SPRING IS COMING! - Danger and a Warning!!! - Let the Debate Begin, Again

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Read this article from http://www.alternet.org/ about pyrethroids, permethrin and deltamethrin, flea and tick products and their dangers to our pets:

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/123420/pesticides_in_pet_pro...

Last Spring, Ginger had a reaction problem with Advanix and I have read some people had reactions to Frontline. There were even huge discussions here on DK about Frontline not working, last year.

So, what should we do about the fleas and ticks of Spring?

Here in NJ, I never have a problem with fleas but the ticks are awful. I have used Citronella Spray and Castor & Pollux's Play Dead Collars. They smell great and keep flies and mosquitos away, but the ticks laugh at the smell.

What is everyone's recommendations for tick control?

[Tante & Jordan & now Annie!]

I have thought about Neem but it smells so bad! How do you stand it?
BTW I had a Puppy "Chance" die of Penny Royal poisoning.Be very careful of the herbal products. Penny Royal and Tansy (SP?) are poison for people and animals.

[2zw8n9vphfrc6]

i also think just like the overuse of antibiotics the regular use of flea and tick topicals are causing a sorta Super Bug flea that generations and such will beimmune to these chemicals causing the corporations to make even STRONGER posions. I even make sure to Not allow my children to pet others dogs that are known to have topicals on them as it does come through their pores and on their hair. My friends Holistic vet in CA will not even see a pet if they have been on a flea program because he has become highly allergic to it because of all the past exposures.
Michele

[Adina P]

But antibiotics and anti flea medications are nowhere near the same thing--totally different active ingredients that work and totally different ways. It's not about making stronger medication always--sometimes it's just a matter of coming up with a different method of getting those bugs... Not stronger bit different. If one of the medications breaks down a certain part of the cell membrane and another medication prevents the bug from reproducing--one is not necessarily stronger than the other but one might work better at different times.

[2zw8n9vphfrc6]

Oh yeah Lynne, I just remember my neighbors dog had a very bad reaction to it including blood in his urine. After 500+ dollars they finally stated it was from the flea topical.

Michele

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I believe it. I have read several studies that have shown similar reactions. I don't have a flea problem, but tons of ticks. We do tick checks several times a day in warmer weather. I have tried several herbal treatments and garlic in every meal I cook. It doesn't stop the ticks.

[2zw8n9vphfrc6]

i guess its just how an individual thinks as we believe and have seen the difference.


"

FLEAS, TICKS, LICE AND WORMS are never drawn to a healthy animal, but are attracted to a sick one like a magnet. Parasites are not a problem with animals on a good healthy raw and natural diet. This is a fundamental law of nature. Avoiding parasites naturally saves visits to the vet, plus it keeps the animal safe from toxic sprays, pour-ons, wormers and flea collars. "

Of course this is not to say that an occasional flea couldnt make its way on its pet it just will not survive nor duplicate.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

"FLEAS, TICKS, LICE AND WORMS are never drawn to a healthy animal, but are attracted to a sick one like a magnet. Parasites are not a problem with animals on a good healthy raw and natural diet. This is a fundamental law of nature."
I would be interested to know where this information comes from. It is NOT a law of nature...laws of nature are based on provable biological & scientific facts, not beliefs.
Again, I don't mean to seem to be arguing or challenging you, and if this works for you, that's great. But we don't want to present ideas as facts in a public forum, where people may misunderstand them. There are very real dangers from fleas and mosquitos.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Michele, here in NJ as in many places in the Northeast, ticks and Lyme Disease is bordering on an epidemic. I live in the woods where deer, skunks, raccoons, mice, fox and possum crawl all over and spread the ticks far and wide. I have had and was treated for Lyme's twice. My son had it and my sister had it. Ticks "hitch" a ride on whoever or whatever brushes against the blade of grass they are sittting on. I have never heard of ticks passing up on a healthy person to wait for a sickly one. They are brought in on my dogs into the house and we find them crawling through the dogs coat daily. They once in awhile will imbed but usually I am quick to get them off. They walk under the neem collars I used. They fear no citronella spray and don't mind the garlic I add to every batch of my homecooked dogfood. I know I am probably looking for something that dosen't exist but I keep searching.

[2zw8n9vphfrc6]

Bleeding and spontaneous abortion is also likely when flea topicals are placed on animals.

Michele

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

But the topicals are not putting steroids, which affect hormones in human beings, into the blood system of the humans who are handling it. Steroids are powerful substances which occur naturally in plants. All plants are not benign..many are poisonous. Just like drugs, which are made from plants.

[2zw8n9vphfrc6]

Hi Anne,
Our dogs also take garlic daily. Of course, some can find that it is "dangerous" BUT it is not. lol

Michele

[Adina P]

Garlic is either dangerous or it is not--it doesn't matter what I believe or you believe -- or anyone else believes. Facts are facts. That said I haven't read a thing that says much with evidence either way but that doesn't mean that there isn't a fact about it.

When it comes to health, either for ourselves or our dogs, our decisions should be based on facts or at least evidence and research when there is such available. Sometimes when there is no research all we have to go on is experience... And that works at that time.

But my experience does not necessarily mean that what I believe is true, if research and science and experimentation prove otherwise... Because my experience contains a lot of bias as does anybody else's when it's a stand alone experience.

Science isn't the enemy of health or natural things. Science merely looks at the available evidence from all logical sources and creates a conclusion based on EVIDENCE.

If I decide to cover my dog in a honey/garlic/seaweed mixture because it's sick and 3 days later my dog gets better...THAT alone is not proof that the 'natural mixture' cured it's disease. All that says is that those two things happened closely in time.

To show that indeed it was the 'natural mixture' (and not just coincidence or other things I did or didn't do) this experiment would have to be repeated in the same way, using the same 'natural mix' for MANY dogs with the same illness. IF they all got better then you can say 'Hmmm....loooks like something in this mixture cures this illness." THAT is all that science does...it doesn't have anything to do with choosing between Western or Eastern medicine or natural or holistic or drugs. It just looks at the big picture and tries through studies, experiments, etc to see what is most logically happening or what most logically caused something else.