Keeping Ticks Off Your Pet

The best way to keep ticks off your pet is to regularly inspect your pet whenever he or she comes in from outdoors, and remove any ticks you might find. You might also want to take a look at our post on keeping ticks out of your yard. In addition, there are a number of products on the market that can be used to discourage and repel these pesky critters, and here’s the scoop on that:

If your pet goes outside regularly, you can use some type of residual insecticide. Frontline (fipronil) is a liquid applied to the skin between a dog’s shoulders that discourages ticks from staying or implanting. Revolution (selamectin) is labeled for one kind of tick. A permethrin spray can be used on dogs (but not in cats, for whom it can be fatal) as a tick repellent and killer.

If you use a liquid spray treatment, cats and skittish dogs typically prefer a pump bottle because of the noise from aerosol cans. Avoid topical powders if your pet has a respiratory condition. Powders are fairly easy to apply, but they can make a real mess, and they often contain permethrin. Shampoos are useful only for ticks that are already on your pet.

An amitraz collar, such as PreventicÃ’, has some efectiveness against ticks. Like Frontline, amitraz cannot keep all ticks off your pet, but it discourages ticks from implanting or staying on. The collar might be somewhat more water resistant than a residual insecticide, so if your dog likes to swim, the collar might be a better choice.

Flea combs can be used to help remove ticks. Wash your pet’s bed frequently.

Some people use a topical spray, but don’t realize they should not use more than one insecticide or repellent. Doubling the amount of anti-tick product, or using two at once, may cause toxicity problems. DEET, found in many over-the-counter insecticides, is toxic to pets. Any spray insecticide labeled for use on clothing should not be sprayed directly on pets.