TICKS!!

We have 4 dogs and live in the tropics. This last week we have found ticks on our dogs. Not really an infestation, but disgusting anyway. Any suggestions for dealing with this? Picking ticks is not a fun way to spend time.

We have massive tick problems here in ole Georgia. We keep our dogs on Frontline Plus and it seems to work very well, but it's not cheap. We also have to use bug repellent on ourselves any time we're in the woods in warm months.

ultraclyde wrote: We have massive tick problems here in ole Georgia. We keep our dogs on Frontline Plus and it seems to work very well, but it's not cheap. We also have to use bug repellent on ourselves any time we're in the woods in warm months.

What he said.

I use the Frontline Plus stuff too. They bite, they die, they fall off.

I also had my dogs vaccinated against Lyme because they get bit by A LOT of deer ticks.

For me & the kids I use Sawyer repellent that is 20% pectarin - works for ticks, mosquitos and all kinds of irritating flies. Supposed to be safer than DEET and actually works against knats too (spray the hat).

EDIT: Not sure about the tropics bit... but it works in NY/PA/VT when the plague of insects descend on us in late summer. Even NJ greenheads are deterred (not completely... those berkeleyers are real shiny happy people).

The Tick "Why is that guy wearing a dress?

Arthur "That's not a dress. He's a judge."

The Tick "I judge him funny."

Currently without pets, but I used to source various pet meds from Pets Megastore in Oz. Shipping is reasonable, and prices literally blow away any local retailers. Frontline Plus would be my recommendation.

G. P. Snorklewacker wrote: For me & the kids I use Sawyer repellent that is 20% pectarin - works for ticks, mosquitos and all kinds of irritating flies. Supposed to be safer than DEET and actually works against knats too (spray the hat).

You're thinking of the active ingredient Picaridin (also branded as Saltidin and Icaridin). We make a product that is 20% also, similar to the Sawyer product. As a lover of of the outdoors, I can't recommend this stuff highly enough. More effective than DEET in clinical testing, safer to you and doesn't attack most paints/plastics like Deet. Many formulas also dry to have no smell detectable by humans. Consumer recently tested DEET alternative repellents (for the nth time) and 20% Picaridin was the one they found best, and there was only one other they would even recommend. THose are the only two alternatives to ever get recommendations from CR over DEET.

But you can't use it on pets.... (no testing done for those applications)

If you have to get them off once they are embedded.. I find solarcaine works very well. Spray or dab it on the tick with a qtip and the Novocain in the spray freezes the bug to the point that it relaxes it's grip on the skin (with it's barbs) and basically dies. you can pluck them right out with no effort