My dog is covered in ticks! Why aren't treatments working long-term?

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Ticks live in the grass and jump on animals/cloths, and then bite and stay attached. Fleas will live in bedding/baseboards and will jump on and bite animals and then jump off. If you get a product such as Frontline, Bravecto, Nexguard, Advantix, Advantage, Revolution, etc. that should deal with fleas. Some will deal with ticks, but some won't. I would check to see if you aren't actually dealing with bed-bugs. Try getting a picture of the creatures that are on Bruno, and are crawling towards him, and we can try to help you determine what they are and what to use. Best of luck with Bruno!

He needs a tick preventative such as Bravecto, Nexgard, or even Advantix over the counter can kill ticks quickly and prevent them for 30 days. Please get him on a tick preventative soon and visit your vet soon if you notice any symptoms of tick bite disease (i.e. anorexia, lethargy, fever or lameness). You should also avoid areas that he could be exposed to with high tick populations. Keep him out of the woods and consider getting your yard treated for. I hope that your pet Max gets rid of his ticks soon! Best wishes and take care.

Ticks can be difficult to manage - even with some of these high-quality preventatives! Instead of using the Vectra 3D and Seresto products, consider using an oral flea/tick preventative, such as Nexgard or Bravecto. In my experience, these products seem to be more effect for both flea and tick prevention, but both are prescription based. If you prefer using topical preventatives for Orion, Advantix is another option that I tend to prefer. I would not recommend using additional topical sprays while he is also receiving the topical Vectra 3D. While all of these products are labeled for tick prevention, in reality, they can take a bit of time to work and actually kill the tick. If you find ticks that are attached to Orion, be sure to remove them with all of their head and mouthparts. Ticks need to be attached for around 24+ hours in order to transmit disease.

There are a few oral products that generally work very well for ticks if you can get them. They are Nexgard and Simparica. They are tablets that you give once a month. Both dogs should be started on this medications your veterinarian agreed. First you will need to speak with your veterinarian to make sure these medications are not contraindicated. Most parents can take them but pets with seizures may not. Make sure to ask your local veterinarian if there are concerns for tickborne diseases in your area. If so, your veterinarian may want to treat the pets prophylactically. Treating the local environment as best you can with insecticides may also help. I hope this gives you some ideas. Best of luck.

Unfortunately fleas only hop on the body of your pet when they want to feed, then they hop off again and stay in your pet's environment. So you need to treat all pets in the household as well as the environment (which contains the fleas, their eggs and larvae). Flea treatment:  1) Get some flea medication such as a Flea spray or a spot on from a pet shop or your veterinarian and apply monthly 2) get flea powder, put some in your vacuum cleaner bag and vacuum your house and furniture and also non-carpeted areas frequently to remove flea larvae and eggs which live off house dust., Dispose of the bag in the trash outside. Hot-wash all the pet's bedding, If you do this diligently for a few months you will get rid of the fleas. Flea products: Some of these are prescription, best call your veet and ask if you need to bring in the dog in order to buy those from him or get a prescription from him. Spot-ons and/or chews Advantage, Advantix Advantage Multi (Advocate in the UK) Frontline (ticks as well) Bravecto spot on (ticks as well) - for cats, in tablet form for dogs Simparica, Nexgard Revolution (stronghold in the UK) Tablets: comfortis (will only kill fleas once) Collar: Seresto (ticks as well)

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Buddy. I prefer to use a topical liquid for flea and tick prevention. The reasoning being this will prevent the spread of disease from ticks. All oral products require the patient to actually be bitten by the tick for the prevention to work. The bite is how tick born diseases are spread. My favorite product is Vectra 3D. It also repels mosquitoes so it works in conjunction with your dog's monthly heartworm prevention. This is a huge benefit. It is also effective against lice, certain types of mites and biting flies. Unfortunately, natural products are not going to effective. The diseases spread by ectoparasites can be a serious threat to your pet. A lot of times there are manufacturer rebates available when you purchase Vectra 3D. I hope this information helps!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Charlie! I recommend the following products for ticks: Nexgard, Bravecto, Simparica or the Seresto Collar. The spot on treatments, bathing and powders do not work well anymore. Hopefully you can get one of the above products from your Vet. The Seresto collars can be found online but I have heard of counterfeit ones being sold on amazon so be careful of online sources. It is best to try to get them from your Vet. I hope this helps and I wish Charlie the best!