Tick magnet!

[AquarianDragon]

Ticks are a problem for dogs here, from spring to late summer, but this year they are out with a vengeance.
Despite application of Frontline every 2 weeks, I have to check my dog MORE than once a day, and have picked off at least 12 in the past 2 weeks from him....and 6 from me
Last night one was half buried in my scrotum, and a while ago another from the back of my head!
They can itch and weep for weeks. Not fun!

[Blue]

Get some garlic tablets, 2 capsules per 10 lbs) or add 1 tsp per 10 lbs of dog of garlic powder (not garlic salt) to his food. It will take about a week to get enough in the dog's system but, that will end the tick trouble. Fleas and large internal worms too.

I use entirely herbal treatments for my wolfdogs, no commercial stuff at all. They have yet to know what a tick is, no fleas either, no worms and, the test heart worm fee every year too. (oldest is 7 years old, youngest 19 months) It takes more than garlic to skip the chemicals all together but, garlic is good for visible parasites (ones you can see with the naked eye)

[pellaz]

not prevalent where i live now but past life...

gruesome; be ware not to get them in the house. you know its too late if you see the female climbing the wall, they get so far up and burst. Google a pic of the female tic, they are not nice looking. Do everything you can not to get them in the house.

last time i cked the collars dont do much good.

spray the areas outside where the dog is mostly. you might have to dip the dog, mix the insecticide in a bucket, use gloves and a sponge. you know the infected areas; ears and under belly. Treatment for cats is different.

[dfiant]

Bush ticks are horrible...Paralysis ticks are just plain nasty.

[AquarianDragon]

Thanks for tips guys, rubbin balls with cream in the wee small hours sounds fun, but not in these circumstances
I spoke to my vet who said this is the worst plague of ticks he's seen in 20 years, and they're run off their feet giving antiserum. His advice was to give the Frontline every 12 days and keep vigilant with the daily checks.

Thanks Blue, I did mention garlic to him once before and he said while it has some effect with fleas, it won't work for ticks here. I think the sub tropical climate is the issue.
I used to use garlic years ago for fleas, and still remember the dog farts! lol
I'm not knocking garlic though. A few months ago I had an gum abscess above my canine tooth (no pun intended). I consulted “dr.google” and found a cure with garlic...I rubbed a cut clove over it and in ½ hour pain was gone and it drained! Its medicinal use is much underrated.

As for the worms, I keep him on Interceptor, once a month, which takes care of all those nasties.

dfiant

Bush ticks are horrible...Paralysis ticks are just plain nasty.

In autumn I have a big cut back of shrubs, and this year I got covered with grass ticks. I started off bare chested on an 8ft ladder leaning over shrubs with long handled cutters, and I had a patch of 30 of them in one armpit!Little buggers the size of a poppyseed. I soon covered up, but got heaps more. After some research I now think they were the lava of the shell backs that I'm getting now!
I enjoyed seeing your fish and dog. He reminded me of my last dog, who made it to 17 despite going deaf and blind towards the end. If you search You Tube with “gruntled4”, there's a garden video clip which shows my guy as a youngster, 4 years ago and my garden fish. He's now like a huge woolly mammoth and the garden is more of a jungle!

[Bowyn Aerrow]

We use a flea and tick shampoo weekly. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.js...Id=2751706

You cannot use it and the drops as the dog will overdose with pesticide (both contain pesticide). The oatmeal helps to prevent dry skin from excessive shampooing.

Since this is an epic tick year nothing other than being vigilant and knowing how to remove ticks successfully may work.

Around here we have ticks that carry Lyme Disease. Acaricide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acaricide is used on the land/vegetation where ticks are likely to be. They spray along the river every few months for lots of things, chiefly mosquito (which now carry West Nile Virus) and for ticks.

California laws are such that one has to hire a professional pest control company to spray in residential areas. They used to have a program through animal control where this semi-rural area with all of the trees and 'native vegetation' (AKA weeds) would be sprayed and most of the cost deferred by the state or county.

Of course you have to make 'safe areas' by clearing out vegetable debris (leaves, tall grasses, etc) and the CDC suggests gravel or wood-chip 'perimeter barrier' to prevent ticks from coming into the area.

http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/avoid/in_the_yard.html lists it all.

Garlic Tabs in dogs can have the same effect as feeding onion to dogs. The naturally occurring chemical thiosulphate in onions and garlic can lead to hemolytic anemia in dogs and cats http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/symptoms-and-...ia-in-dogs

Learn the symptoms and discuss with your vet what you can do if the dog presents with symptoms. Typically low doses of garlic pills will not affect a dog if the dog takes only its weight limit dosage. However if you eat onion and garlic in people food and the dog(s) get human scraps all the tie, you might accidental put that limit of thiosulphate over the top.

Some dogs are more sensitive to thiosulphate, thus you can't use garlic tabs on them.

[Blue]

Onion is bad, worse than garlic. NEVER give a dog, or most other critters onion. That's true of birds too (pet and chickens I know.) Pigs won't even eat onion at all.

[pellaz]

onions and garlic will not save you if they get into the house