Opinion and Venting

[Nancy]

I have been using Frontline on both Oliver and Ivy and have never had any issues with ticks.  1.5 weeks ago, I took the dogs on a trail in the woods off leash.  I did check for ticks and did not see any.  3 days later, I pulled a tiny tick off of my belly that was just starting to bloat (yuck, yuck)!  2 days ago, I pulled a fully bloated tick off of Ivy's head and yesterday I pulled a fully bloated tick which exploded off of Oliver's head.  There was alot of blood all over his fur, it was disgusting!!!  I forgot to say that I after pulling the tick off of me, I phoned my doc, described the tick which very tiny and he put me on a dose of doxycycline as a precaution.  I phoned the vet this morning and spoke to a tech and was told that they do not dispense doxycycline to dogs as a precaution.  I asked "why"?  I was told that because they see so many tics that they would be unnecessarily medicating many dogs and that they wait until the dog shows symptoms.  I said that my concern was for my dogs and that they NEVER get ticks and especially since the tick was most likely the type of tick that could carry Lyme,both were fully bloated and the one on Oliver exploded and both dogs could have been contaminated with the blood, I WANTED doxycycline for both dogs!!  Geez, it is like pulling teeth..........I am waiting call back, the tech is going to check with a vet.  What is the big deal?? I feel the symptoms or effects of Lyme or any other disease from a tick are much worse than the side effects of the doxycycline.  Some dogs don't even show symptoms until it is too late.  Would love to hear the thoughts of others.  

[F, Calla & Luca]

My dogs are on spot on treatment for ticks year round. I have occasionally removed engorged ticks from both of them. They have never shown symptoms of Lyme. Supposedly the ticks die after they start sucking blood. My dogs would have had many rounds of antibiotics by now. It is bad medical practice to overdispense antibiotics. I am a physician and I could have gotten them antibiotics myself but I did not.

[Ginny Nightingale]

I agree with F, that overuse of Doxy could make it ineffective and then we would be in BIG trouble. I found Frontline to be practically useless in my area of the Northeast--no one uses it here anymore--there is Frontline Gold now but I do not know much about it.

By the way, if the ticks on the dogs were bigger than yours and a light greyish brown when filled, they are probably wood ticks that do not carry Lyme--they get about as big as the tip of your pinky when full. Black legged ticks look like the period at the end of a sentence---really small.

[Nancy]

The ticks were definitely deer ticks, very small and greyish, brownish when bloated.  I guess my thought is that since neither of my dogs have ever been on antibiotics I would rather be safe than sorry.  As for the Frontline Gold, I have always used it and like I said, never had a ticks on the dogs.  With that being said, this was the first time we walked in the those woods and now it is the last time.  I could be over reacting but since my doc gave me the Doxy, I would have felt better getting it for the dogs as well.  Thanks, I appreciate the responses :)

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

In my experience, Advantix works better than Frontline, and NexGard works better than them both.

I have removed ticks from both of my dogs over the years and have never asked that they receive antibiotics.  

[Wendy and Myla]

We don't use any prevention on Myla.  Our vet has told us that there aren't enough ticks in our area to warrant it.  We go camping a lot and have always talked to our vet prior to a trip to make sure that Lyme disease is not a concern in the area we are going

.  We have removed three engorged ticks from Myla and just watch her closely after to make sure that she has no symptoms.  I really agree with your vet on this issue - I don't believe antibiotics should be given as a preventative.  

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

There is a vaccination for Lyme's Disease for dogs. Both of mine have been vaccinated. I had to switch to Nexgard this year. My dogs have always been on Frontline Plus...then vet switched them to Frontline Gold....with no problems until this year. First of all, they changed the applicator and I can't open the darn thing and my husband had trouble, too. I wrote them a letter about their new applicators and got no response, but the kicker for me was the groomer said they each had a couple of fleas last grooming session. This has never happened before and I treat them monthly religiously...so that was that...I switched to Nexgard. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Good point. I too have my dogs vaccinated yearly.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

If you're really concerned or if they show any symptoms you can ask your vet to run a tick panel.  I just had one run on my Guinness because he did have some symptoms and we wanted to be sure.  We live in an area with a huge tick population, and I use Frontline and Revolution year round...but you can't be too careful.

[charlotte bednarsh]

I live in NYC, however, my vet suggested having Atticus innoculated against Lymes, because we bring him to my son's house in Monmouth County, NJ where there is a high incidence of lyme disease ( I had lymes when living in Monmouth County) and the long term effects are awful.   I've had Atticus innoculated as a precaution, and additionally use Frontline.