RE: Ticks and other nasties was Your Breeder - Your Friend
Hi Michaela, I think I may have just been lucky but I recall the time at the US Nationals at Rhode Island where it seemed a lot of people were picking ticks off their dogs. I had bathed my dogs prior to travelling with Kennel Flea and Louse Shampoo and while I always rinse thoroughly some residual effect may have been at play because my friend's nimble fingers (she's a seasoned tick hunter) never found one:-) I have since changed shampoos because it has been some years since my kitties went to heaven and they were my greatest flea hosts. I now use Miracle Coat that has tea tree oil in it and I have used body wash with tea tree oil for myself in blackfly season and have found less trouble with these nasty biting bugs so figured it was acting as a repellent in the dog shampoo too. Worth a try if you have it in England:-) Rose T.
Re: Ticks and other nasties was Your Breeder - Your Friend
Hi Cecilia Well, AT LAST another Berner owner who had the same results with Frontline than me. My vet and vet techs were initially adamant that I must be applying the product incorrectly. I had them watch me applying it, I watched them applying it. The result was always the same - the dogs still got ticks. I don't know whether the local ticks have by now become resistant to "Finipronil" ( the active ingredient) or whether the ticks have mutated or whether Frontline simply doesn't do what it promises to do. And that is to kill ticks within 48 hours of attaching. It doesn't. I have contacted the manufacturer several times in regards to this issue. Upon phoning them I was haughtily told that they only deal with vets and not the general public ( Ha! They ought to try that approach in the US. Their customers would eat them alive and rightly so). I wrote to them. No reply. I had my vet ring them up in my presence. They still refused to acknowledge that their product wasn't working. They did, however, and I kid you not, offer to "fumigate" the dog for me by spraying them with huge doses of Frontline Spray. I can't repeat my answer to their generous offer, but if they carried out my instructions verbatim, the person my vet spoke to went home a happy, satisfied man! Michaela, Harvey & Rupert Devon/UK - Original Message - From: Cecilia Ståhl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: Bernese Mountain Dog Mailing List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 5:16 PM Subject: Re: Ticks and other nasties was Your Breeder - Your Friend Here in Sweden we have Frontline, which can be purchased over the counter at the pharmacists and Ex-Spot, which is only dispensed with a vet prescription. Although I was very pleased with the results of Ex-Spot, I decided to try the Frontline last summer on Griffin. It was absolutely without effect, so much so that Griffin ended up with Erhlichia by the end of the season. This year I will be applying Ex-Spot, needless to say. Cecilia Ståhl Stockholm Sweden
Ang: Re: Ticks and other nasties was Your Breeder - Your Friend
Hi, Yes we have both Frontline and Exspot in Sweden but I think both means to much poison. There are also other methods with garlic and showers with tyme and lemon. Are there other methods without these poisoning ways against ticks? Margareta Strand and Vincent Stockholm
Re: Ticks and other nasties was Your Breeder - Your Friend
Here in Sweden we have Frontline, which can be purchased over the counter at the pharmacists and Ex-Spot, which is only dispensed with a vet prescription. Although I was very pleased with the results of Ex-Spot, I decided to try the Frontline last summer on Griffin. It was absolutely without effect, so much so that Griffin ended up with Erhlichia by the end of the season. This year I will be applying Ex-Spot, needless to say. Cecilia Ståhl Stockholm Sweden
Re: Ticks and other nasties was Your Breeder - Your Friend
Marion I'm the tick queen of the Western world. Sadly. Because of where we live - Moorland, bracken, sheep - my dogs are veritable tick magnets. Plus, this part of England never really gets cold enough to kill off ticks, thus I begrudgingly pull off ticks all year round. I tried a variety of natural things, neither of them were effective. I found Frontline useless, never mind how carefully and diligently I applied it. My dogs still got ticks and far from killing them off, they appeared to be thriving on them. Whilst I second Deb Tripp's recommendation in regards to the Whole Dog Journal - it truly IS a great publication - I found their article about natural tick management less than useful. If I remember correctly, the chief advice was to keep your dog away from tick prone areas and to check the coat thoroughly for ticks after each walk. One CAN see the crawling ticks before they attach but they are really tiny and with a long haired dog they are b*s to find. Summa summaris, the article didn't really offer an effective alternative for tick control, either. On our last vacation to Switzerland the Swiss vet highly recommended a product called " Ex-Spot" for ticks. He said he hardly uses Frontline anymore since it really doesn't work. "Ex-Spot" is one of those chemical concoctions, too, but you have to weigh up the lesser of two evils. From what I gather, most European vets use this product and have given up on Frontline. I brought some "Ex-Spot" home with me so if you want any further info, please let me know. Also, one of the European members might know this product better than me ( Bernd? Tim? ) and perhaps could comment on it. Either way, it certainly works. Regards Michaela, Harvey & Rupert Devon/UK
