Ticks

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 1:01 pm

What natural products do you use as tick prevention? With Lymes disease spreading rapidly, we are now considered a hot spot for it here in the South East, it would be good to get some ideas for those of us who don't like to use pesticides routinely.

I'm trying this one at present having found a tick on three of the dogs this year.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dog-Fleas-Protection-Spray-Conditioner/dp/B075QBXV4P/ref=sr_1_4?adgrpid=67008861317&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIveDQx5iv4gIVYbXtCh2hiw74EAAYAiAAEgInCvD_BwE&hvadid=334244147982&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1006602&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t2&hvqmt=b&hvrand=3955739002719060874&hvtargid=aud-614677023298%3Akwd-648213934537&hydadcr=7856_1726141&keywords=gracie+and+cooper&qid=1558530003&s=gateway&sr=8-4

Seems to have good reviews.

Friend for Life Joined: 07 Jul 2010 Posts: 6578

http://www.waggleantics.co.uk/

This is what I use

Friend for Life Joined: 09 Jan 2009 Posts: 19164

I found a tick on Doris this week Mad

she hasn't had one for years Rolling Eyes

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 8:44 pm

We haven't had ticks in years either, until now Sad

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 1:59 pm

I use the same as Kathryn - when I remember to spray it on him Embarassed

It has the plus of a lovely fragrance.

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 5:01 pm

I must confess that I was so shocked last spring when Foxie had piro that I've started using chemical spot-on doses since then. In addition, however, I give my 2 girls homeopathic granules against ticks: Psorinum 7CH, 3 granules once a week for 3 weeks then nothing on the 4th week. Repeat during the whole 'tick" season.

If I know we'll be walking through areas with long grass (which i try to avoid as much as possible), I also spray them with a geranium essential oil based product (Anibiolys).

Some friends of mine give their dogs an English product called Billy No Mates made by CSJ: https://www.csjk9.com/ProductCart/PC/viewPrd.asp?IDProduct=57

I had tried it a few years ago but my dogs wouldn't eat their dinner after I'd sprinkled the dried herb powder over it, so I gave it up after a while!!! Rolling Eyes

This year there is apparently a new type of tick which has started to settle down in France, several regions are infested (this is of course due to the climate changes). The scientists don't know what sort of illness thay may carry so they have asked some horse-riding clubs owners to collect specimens of those ticks whenever they find some (it's difficult to use repellents on horses) for study purposes. The new ticks are quite recognizable as they have striped legs (and this is unfortunately no joke). It is expanding quite fast as some have been collected in Ardèche but also in Alsace, which is at the other end of the country!!! Shocked

I suppose you will see them soon too...

Friend for Life Joined: 07 Jul 2010 Posts: 6578

Nina. I use Billy no mates to. Poppy has never turned her nose up to her food thankfully

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 8:29 pm

Oh dear, this isn't good news. Millie has had three I think in the last 8 years. I am hoping that the fact that we rarely go through fields that have hosted sheep or cattle is a good thing.

Revolting little things.

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 10:58 am

What about deer Joy? They are a major carrier of ticks Sad

I believe it's sheep, deer and rodents that suffer Lymes so therefore can infect the ticks. Confused

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 2:23 pm

I don't know if it is the same in your various regions of the UK, but here in Ardèche the number of ticks varies from one year to another, one year the infestation is massive, as was the case a few years ago when I found 12 - yes TWELVE - fat greenish ticks on Foxie one spring morning, eeeewww! Fortunately none of them was a piroplasmosis carrier. Last year the infestation was quite low. So far this year I have only found one small tick on Foxie's head, it hadn't fixed itself yet so was easy to remove. And soon it will be June and the end of the "risky" period for us regarding ticks, which seem to almost disappear until October and then again no ticks from November until March or April. However, in other regions of France, they have ticks all year round - where my brother lives in Champagne, he can't even walk in his beautiful garden without wearing wellies to protect his feet and legs - in spite of that, he had Lyme's a few years ago. Awful creatures, ticks! Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 4:31 pm

I agree Nina I hate ticks. they seem to be active all year round here in the UK, probably due to now having milder Winters. Thankfully they are not yet in the amounts you describe! Shocked

At least you do get some 'free' months.

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 8:32 pm

We don't have any deer Jacquie, no large animals at all on most of our walks.

Posted: Sun May 26, 2019 12:44 pm

That's good then Joy Very Happy

Posted: Sun May 26, 2019 9:46 pm

My only real concern is that Millie likes to go into the long grass for her toileting and you can't see the tiny critters that might be around carrying tics.

Newbie Joined: 09 May 2019 Posts: 1

Yup, you can almost count on those buggers if your dog likes long grass. Mine does too and not just for the toileting purposes.

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 9:10 am

Foxie loves plunging her big nose Laughing

in long grass, for some reason (?) so I try to avoid that type of environment on our walks during the peak of the "tick season". Rolling Eyes

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 10:07 am

You should have seen what Jethro managed to bring back 3 nights ago - I didn't even know they were there ... thistle heads, about half a dozen of them, all rolled into his long inside elbow hair. The only grooming move I haven't been able to teach him is to lie on his side, so I had to work through them with fingers and then 3 different strength combs - and we haven't even started tick season here.

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:29 pm

My little DaveyDog came for his dinner this evening complete with a new passenger - a large bumble bee groping about in his face fur!

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:44 pm

That must be a first Shirley! Shocked

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 10:16 pm

Unlike a tic, at least I could see it! Very Happy

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 6:05 am

Oh! I love bumble bees, with their round colourful striped bodies! There are quite a few which come to have lunch in my garden, they particularly love my big bush of Jerusalem sage and its yellow flowers. So do the big black carpenter bees. I love watching them dive into the flowers to collect the pollen!

Here is a carpenter bee having its breakfast a few minutes ago! My Jerusalem sage has lost quite a few of its first flowers but new ones should soon replace them.

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 10:35 am

Great photo Nina Very Happy

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 12:47 pm

Lovely photo, Nina!

Has anyone else ever patted a bumblebee? You can barelybarely feel his/her fuzzy bottom...and the one I gently patted threw up a lazy but slightly huffy back leg at me when I did it... Very Happy

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 5:04 pm

Medication Judy .. medication Very Happy

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 5:09 pm

judy g wrote:

Has anyone else ever patted a bumblebee?

No but I'd love to!