There was a recent post about ticks. One of the things several people mentioned was brewer's yeast. I took a look at veterinary research reports and probably two thirds of the reports say it works for fleas, the rest are either 'jury out' or negative reports. As for ticks, just about all the reports say it it is unlikely to work, including those specifically looking for alternatives to Frontline, etc.
So back to square one for some of us. I am worried that Frontline is losing effectiveness, certainly our cats have had as many ticks since the last application as they would probably have without. I called our vet this morning and he thinks that this is more to do with the cats (and/or dogs) than the treatment. He recommended trying spot on and having a spray available for occasional boosters. I am willing to give it a try given how this year has been thus far.
Do any of you know where I can order online to save a bit of money. I go to the vet with my cheque book at high risk and the pharmacy or Bricomarché marginally better. I am looking for where I can order for two weights of dog, cats plus spray in six packs and the biggest spray size for the rest of this year in one go at the maximum saving. There is usually somebody out there who has done things like this and given that Merial do not do direct sales and veterinary suppliers I have found only supply to licenced vets I am running out of ideas where to look.
Wow we have been lucky...we have used advantix on both our GSD and JR terrier for 4 years and no problems..needless to say I will be looking for them from now on...have to add no ticks or fleas either in 4 years!! Used Frontline in the UK but think they were immune to that.
Duowin seems to contain the same ingredients as Advantix - permethrin, which is what I understood caused the allergic reaction.
I think we will just have to stick to frontline and vigilence. Trouble is she hates being "inspected"...... you only have to say "ticky tummy" and she runs off and hides behind the sofa.
I knew this about Adventix and didn't add it to my wee list. My 'résidence secondaire' neighbour is a vet and told me about it years ago, so I never even tried it on my beasts.
Must say in all honesty, that I am happy with Duowin and Francodex, but also give all of them yeast!
To give you an idea of what Duowin has to protect against ticks and fleas: Gladwin Gwyn, just 7 months old. He is now higher than the dinning room table, has a double coat, but one pipette will do.
WARNING (repeat): Duowin can not be used on cats! It will kill them.
Just wanted to add our recent experience. We have in the past used Advantix successfully on our previous two dogs (now departed), very tough farm bred Jack russells.
We have now got a Cairn. she has just been quite poorly for over a week following an application of Advantix. Depressed mood (hiding), not eating, lethargic. Took her to the vets, no temperature, blood tests while we waited - nothing abnormal - Vet has diagnosed a reaction to the Advantix.
Bit of research on the 'Net and seems this is not unusual. Needless to say we won't be using advantix on her again.
I switched from Frontline to DUOWIN for my dog (a giant breed Leonberg) and it works to perfection, especially considering the fact that I live in the Landes ... forests forests forests and my house is in the middle of a forest of pines and oak trees. Frontline didn't do a thing, but Duowin is very effective. Perfectly happy with this product, BUT it can NOT EVER be used on cats!
So, for my 5 cats I use FRANCODEX (effective 3 months) or Francodex Spot-On (during panicky tick times: effective only 2 weeks). Sometimes I will buy Vibrac (good product, but only effective against ticks for 2 weeks).
thanks, we have a couple of tick hooks and for well over half a century I have had a good hard thumb nail and have long since had a nifty twist. However, prevention of Lyme disease is my ultimate aim.
Hope: water does not kill them. they simply end up somewhere else. only ever burn 'em.
I'd check with a vet about the bathing, as dogs often go in water holes etc and get wet so don't know if the water would be efficient! my boyf did try flushing one down the loo once and it just swam round so i fished itback out and burnt it haha! didn't wait log enough to see if it would drown!! too scared of it climbing back up when i went to the loo haha
also don't know if they do emit more poison or not with the vaseline and water cases! best check with a vet i think??!!
Julie: yes, been known a while but it is a tough one between Lyme disease in a high risk area or the lower risk of cancer.
