Holistic Flea and Tick repellant

I'd have to agree with Ann. Not sure about the first one but Addison's is a very serious disease (we thought that Sadie had it at one time) and I personally wouldn't put any flea/tick product on a dog with a compromised immune system or who was not in near perfect health.

It's totally up to you and what you feel comfortable with. You know your dogs the best.

For me, the research I found showed that there were complaints about all products but I found no serious compaints about Nature's Guardian (until you showed me that, the only complaints I found were about the smell, which I like. I found lots of positive experiences.) and lots of complaints about chemical flea and tick medications.

I've also heard of people who have had good results giving their dogs garlic, but be careful, in high enough doses garlic can be toxic too, which is why I haven't tried it. I felt better trying the Nature's Guardian first and have had good luck so far. Sadie just does not care for the smell.
 
Oh I 100% agree with the both of you. I know very well that ALL 'medications' have side effects, some deadly, and that is why I too am not willing to use these on my dogs, especially the ones that use chemicals and poisons. I have been finding so many ticks on my two lately, and because they have so much fur, it is so hard to find them quickly, and that is why I started to look for something more holistic to use. My two are very healthy, have never been on medication (except for Chinook when he went for his hip surgery), plus I give supplements, including Colloidal Silver, and feed raw. I think when I read all those reviews, even though almost all of them were about cats, except a few, I got really scaired. I think I will try it. I'll do a spot test first, to check for an allergic reaction, and if that goes well, I will give them a dose. Thanks for the support. I feel a lot better.
 
Great idea to do a spot test! That should tell you how they'll tolerate it. Ours didn't care for the smell the first time, but after that they didn't even notice. One caution though...Chris, who also uses it, suggested using nothing more than the 15 lb dose on our dogs, which is what we've done. If you have the larger dose (I think it's 15 - 40 lb) I wouldn't use all of it. Let us know how it works for you.
 
Ania said:
I think when I read all those reviews, even though almost all of them were about cats, except a few, I got really scaired.
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I don't blame you one bit, its scary reading all of those horror stories. I try to take them with a grain of salt because you never really know if you're hearing the whole story or just part of it. Nature's Guardian seems to be the least harmful course to go, when compared to chemical flea/tick meds.

I too am using the dose for dogs up to (not over) 15 lbs. on Sadie, who is 24 lbs. and it seems to have been enough. No fleas or ticks, even when walking with friends who's dog picked up ticks.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!
 
Have any of you heard of diatomaceous earth? I've been on the internet looking for more solutions to my tick problem (especially in my new yard!) and I don't want to use chemicals. I've read that this is supposed to be really good. and you can use it on the yard and topically too on humans and animals?! Have any of you heard of this? I am desperate for a chemical free solution in my yard. It's not a big yard, but since the house was vacant for 3 years, it is over run with weeds, not much grass, but there are shrubs around the fence. Yesterday, we spent the whole day there, while I was unpacking and in the evening, I found two crawling on me and a couple on Chinook, who was laying right beside me.
 
Ticks are horrible this year

Very bad in central Ohio. I've pulled one off of my toe and another off of the snout of our Cavalier King Charles. We check both dogs thoroughly after each outside visit. An this is on a manicured city plot, not out in the country.
 
How do you manage with Ticks?

So far I am not going to any coastal flyball comps because of the Ticks. Deska has such a huge coat I am not sure I would see any ticks. Most of the team dip their dogs in some solution that kills ticks before they put them in the car for the drive home - but I don't think that will work for a sheltie. In summer I spend hours picking out seeds from their coat and often miss them - I only find them when the dogs start scratching an area - so how would I find a tick.

Am I just being paranoid? How bad can it be really?
 
Ania said:
Have any of you heard of diatomaceous earth?
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I read about it recently and was thinking of buying some but not for ticks, I was going to spread it around my hostas to keep the slugs away.

I'm not sure how you would use it to repel ticks, just put a lot of it on the ground? That sounds like it could get expensive!
 
Ann , you're 100 % correct

Ann said:
I don't have an answer for you, Ania. I fear that any product like this can be harmful to a pet whose immune system is already compromised, like the dog with Addison's disease. That's just why I took Pixie off the chemical flea meds and put her on this one. I would really rather not have to use anything on them, but we live in a high tick area and at the moment, I am finding three to four ticks a day on my floors that the dogs carry in and fall off them. Sadly, there are horror stories about dogs on Frontline, Advantix, Biospot and all the others too. I think we take a chance whenever we introduce something to their systems like these things.

Some people have success feeding garlic and brewer's yeast as a preventative. It never worked for me, and now people will tell you that too much garlic and hurt them too. There just isn't an easy answer!
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There is obviously no treatment that can be totally safe. I had not heard this about Sergeants Nature's remedy! It scares the heck out of me put we must do something to help protect them from the fleas and ticks which will also harm them. I don't spray the solution of Nature's remedy directly on Kia , I spray it on the brush them brush it through her fur. I prefer this and treating the yard with chemicals and not my dog.:wink2:
 
Dose #2

So it's been a month since Sadie's first dose of Nature's Guardian and apart from being very bothered by the smell at first, she's done very well. she hasn't had a single flea or tick on her, mean while my neighbor up the street has been pulling them off her dogs left and right and she thinks they're coming out of the grass in her yard.

I gave Sadie dose #2 Monday night (June 1st, with her heart worm medicine) and Sadie was again very agitated. She kept me up all night jumping on/off the bed and pacing to escape the smell. By the next day though she was fine, the smell completely forgotten, which is a big improvement from the 4 days of whining/pacing the first time.

While it does smell strong, we find it a pleasant smell (hubby thinks she smells like fresh herbs) and its really only bad for the first day.

As long as it keeps repelling fleas and ticks I'll keep using it. :smile2:
 
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