Anyone use garlic for ticks and fleas - I'm reading a lot of conflicting things

[Rebecca Dix]

South Florida has been horrendous this year for ticks - we've never had a problem before and now we keep pulling several ticks of each of our doggies and the only grass they come in contact with is in our backyard and it's very short. Not to mention that's after using Frontline which I hate since it's a pesticide but I figured if it could at least help them but now it doesn't even do that. I've been researching garlic and read a lot of great things about it but also bad and I can't tell if it's one of those things that because it works the pet care industry says it's dangerous so people continue to buy expensive and dangerous commercial preventatives.

[jill]

i have heard both some say it helps with the fleas(i didn't know it helps with ticks) and i have heard that the pups get a buildup in there system, my vet said garlic powder was okay but fresh garlic was not in excess. i am also wondering about this we also live in florida near tampa bay area and have seen a tick on each of our dogs after coming home from a walk at our local nature park which was very weird my big girl is almost 8 years old and the first tick ever just last week and both my frenchies had one as well that evening we thought it was because it was wooded area and early evening. my ollie is on revolution and baby zoey is on frontline plus and our big bully is on comfortis(does not do ticks thought we were okay as never had this problem till now) and frontline spray as needed thankfully no flea problems but hated the thought of those gross little ticks being near our guys
i am very intersted in hearing what everyone says about garlic being safe it seems to be in alot of foods and treats not that that means anything! also is there a time when ticks are more prone to be on the move A.M. or P.M. cold or warm weather i know i am not very helpful just was interested in your topic.

[fran and dari]

Fleas and ticks are attracted by heat , that is why they jump on to our dogs ( and us)..And in large quantities garlic can cause a form of anemia in dogs and cats.

It is understandable that we want to limit the amount of chemicals that we use on our animals, but IMO there are just certain circumstances that warrant the use of things like Flea and tick preventitives..And in my experience , I would not take a chance on using something like Garlic..

The products on the market work by breaking the reproductive cyle of the flea and tick. If they do get on our animals and lay any eggs, then the eggs are killed before they can hatch.There is no scientific evidence that Garlic can do this..
Here is a quote from Lew Olsen PHD , owner of the K9 nutrtion list (yahoo)

RE: [K9Nutrition] Flea and tick products


There is no natural solution to ticks and fleas. Ticks are attracted by body
heat and CO2, I believe. The only way to stop ticks is to kill them, or have
them be killed when they bite the dog.

Garlic doesn't have any sway on ticks and little on fleas, especially if
there are several.

Some herbs are touted to be flea repellent, but the ironic thing is most of
these herbs are toxic too.




And if anyone lives in a State (like Fla) that is high on the Heartworm risk list, then I would definetely not stop using one of the chemical preventives.. Using Garlic as an adjunct would be an option ,but not in leiu of Frontline , Advantix etc

[Tatiana]

Thank you, Fran... You're absolutely right on all counts...

It winds up being way more costly to treat preventable infections than using the monthly preventatives, not to mention the toll it takes on your poor dog... While garlic is used in treats and certain foods or supplements in miniscule quantities, the fact is that there's no proven study to conclude that it's a suitable flea preventative...

In Florida we especially need to use EFFECTIVE monthly heartworm and flea / tick preventatives year-round... Some dogs are even allergic to flea bites so your best bet is to find preventatives that work for your particular dog... Mine use an all-in-one topical preventative called Revolution (by Pfizer) and it has worked on them successfully for the past couple of years, though local veterinarians always try to recommend other products that cost more... I've never found a single flea on any of my dogs, but I'm pretty good at checking mine regularly and applying their monthlies religiously... This year, veterinarians have seen an increase in cases of ehrlichea, for example, which is transmitted by ticks and treatable (though not curable), so ticks are especially nasty pests that you want to be rid of... For this problem, you need to treat the outdoors and create a perimeter around your home for areas that have tick infestations, one may have to use the special tick-repellent collars as a deterrent...

Good luck!

[Rebecca Dix]

Thanks Fran and Trish for the advice! You never know what to believe when some people say something is great and other people say it's dangerous like the garlic and the topical preventatives and like everyone else here I don't want to do anything to hurt my little guys.
We've been using Heartgard for both our dogs religiously from day 1 and they've been fine on that. I don't have a problem paying for whatever it is they need but I'm just hesitant to continue using Frontline when it is a pesticide/chemical and it doesn't even seem to be working anymore and they continue to have ticks and earlier this year fleas while on Frontline consistently. I feel very ignorant that I didn't know that ticks like to go in between the toes and that's how we recently found some really nasty engorged ticks which shows me that the Frontline isn't killing them at any point since they can get that big. I feel terrible that I didn't know this before because we are constantly checking them everywhere else and it never occurred to me. We've never dealt with ticks before this year and didn't find this info out until I started researching. I feel like a teribble Mom!!
Have you had success with Revolution on ticks as well as fleas? I haven't tried that one before so maybe we'll switch to that. Do you know if that's one of the topicals being investigated by the EPA?
As far as the yard, we have very little and short grass but we're planning on getting some Diatomaceous Earth for the yard as soon as we can figure out where to get some. Any suggestions on that?
Thanks again for the thoughts and advice. Everyone here is so helpful, I really appreciate it!!

[Tatiana]

As far as the DE, I have it spread around the perimeter by a local handy-man that I call... During the summer, I have my entire home treated at least 4 times, just to be safe, but my particular neighborhood has never really had a tick problem.... until my neighbor started bringing foster dogs from her rescue organization... so it's been a bit of a nuissance, especially since two of her dogs were diagnosed with ehrlichea...

As for Revolution, I've found it to be very effective in flea prevention, and it also happens to be a heartworm preventative... While it's supposed to deter brown ticks, I seriously doubt it's all that effective against ticks, but I've never found any ticks on any of my dogs... Revolution is also supposed to prevent sarcoptic mange and ear mites... Where my dogs' ears are concerned, I do find it to be very effective since they have a lot less gunk to clean and their weekly swabs come out clean when I tend to them...

You're not a terrible mother... Florida's harsh on dogs and, unfortunately, some suburbs and enclaves have major flea and tick problems year-round... Visiting Davie you'll see horses with ticks the size of grapes - so horrible! But, if you're finding lots of ticks where you live you may actually want to invest in the collars and have your yard professionally treated...

Best wishes : )

[Rebecca Dix]

Thanks again Tatiana, you're a big help and you've made me feel a lot better!! I guess I'll have to look into the other tick preventatives and see if I can find one I think will work since the fleas aren't an issue at all at least not right now I need to look for one geared for ticks. I definitely want to try the DE so I'll be looking for that.
Do you have any recommendations on which tick collars are safe to use?
THanks,
Rebecca

[Trish]

I don't have any recommendations on which collars to use as I've never had to use one, but just make sure to never buy the Hartz ones.. I read terrible things about them melting into the skin of dogs and doing a lot of damage.