Discussions

Does everyone give their dog tick pills? I just got a puppy and when I was getting his vaccines they were really pushing for it. Just curious if it’s necessary and good for the dogs or any other information about it.

Do not hesitate to give your dog the vet-recommended tick pills. Once the temp gets to +4 the little biters (ticks, that os) come out.

Absolutely! They work fantastic. Ticks are gross, they come into the house on the dog then crawl onto you. Yes we give them!  
 
Also give Heartworm pills as we travel to areas known for this.

We hesitated for awhile to give our dog the tick pill because he has a very delicate stomach and other health problems. We did try it though with great results and will use it every year. We found the collars bothered his skin and some also repel the ticks meaning you find those bugs in the house, or if you sleep with your dog, climbing on you in bed.

They are absolutely worth it. We have a malamute mix so he's a bigger guy and we go out into the woods with him all summer. We switched to the pill two summers ago and he hasn't had one tick actually attach to him since. We've found the odd one in his fur but something repels them from actually biting.

Still use the oil for ticks. Tired of vet clinics pushing "the best" thing for our pets always.  
 
What kind of kickbacks, if any, do clinics get from fur pharma if they sell certain medications? I swear every time we're at the clinic, there's another "miraculous" discovery that will make our pets super healthy, super happy and super animals.  
 
Please don't be pressured to buy anything you don't feel you want or need.

How does the tick pill compare in price to the oil drops from Walmart or wherever you get them?

Nexgard is a chewable tick and flea product, it can be given monthly during tick season and works great. I work at a vet clinic, and there is no "kickback" for this product. Sometimes, a new product comes along that does indeed work really well, and is a "super" product....lol.  
I personally belive this is a great product. I have used it on our own dogs for the last couple of years and we definitely see less live ticks coming in on our dogs. It kills all 4 species of ticks, and kills fleas before they can lay their eggs. It is not cheap but works well, and if you have children who are petting/touching your dogs it is a great choice as it does not leave a greasy residue on your dogs like the pour on product that can then transfer to your hands. With Lyme disease in our area now...anything that can protect my pets is a good investment!  
Just my two cents...

Nine year old German Sheppard, we've been using the oil in the capsules for many years, a small amount does a lot on a big dog. Apply at the beginning of the season and maybe again half way through. Once again, expensive but worth it, the chewables in our opinion work great, if not just as good. The oil, we can physically apply to the warm spots where we know ticks will bed down. I remember as a kid my grand mother would fill half a milk jug every evening with big gray wood ticks off her old lab! Before we knew any defence product existed! Good luck this season and always read the instructions before using the product on your dog! Someone brought a dog into the vet last year and he had made the dog eat the concentrated small amount of oil.... the dog survived, but it wasn't a good scene.

I'm under the impression that proper tick medications are only available through vets in Manitoba. When asking agricultural supply locations I've was told they can no longer sell them. Advantix II works and is applied as drops on the animals coat. Insist on the dose for the largest animal as the cost is the same for a 5 pound vs a 100 pound animal. Simply divide the dose accordingly. I t will allow you to treat multiple animals at a reduced cost. https://www.animalhealth.bayer.ca/en/dogs/k9advantix/

We used to use tick collars all the time for our family dogs but when we got our new pup the collars seemed to bother his skin so we went to the GVAC and got a pill for him. If i remember correctly there were 2 options, and the one we chose was just the one pill. It worked great, he never had a tick attached all summer, they would try to bite him then die and we would find them dried up the next day. I believe it was around $40 or so, but I'm sure you could call around to the vet clinics and they will give you a concrete price.  
 
Edited by kevin89, 2018-03-19 08:45:16

We also hesitated for years about giving our dog the tick pill. I would just sit and pick them off her every day, several times a day. However, as she got older the bites would irritate her skin more and I felt bad at how uncomfortable she was so we tried it, and I will NEVER skip giving a dog the tick pill. I still check her because she likes it, but no longer is she itchy or irritated with swollen bites. Also, the reason we don't use the on skin treatment or collars, is because she comes in the house and I don't want the residue on my fabrics and there are small kids around that I don't want handling those products either.

Use the tick repellant. As soon as you find the first tick attached to your dog you’ll be sold. Not to mention the other ones that come in on the dog and then crawl around your house... later finding your kid and attaching to them. True story lol. I thought because we were in the city and didn’t venture far we wouldn’t need it. Very wrong. Yuck... now I’m thinking about creepy crawlers.

You can buy really good tick drops at Walmart really good value at $9.99 for a three month dose.