Our Recommendations For Tick Control

       Over the past 2 decades ticks have increasingly become a problem in our part of the country. A generation ago, our parents told us they hardly ever noticed a tick on their pets or themselves. These days if your pet runs in the woods (or even lounges in your backyard) or you go for a walk in one of the nearby parks, you're likely to find ticks attached your pet or yourself.  As disgusting as that fact alone is, as we all know ticks come armed with some friends. Here in the Hudson Valley, the tick friend which none of us want to meet is Borrelia burgdoferi the causative agent of Lyme disease. Here in our little neck of the woods we have the dubious distinction of having one of the highest incidences of human Lyme disease in the entire world. Since your dog can get Lyme disease from infected ticks, and your cat may be able to acquire the infection also, prevention of tick infestation on your pets is very important.

       Fortunately there are some new products on the market which really do a nice job of preventing tick infestation. Among the ones we have been happy with are the following:

FrontLine

• This is a spot on product for both ticks and fleas. It is labelled for use for one month in both dogs and cats.
• It does not repel ticks but only kills them. This means you may see ticks crawling on your pet (and falling off onto your bed if your pets sleep with you), or you may see partially engorged ticks that are dead attached to your pet.
• Although the package says that the product is good for one month, we seem to start seeing ticks again at 3 weeks past administration.
• It's ability to kill fleas is not perfect

Preventic collar

• Our best choice for tick control.
• For use on dogs only.
• Kills and repels ticks so you normally don't see ticks walking on your pet, neither does your pet bring home ticks to drop around the house.
• Licensed for 3 months, although we start to see ticks again in about 6 to 8 weeks.

Preventic Spray

• Very strong spray only for use in dogs.
• Excellent control of both ticks and fleas.
• More frequent application than using a collar.
• Effective against fleas.
• Needs to be applied every other week.

Duocide LA spray

• Safe for use in cats.
• Lasts 7 to 14 days.
• Some effect against fleas also seen.

Adam's Tick Killer

• Dogs only.
• Some effect against fleas
• Weekly use
• Bitter taste, dogs foam when they lick coat.

Our Recommendations

Dogs

    We have been very happy with the Preventic Collar in dogs. It repels ticks and when we use it ourselves on our pets we don't see any fleas; dead, alive or crawling on our dogs. We wish it would last 3 months like the label says! If you have very little problem with fleas, FrontLine would probably work well for you, though if you don't want to see ticks at all, then Front ine is not your product. The Preventic spray is an excellent choice also, though when given a choice most people (and most dogs) don't want to use a spray. We used to use Adam's Tick Killer exclusively on dogs but since the other medications have come out we haven't used it. Any veterinarians out there who want to buy a few cases of Adams Tick Killer.....cheap!

Cats

     If your pet does not have a major problem with fleas, then FrontLine would be the choice to make. It does a decent job against ticks, is easy to apply and lasts at least 3 weeks. If you do have a flea problem, then use Advantage or Program for the fleas and Duocide LA spray for the ticks. We have not found any collars for cats that do anywhere near as good a job on ticks as the Preventic collar does for dogs.