Friday, August 17, 2012

Finding an Effective Kind of Dog Tick Treatment

There are three things basically that you need to think about before picking a particular kind of dog tick treatment. You need to think about how effective it is, what the side effects are that your dog will have to put up with, and you have to think about how much money the treatment will cost.

There are many options of course – right from prescription medication to all kinds of over-the-counter treatments. Alternative medicine has dog tick treatment options too.

Of course, you need to also consider how much hard work a particular treatment option involves. For instance, about the most effective way of getting rid of the ticks on a dog would be to closely look at your dog's fur everyday to see if there are any ticks or fleas, and then to manually remove them with tweezers. This does work, and it's completely effective. There are no side effects, either. But it does require an investment of time. If you're not happy with this, you'll need to consider some of the chemical treatments and holistic treatments that there are.

It's not a good idea to not just choose a dog tick treatment option on your own. It's always best to start with your dog's veterinarian. He'll examine your dog, see if he has ticks, and then tell you that the problem is serious enough that you should consider prescription medication.

If he does find that there are ticks, he'll probably go on to do a test to see if the ticks are causing any other health problems. In fact, this is an important reason why you would want to consult with a veterinarian first. Your problems aren't over the moment those ticks are off your dog. There are diseases that ticks cause that need looking into.

Most often, the vet will prescribe topical medications. Products that require daily application, are usually the best. You could easily find products that only require a weekly or monthly application. If you have a busy schedule, you might find this considerably more convenient.

For the most part, you'll go with sprays or shampoos or collars first, and only go with pills if none of these work.

Tick medications can contain very toxic chemicals. The EPA has put out a notice that warns people about these problems. Many dogs die every year, succumbing to these effects.

You could alternatively, consider natural products before you go to something toxic. Peppermint, lemon grass, castor oil – these are a few natural products that are considered effective against ticks.

A Natural Tick Repellent for Dogs

What is the best way to keep nasty parasites like ticks and fleas off your dog's coat? It isn't difficult to find a simple, cheap mass-market products that will poison all those pests, of course.

Many pet owners though are beginning to become concerned. Even if the poison used in tick repellent isn't powerful enough to do anything to a dog right away, it certainly can't be healthy. Many dog owners now look for a natural alternative.

It isn't just concerned pet owners who think this way. The EPA a couple of years ago, issued an advisory about the chemicals that you apply to a dogs back to help keep ticks away. The advisory says that there are thousands of cases where dogs react with skin irritation, and even seizures or worse. In the year 2008, tick repellent for dogs killed about 600 pets.

There are a few things that you learn about how these toxic pesticides work when you look closely at the EPA directive. They've found that small dogs – ones under 20 pounds – are the ones that have most of these reactions.

Especially, they've found that chemicals like cyphenothrin and permethrin are very poisonous for small dogs.

In short, you don't want to use any mass-market toxic chemical-based repellent for dogs.

When people search for a natural tick repellent for dogs, they usually have some kind of natural herbal juice or something in mind. They hope that they can spray this stuff on, and it will work. There's a much better way though, and it works very well.

But it takes a few minutes everyday. All you need to do is to do is to give your pet a thorough nose-to-tail search using your hands and your eyes, to find if there are any ticks that are present. If you find any, you just have to pluck them off. If you do this every day, it takes no more than 5 minutes.

There's an important reason why you want to do this. You want this because nothing works well, and ticks aren't just capable of attaching themselves to animals. They come to humans too.

It isn't a bad idea to try to keep tick infestations away, by making sure that your dog doesn't go to places where ticks are usually to be found. Keep your dog away from old, neglected wood or piles of fallen leaves. That's where these creatures live most of the time.

Some Dog Tick Treatment Products at Amazon




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