Natural/Organic flea and tick protection?
 

I've been reading about the ingredients in some Flea and Tick treatments. I didn't realize that the active ingredients were pesticides. I, also, became concerned about the dosage for small dogs. One in particular(Tritak) recommends the same dose for dogs 4 to 22 lbs. I just can't bring myself to administer it to my 5lb. dog. Does anyone know of any natural or organic substitute for it?

The problem with natural products is there are no rules and no testing done on these products so they could be even more dangerous. I would use frontline or Advantix.

Lots of other countries recommend Neem Oil as a good, natural repellant....but I'd do a ton of research before committing to something like this as it's not regulated or anything. The weight issues are the same for heartworm pills and for vaccines too - our small dogs get the same doses as dogs 4x + their weight. It's a bummer.

I'm concerned about the same thing. There's a reason why they say you need put that stuff on thier back: it's not safe for your dog. Plus, whatever you put on your skin gets absorbed by your bloodstream.

On youtube, there's this guy that uses essential oils on his labrador, I believe cedar wood oil and some orange oil, and it works for him. I just bought a bottle of Dr. Harvey's Herbal Protection Spray. It's a blend of oils on a witch hazel base. You just shake it and spray it. I have yet to try it, because my little one does not know how to walk on a leash yet. When I do I'll let you know how it goes.

I believe Advantix has a box for 10lbs and under.

A lot of the natural stuff could be dangerous too OR not work lol. My friend used something called 'Ticked Off!' that seemed to work okay. She would spray it on the dogs before a hike, etc to help repel.

check out this onehttp://www.petzlife.com/catalog/tickz-tick-control.html

This works too, it contains neem oil.
https://shop.thehealthydogstore.ca/o...t-120ml/dp/773

One that fellow raw feeders recently told me about is Mozi - Q it's a Canadian product that has been approved by health Canada, I'm not sure if it's available in the US Yet.

Mozi-Q: The all-natural, homeopathic oral insect repellent :: Home

A friend of mine sent me this article. Thought you may wish to read it.
Heartworm Medication: Is Year Round Protection Necessary? | Truth4Dogs

Heartworm Medication Part 1: Truths, Omissions and Profits

Written by Jan on May 13, 2009 – 1:00 am

http://www.dogs4dogs.com/blog/wp-con...ll-249x203.jpgHeartworms are Spread by Mosquitoes. Heartworm Meds are Spread by Fear.

It’s getting warmer outside — time for sellers of heartworm medications to start scaring you to death.Television and print ads, which used to push meds only during warm summer months, now urge you to keep your dog on medication year round. The question is: why the change?
Drs. David Knight and James Lok of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, addressing recommendations for year round meds, warned: “The practice of some veterinarians to continuously prescribe monthly chemoprophylaxis exaggerates the actual risk of heartworm transmission in most parts of the country and unnecessarily increases the cost of protection to their clients.”
So, is the change to year round meds all about money? Or is there more to this story?
Heartworm “prevention” is a major health decision for pet parents and multi-billion dollar Big Business for drug companies, veterinarians, testing laboratories and on-line sellers of medication. When health intersects money, there’s a lot of room for conflict of interest. Only by understanding the business aspects and the truth about heartworm transmission can you make an informed decision about if, how and when to protect your dog with commercial products.
While everyone agrees that heartworm infestations can be life-threatening, infestation is far from inevitable nor is it the immutable death sentence advertisers would have you believe. (Otherwise, all dogs and cats not on meds would die of infestation. But they don’t.)
Every holistic vet I’ve consulted had concerns about the long-term safety of heartworm medications. Well-known vet, author and columnist Martin Goldstein wrote in his wonderful book The Nature of Animal Healing that he sees heartworms as less epidemic than the “disease-causing toxicity” of heartworm medicine.
Dr. Jeff Levy, vet and homeopath, concluded “that it was not the heartworms that caused disease, but the other factors that damaged the dogs’ health to the point that they could no longer compensate for an otherwise tolerable parasite load.” Those factors include, “… being vaccinated yearly, eating commercial dog food, and getting suppressive drug treatment for other symptoms….”