Jo: the sums do not do it with veterinary products when bricomarché comes out cheaper with exchange rates and then take off the p&p. Coats do make a difference. Our long haired GSD has never had one, I search like anything, perhaps because his hair gets so matted. Our short haired dog gets them occasionally. Both cats pick up new ones almost daily. We try to spot then before they attach. One has a big bugger attached to his lower lip right now. We'll let him go deep asleep and then I'll sneak up with a pipette of lemon juice, give the tick a squirt, pop back a couple of minutes later with some vaseline and as sure as anything it will not be there tomorrow morning when he arrives home for breakfast. Nonetheless, it is already an extreme year and our cattle farmer neighbour is having a hard time with his herding dogs and their cats who get several every day.
'll second chemist direct, I get all sorts of stuff from them that saves me money even with the added postage to France. Didnt know all that about them not being killed by crushing, very interesting. Also interesting is our older cat from the UK, who's rarely been treated with anything, never had any ticks, been here 6 years and the new cat gets them repreatedly. He has a much rougher coat, the older cats is very smooth. Wonder if ticks like rough hair to gling on with perhaps?
I read that bathing them for 10 mins works as it drowns them. Is this true? plus will the same be true of the vaseline "cure", that they will eject more poison during the drowning process. if so great will try it as its free and doesnt involve getting the knack of twisting not pulling, or even searching for the damn things.our cat is a big baby, anyway, & loves being handled.
Thanks so far. On the UK imports, forget it with the exchange rate plus p&p it would be more expensive than even our vet here. As I know from a vet friend, most vets recommend according to which company they are closest too, so those linked to Bayer will reco Advantix, etc, so little in what one gets in terms of info there. It looks like a couple of Euros can be saved per purchase and bulk buying, thus far, looks doubtful. It may be a very costly year for many of us!
To Hope, no offense taken... :-) I used olive oil on on of my cats before, it worked well. But as the years have passed, I have heard so many things. Thankfully, we do not really have that many down here.
Sorry claudia my line on i won't debate on vaseline because sounds quite arrogant!! sending wrong message, what i wanted to say was i don't want to debat eon it because the only source of information concerning that is from a vet in england over 11 years ago, so don't know how truthful etc that may be now a days :)
Hi there! I don't know how true that is!! we only put vaseline on when we first moved to france (over 11 years ago) and ticks were disgusting horror stories and we didn't want to touch them (we have become alot less squimish since then).
I won't go into a debate on vaseline as that is what the vet in England told my mum to do before we moved to france and we started to hear 'be careful of ticks because...' stories!
The only thing I am positively sure on is if your animal has it's regular frontline treatment it will not be affected by tick fever (lyme disease) even after having a tick on them!! It doesn't prevent the tick from attaching itself, it kills the tick and stops the animal form getting ill!! I stress on this because many people think frontline prevents ticks from latching on! nothing will stop that as far as I am aware!
I had a tick fill itself up on my head when i was about 13 it was the length of my thumb when i realised it was there! I didn't do anything straight away (go to doctors etc) but within a few weeks i had huge lumps on my neck bigger than golf balls! i will always have the illness in my blood apparently! BUT please be careful with your animals and ticks as if any drop off in your house they will latch on to you and you children!!!
Also, how to kill ticks! not many people know this but pulling a tick off an animal will not kill it! so throwing it in the bin does not suffice IT WILL crawl back out :s (beurk)!
To sufficiently kill them (so they don't lay eggs!!) you need to wrap them in tissue and light it! (horrible to say but you hear the pop when the fire hits them!). Crushing them etc won't work ...
For the Frontline, try Chemist Direct, form UK though, but they despatch quickly and I used them to get my sons Shampoo, which I could not get in France, as well as Flubenvet for the chooks, which again not available in France and no alternative option. I made a big order and saved quite a lot of money.
My vet used to use Frontline on my labrador, but switched to Prac-tic (Novartis). This for us seemed to work well and lasted ages, it also is supposed to be better if you have animals who get wet frequently (which is probably everywhere at the moment) as it supposedly can't be washed off unlike Frontline which can be after 4 washes/getting wet, how true this is I don't know as I've never experimented too hard.
I'm out of date as to the cost of this now, but I know in the UK you would need a prescription, but it is available from the pharmacie Claudia mentions below.