Re: Ticks and other nasties was Your Breeder - Your Friend
Hi Marion: I'm from Canada :-)...not the US. I'm really lucky that we don't have a lot of nasty bugs in our country and I think it may be largely due to the cold, cold winters - helps keep those things under control. So, because I don't have a very big problem where I live, I don't have to use any type of flea/tick control. We do get the occasional tick, but I simply pull them off, and they are not the ones that carry any disease (fortunately). As for fleas - again, we simply don't have the problem. I may find an occasional flea that the cat has brought home. I sometimes treat the cats with a topical flea treatment if they have more than a few fleas - but it's rare. There is this great magazine called the Whole Dog Journal. It's subscription run instead of advertising run and they do exposes on flea/tick controls, dog foods, etc without having to cater to advertisers dollars - therefore, they can expose lots of nasty things without fear of advertisers taking away their accounts. You can subscribe online at www.whole-dog-journal.com and once subscribed you can read the back issues. They have a great article on flea/ticks and alternative methods. Regards, Deb -- Hunka Hunka Berner Love - Kimberlite Reg'd. Debbie Tripp - Saskatchewan Canada - Berners since 1986 http://www.kimberlitebernese.com
Ticks and other nasties was Your Breeder - Your Friend
Dear Deb Just to pick up on something you say about not giving toxic chemicals. This is the route I go as well but last weekend one of my girls, Emily, was obviously not well and when I checked her I found a large "wound" in her side. I suspected a bont tick (don't know whether you would recognise that name in the US) which is a tick that gets under the skin and then necrophies (right word?) the tissue leaving a large gaping wound. The vet has treated this with antibiotics and a liquid to pour onto the wound. My question is, what do you give the dogs to prevent ticks? We live in a country area and in many years of having dogs as companions I have only ever seen this kind of tick bite once before when we lived in a different place. The vet said that a bont tick carries Ehrlichia. In the meantime Emily now sports a "natural" tick collar. Any advice is welcome. Marion Marion Brown Teversal Bernese Mountain Dogs South Africa Dogs Never Lie About Love (Jeffrey Masson)
Your Breeder - Your Friend
I've briefly skimmed the posts in regards to what is expected of a breeder and rudeness, etc. and in the Seinefeld tradition...yadda, yadda, yadda Right now, I am in the throes of interviewing prospective puppy owners. A daunting task. I want the BEST homes for my beloved fur-kids. I put my life and soul into these puppies and I do expect that my puppy buyers will also do the same. I have certainly come across prospective buyers that are ideal homes save for some little niggling difference in opinion. It is no secret that I want raw fed homes for my puppies - prospective buyers come to me because I raise my puppies on a raw diet with minimal vaccination and exposure to toxic chemicals such as flea and tick control. Therefore, when a prospective buyer says to me things like - I do not believe in raw or minimal vaccinations...then right away we have a conflict. I do tell these people that they should seek out breeders who are more in line with their way of thinking. Please keep in mind here - I am not suggesting for one minute that my way of raising puppies is superior to the next - it is simply a different way. What I am saying is that one should seek out a breeder that is closely aligned to one's way of thinking. That to me, is the importance of the screening process - not only for the breeder, but for the buyer too. Your breeder should be your friend. This is the one person who will be genuinely pleased with all your puppies accomplishments. Seek out the breeder who shares your views and one you can get along with. And above all remember...we breeders are not mind readers. If you are having a problem with your puppy - please tell us. don't be coy. Remember you are not the only person we are dealing with. While you may only be dealing with ONE person, we are dealing with many. Say what you want...tell us... be specific. If you are having a problem with something say...something like...my puppy is limping, my vet says it's X, I expect this from you. That helps alot! Don't just say something like...my puppy is limpingand nothing more. I'm not saying you will get you want, but at least we will know what you want, which is a lot more specific than wondering what you want (from us the breeders). Deb -- Hunka Hunka Berner Love - Kimberlite Reg'd. Debbie Tripp - Saskatchewan Canada - Berners since 1986 http://www.kimberlitebernese.com