Heartworm meds do not, by the way, prevent heartworms. They are poisons that kill heartworm larvae (called microfilariae) contracted during the previous 30-45 days (and maybe longer due to what is call the Reach Back Effect).
The heartworm industry authority, The American Heartworm Society (and their cat heartworm site) offers a wealth of information. Their website is a public service but also a marketing tool aimed at buyers and resellers of heartworm meds. Sponsors of this website are a Who’s Who of drug companies. Fort Dodge Animal Health (Wyeth), Merial and Pfizer are “Platinum Sponsors.” Bayer merits Silver. Novartis, Schering-Plough, Virbac and Eli Lilly get Bronze. Most of these companies have sales reps that regularly call on vets and show them how to sell you heartworm meds. With any purchase of any drug, we recommend you ask for information regarding possible adverse effects, the necessity for taking this drug and available alternatives.
How Heartworms Infect Dogs: It’s Not Easy!
Well, now that we’ve looked behind the scenes of the heartworm industry, let’s take a look at how the heartworms themselves (called Dirofilaria immitis) do business. Seven steps must be completed to give your dog a dangerous heartworm infestation:
Step 1: To infect your dog, you need mosquitoes (so you need warm temperatures and standing water). More specifically, you need a hungry female mosquito of an appropriate species. Female mosquitoes act as airborne incubators for premature baby heartworms (called microfilariae). Without the proper mosquito, dogs can’t get heartworms. Period.
That means dogs can’t “catch” heartworms from other dogs or mammals or from dog park lawns. Puppies can’t “catch” heartworms from their mothers and moms can’t pass heartworm immunity to pups.
Step 2: Our hungry mosquito needs access to a dog already infected with sexually mature male and female heartworms that have produced babies.
Step 3: The heartworm babies must be at the L1 stage of developmentwhen the mosquito bites the dog and withdraws blood.
Step 4: Ten to fourteen days later — if the temperature is right –the microfilariae mature inside the mosquito to the infective L3 stage then migrate to the mosquito’s mouth. (Yum!)
Step 5: Madame mosquito transmits the L3′s to your dog’s skin with a bite. Then, if all conditions are right, the L3′s develop in the skin for three to four months (to the L5 stage) before making their way into your dog’s blood. But your dog still isn’t doomed.
Step 6: Only if the dog’s immune system doesn’t rid the dog of these worms do the heartworms develop to adulthood.
Step 7: It takes approximately six months for the surviving larvae to achieve maturity. At this point, the adult heartworms may produce babies if there are both males and females, but the kiddies will die unless a mosquito carrying L3′s intervenes. Otherwise, the adults will live several years then die.
In summation, a particular species of mosquito must bite a dog infected with circulating L1 heartworm babies, must carry the babies to stage L3 and then must bite your dog . The adult worms and babies will eventually die off in the dog unless your dog is bitten again! Oh, and one more thing.
Heartworms Development Requires Sustained Day & Night Weather Above 57˚F
In Step 4 above I wrote that heartworm larvae develop “if the temperature is right.”
The University of Pennsylvania vet school (in a study funded by Merial) found: “Development in the mosquito is temperature dependent, requiring approximately two weeks of temperature at or above 27C (80F). Below a threshold temperature of 14C (57F), development cannot occur, and the cycle will be halted. As a result, transmission is limited to warm months, and duration of the transmission season varies geographically.”
Knight and Lok agree: “In regions where average daily temperatures remain at or below about 62˚F (17˚ C) from late fall to early spring, insufficient heat accumulates to allow maturation of infective larvae in the intermediate host [the mosquito], precluding transmission of the parasite.”
The Washington State University vet school reports that laboratory studies show that maturation of the worms requires “the equivalent of a steady 24-hour daily temperature in excess of 64°F (18°C) for approximately one month.” In other words, it has to be warm day AND night or development is retarded even if the average temperature is sufficiently warm. They add, that at 80° F, “10 to 14 days are required for development of microfilariae to the infective stage.”
Jerold Theis, DVM, PhD, says, “If the mean monthly temperature is only a few degrees above 14 degrees centigrade [57 degrees F] it can take so many days for infective larvae to develop that the likelihood of the female mosquito living that long is remote.”
I have never found this temperature-dependent information on a website promoting “preventatives,” but only in more scholarly works not easily accessed by the public. There is, as far as I can find, only one mention of temperature on the Heartworm Society (on the canine heartworm page) and none in the Merck/Merial Veterinary Manual site or Merial’s heartworm video — even though Merial funded the UPenn study.
The Society also reports, “Factors affecting the level of risk of heartworm infection include the climate (temperature, humidity), the species of mosquitoes in the area, presence of mosquito breeding areas and presence of animal reservoirs (such as infected dogs or coyotes).”
Canadians: Please click the link find maps and stats on heartworm in Canada in 2010.

I just started using cidercide which works for me as well as my yorkies and cats....and thus far it is working wonderfully. I am still giving heartworm meds as I wont mess around with that.

You live in FL and fleas are a huge problem in your home state. I sure wouldn't want to mess around when it comes to infesting my home with fleas.

Here's a link that breaks down different meds, weights and also how they work.

Pet Flea Control: Pet Flea & Tick Control Comparison Chart

and here's another breaking down the infestation issues by state. Like I said, FL is at the top of the list for fleas.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/parasites/e...ulations_worst

:facepalm: not again with this....... She wasn't even talking about heart worms! Side note to anyone who reads this heart worms are very real it's not a scare tactic but there are people who want to sell there " natural" products that could not work and or make your dog sick sense there are no regulations or testing done of it by putting out false information and using scare tactic.

:rolleyes: over and over and over again

Riverside Natural Pet Products
Flea Free

Regarding the ingredients of flea and tick preventatives, yes, they're toxic. However, if fleas and ticks are a big problem where you live then it's probably best to use the top rated and most used brand such as frontline or k9 advantix. Unfortunately, this is all the pet med industry has to offer us at the time. I was worried about heartgard preventative for my little dog who is under 3lbs but you need to weigh the pros with the cons.. and for heartgard I just decided to give it to her because I personally got bit many times already in a couple weeks by mosquitos.. and the dose is for dogs up to 25lbs. The dosages should be fine if it's used by a large amount of people on their dogs with no or very rare side effects. Good luck, hope you find a solution that's right for you and your doggie. :)