tick control

[Sandy]

Hello.

I live in Canada - in an area that has ticks every year. They are here already this year. I went to the vet clinic on the way to work this morning to pick a prentick tick collar for my pomeranian. But they didn't have any this year and suggested "defend" a topical med that you put on once a month.

Since I don't particularily like collars I bought it. But now I am rethinking the decision and am looking for advice/information.

The instructions say to apply 1ml (a premeasured tube) for an animal up to 33 pounds. My pom is only 8 pounds. Is it safe to apply the same amount on an 8lb animal as a 33 pound?? Should I apply maybe half?? or even less?

Is there any history of Defend not being safe for toy breeds??

Is there anything else I should know about it??

[Traci]

I don't have any experience with Defend, but if that is the smallest dose it offers for small dogs, I'd consider Frontline or Advantage.

Please see the NEWS forum, I have listed some reference links for flea and tick control, those links also include graphs of product reviews and comparisons.

[loretta]

I live on a farm with gullies, bush, and bordering a river. I never see ticks. I have several dogs, and there are deer sharing our fields. My dogs have long hair, but they do get groomed occasionally. Is there just a spotty distribution of ticks, making some areas more infected? I live in Canada also.

[Sandy]

There are some areas of Canada that are worse than others. I am not totally familiar with what areas are or are not.

I live in Manitoba where they are very common.
My sister lives in Saskatoon where they are rare.

[newfie]

Ever since my episode with emmett seeing how horribly he reacted to frontline, and than after that his skin would flare up even after just combing him out, i refuse to use that on my guys , but defend is something i used rarely, in the conditioner form.
it worked well for several of my clients who didnt want to use the stuff between the shoulders.

[TheSkeptic]

We use Frontline on all 15 of ours with no problems. Until a tick infestation appeared, we used to use Advantage for fleas.

Ticks seem to come and go in some areas. Even with a Dairy farm behind my mother's house, we never saw ticks growing up. About 15 years ago there was a major flare up at her house. (the Dairy farm was long gone and had been replaced by a subdivision.) It lasted for about 5 or 6 years then they disappeared again. Hopefully they will not return.

We have been very careful not to introduce ticks into our yard, but that is actually an impossibility. Stray and wild animals can bring them into areas that were formerly free. ...

Hope this helps