Puppy tick/flea vs. Lyme meds: What's the difference & how often?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There are a couple of drug companies that make a Lyme vaccine. Some are better than others. None are 100% protective. The Merek NOBIVAV is a good vaccine about 80% effective compared to other companies. Each company is labeled a bit differently for the youngest age to start the vaccine series, I usually recommend 12 weeks or older. I recommend the Lyme vaccine with a good oral tick preventative in Lyme endemic areas Hope this helps!

If where you live has a problem with Lyme disease, then yes there is a concern. That being said, if she is up to date on her tick treatments, then it should work to kill the tick before something like Lyme disease can be transmitted. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

The simple answer to this question is yes. There are always pros and cons to giving a vaccine, but the lyme vaccine appears to be relatively safe and is about 87% effective (keep in mind that no vaccine is 100% effective). However, it is only recommended if you are in a region where lyme disease is known to be. Also, the best advice regarding prevention of lyme disease remains good tick prevention (anti-tick ointment and collars). I hope that helps.

You can just go and buy tick and flea treatment for your dog. Make sure it is the right size for his weight. You should think about heart worm treatment also. This will require a heart worm test to make sure he does not have heart worm and then the vet can prescribe the heart worm prevention. Here are some reputable flea and tick medications: Spot-ons: 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 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!

I am sorry I do not know exactly what type of ticks are present in India. In the united states doxycycline is a common antibiotic for tick born disease. Patients can have exposure to tick born disease and not be sick. IF a patient is sick from tick born disease they usually have a fever and joint pain. I would recommend using a tick prevention that kills a tick with out having to bite the patient. Also, ask your vet if a vaccine is available. In the US for lyme disease we recommend the lyme vaccine with tick prevention. If you find a tick removing is a great options. I hope that helps

Tick prevention can be achieved in many different ways. There are TONS of products available on the market, some of which are prescription only and others that are over-the-counter. You might ask ten different vets and get ten different answers as to which product is best, and this is sometimes due to the fact that certain products work better in certain geographic regions. For instance, where I practice in western Pennsylvania, we find that the Seresto Collar provides the best protection, particularly against deer ticks. However, this is not what was routinely recommended further down south. The recommendations will likely be different in the UK as well, so asking some local vets their opinion would be a valuable tool for you. Just in general, there are three different formulations for protection: topical, collar, and oral medication. Any of them are capable of getting the job done, just some are better than others in particular instances. In terms of humans, ticks can definitely infect us with diseases. The tick itself has to do this though; the dog can not get the disease and then spread it to us. Let me know if there is anything else I can help with today.