Ticks! So Frustrating!

1. Use this: http://www.frontline.com/ they have a coupon on the site. It KILLS the ticks on your dog.

2. Spread ORTHO MAX in your front and back yards with a broadcast spreader. You can get it at Lowe's or Home Depot. Don't get the cheaper kind...get that exact brand. It kills all the bugs...fleas, ticks, everything. Ticks and fleas are in your grass. Whenever your pets or anyone walks through the infested grass and into the house, they will bring the bugs in too. So you need to not just treat the dogs...you have to treat the yard.

Best of luck!

Hi Maria, I know it's not green and I don't like doing it, but since we live in a heavily wooded lakeside subdivision where the deer come right into your backyard to snack on your azaleas, and Lyme's Disease is common here...

In addition to religiously applying Advantix on the dogs, year round, I also treat our entire property twice a year with a granule flea/tick killer. Usually April and September. However since we had SUCH a mild winter, I did it first week in March, and will likely do it THREE times this year.

I haven't pulled a tick off a dog in quite some time. But I find them on my SOCKS sometimes when I'm working in the yard, bleck.

I also keep them up to date with their Lyme's vaccine and boosters.

:)

I was just talking about this with my vet last week. Get Frontline and get it from your vet. There are other flea & tick repellents available over the counter with the same medication as in vet-supplied Frontline but they won't work as well as the prescription kind (& I can attest to that!). Although the medication itself is the same, the application method and absorption vehicles are different -- and they don't work anywhere near as effectively. Yes, you can have some success in reducing the number of ticks with these other products but, especially if there are a lot of them (& we live in a VERY tick-prone area) these other products aren't going to really, effectively do the whole job. If you want to be totally sure you get maximum Frontline absorption (especially if you have a medium to long haired dog), clip or shave a small space on your dog's back between its shoulders & apply the Frontline there -- just a small 1-inch x 1 or 2-inch space.

We're a "kids & critters" family (with various kids, grandkids, dogs and horses coming & going) and spend a lot of time outside. Frontline on the dogs is the best way I've found to protect my whole family.

Not sure how things are in Florida, but in central Massachusetts we had such a mild winter that there is already a tick explosion here. In addition to Lyme disease (a big problem in our area), there are a number of other tick-borne illnesses that can cause a problem for animals and for people. Ehrlichia is one, but there are more -- and none of them are fun, though many are treatable with a course of doxycycline.

Good for you for being on top of this!

We use frontline, and it works great. Doggie doesn't seem bothered by it a bit! I buy mine online from the pet med websites bc it's cheaper than through the vet and it's the exact same thing.