Tick Warfare

It is high tick season here and the wooded dog park, as beautiful as it is, is home to millions. I am spending a lot of time pulling ticks off dogs and becoming generally "creeped out" by the thought that they might be crawling in my house. I vacuum like a madwoman. One day, I even vacuumed the dogs! (Phoebe loved it, by the way.)

I use Frontline diligently but have never been a big fan of putting chemical drops on the dogs. However, it is now war and even Frontline is not working. Or maybe it is. When I called the vet to ask about using a tick collar in conjunction with Frontline (they don't even sell them anymore, by the way), they explained that Frontline is not a repellent. It does kill ticks, but only once they have attached. Which is why I still have to visually and manually search for ticks that have not attached and then remove them. They suggested using a lint roller each time the dogs come inside, rolling it over their coats. Not really a great option for long haired breeds like Amos since every hair gets stuck.

So I went searching for some alternatives. The first thing I found was an herbal oil--a combination of Eucalyptus, Tea Tree and Cardamon--that you apply to a cotton web collar and place around the dog's neck. It smells fine--and the dogs don't seem to mind them, but there is the problem of dampening those collars on a daily basis. You go through a lot of oil.

I have heard that just plain Eucalyptus oil works since ticks don't like the smell, so the alternative is to buy some at the Health Food store and rub it on the dog's coat. I am not a big fan of the Eucalyptus smell but I hear it works.

The other thing that is supposed to work is Cedar oil, which I just ordered from CedarCide. One of my daughter's colleagues at work swears by Cedar to repell fleas and ticks. I have just purchased their BestYet spray--which they claim is great for people as well as pets--so the jury is still out. I hope it works.

In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!