Natural Flea & Tick Meds for Dogs- suggestions?

beanE7 · April 2014

Hi all,

I'm new to the Oct. Mom's club. We have a dog and are now approaching flea & tick season. I've been putting off applying Frontline on our dog until the end of my 1st trimester, BUT we found a tick on our dog yesterday during a walk. Does anyone have any success with natural flea & tick preventatives for their dogs? I'm concerned with some natural sprays that include strong oils (like Neem) as they say that some may not be safe for pregnant women.

OR- has anyone used traditional meds/pesticides on their dogs and been told by their Dr. that they're ok? Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Liss1481 · April 2014

I've been a veterinarian for 7 years. If you don't want to use a topical (although Frontline is VERY safe), there is a new product out called NexGard from Merial, which is an oral monthly flea/tick preventative. You may want to ask your vet about that. One of my good friends incorporates homeopathic/natural "meds" into her vet practice, and honestly, she has not had good luck with them for fleas/ticks. The other thing to consider is that just because something is "natural" does not necessarily mean that it's safe. I've seen people accidently poison their animals with natural products.

Definitely talk to your vet.

Maybeitsso · April 2014

Garlic tabs...only thing that would really work for our dogs and we live on a 60 acre farm

you should be able to find them at Walmart or a local farmers coop.

Garlic gets into the blood and helps with all kinds of things, helps pets feel healthier while also making them taste bad to fleas and ticks. Our pooches also loved them, but you may find hiding them in like a beef hot dog will make them go down easier

safe for family and kiddos to be around too!

beanE7 · April 2014

I like that idea, thanks! We have a lot of ticks & lyme disease in our state, so I'd like to do several overlapping things to cover our bases.

beanE7 · April 2014

Thanks FamousEa, I know FrontLine works but I now that I'm pregnant I'd like to use the least amount of chemicals as possible. I saw some brands on Amazon, like Vet's Best are reviewed well. With your experience at a vet's office, did you hear any complaints of the natural options?

JessAnnJ · April 2014

We use the oral medication. After we had used it awhile I read something where someone was claiming her dog died after taking it. I probably wouldn't have tried it had I read that first, but we haven't had any problems. If you have a lot of ticks in your area I probably wouldn't mess around with too many natural remedies unless you get really good recommendations about the effectiveness. It will be much worse if you have to deal with a bunch of them in the house.

This doesn't help you with treating your dog, but my parents swear that spraying yellow joy dish soap in their backyard got rid of a tick problem they were having.

kimmeldl · April 2014

I use the nexguard and it works well. But my mom is in Georgia and they have fleas bad. She uses garlic and yeast tabs. Its cheap and u can buy them at any pet store.

CheesyPeas · April 2014

We've had success keeping things under control with the oral meds. Our cat is neurotic and has sensitve skin and loses his damn mind with topicals, so we've been using the oral meds for a couple of years now. It's nice not having to worry about DS touching the oily spots from topicals as well.