You can also spray it around the yard, by the front and back door, etc. I did some research and found it online in the spring. We had a very bad tick year here as well, in northeast PA. Started spraying the dogs with that every couple of days, and didn't see any more ticks.

 

[tortoise]

2018 was very good year for controlling ticks in WI. Ticks have a 2 year life cycle, and they overwinter on mice their first year. 2 years ago we had acorn crop failure up here in WI, and the mouse population was greatly reduced, which showed up this past year in a small tick population. I thought that was really cool!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Good to know. We didn't have many ticks this year either. We have had major issues with overabundance of rodents this year (bumper crop of acorns) so now I'm nervous!

 

[Rammy]

I work at a vets office and we have this pill called Bravecto. Its a three month treatment. Works great. I use it for my dog and no issues with fleas.

 

[tortoise]

Bravecto is great! I use Nexguard which is similar but monthly. I remember monthly stuff better than every three months.

 

[Hinotori]

I'm not even sure what I get from the vet. I only give it to the dogs if I see fleas or they are scratching. This year was very good with the fleas. Only had to treat in spring and fall.

I have to corner the cats to put stuff on them. Well getting the first cat is easy, but the other will run and hide if they see what I'm up to

 

[wyoDreamer]

We gave our German Shepherd that Bravecto once, we bought it at the vets office. A couple of months later I notice that he was having problems with his eyes - they looked bug-eyed like he was straining to see - it turns out he went blind. Took him to the local vet who sent him to the emergency vet clinic an hour drive south (think big $$$). They gave him high doses of steroids hoping to save some of his sight - they said he was completely blind when we took him in. They said it was an auto-immune reaction to something and his body was rejecting something in his eyes (I can't remember what part of the eye it was). Months of steroids and he got some of his sight back and then 3 months of slowly weaning him off the steroids, praying that he kept his sight. I am not sure how much of his sight he got back, DH thinks it is back 100% and he could be right.

Was it the Bravecto - probably not. Coincidence most likely. But I will never use that stuff again.

For the last year and 1/2, they are on nothing and until I see a problem develop, they will stay on nothing.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Those narratives of "coincidental" issues that pop up are the very reason why I'll not put my dog on these topical meds. I'm tempted to do so this year b/c the ticks are so very bad. Then, I read your story, and am reminded of why I've not done so. I won't even give my dog shots until forced to do so b/c of the licencing regulations.

 

[wyoDreamer]

The topicals don't scare me nearly as much as the "treats" do. Why would I want to put poison in their bodies? Because, that is basically what it is, isn't it? And especially something that stays effective for 3 months or more? To me that says the body isn't able to remove it from their system very well.

My dog did not get the Bravecta, he got the topical every month. DH didn't want to be bothered each month giving his dog flea treatment, so he went for it and ended up with 4 round trips to the vet clinic - including a 1/2 hour trip home from work to pick up the dog each time he needed to take him to the clinic an hour away (backtracking).