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Post by mattie on Mar 29, 2004 17:43:09 GMT -5
I know I'm repeating myself but...I'm confused. It is mosquito and flea season here in the south and I do not want to give my dog all these chemicals. I am trying to get her to eat organic food as I do but she isn't liking it. I've had a dog in the past that had the hw treatment and it was awful for her and I don't want a repeat for this one. I just found out she was given the Ivermectin (for cattle) before I got her and that really scares me. Have any of you had a problem with the rabies vaccine? She's never had one but I know she must have it. So my trip to the vet includes rabies shot, Interceptor for hw if she is not positive. What must I get her for fleas? I know that's a lot of questions. I'm just too old for this grief. Thanks a bunch.
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Post by sibemom on Mar 29, 2004 21:12:38 GMT -5
I have always used a natural Flea, Tick, and skeeter repelent. I tried the frontline on Blade but he had a reaction to it. I think there is a link somewhere on the site for natural flea and tick potions. The one I used in the past had lemon grass oil, citronella, tea tree oil, and something else. If I find the link or the product I will post it. Otherwise Willow knows of one too
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Post by Nicole on Mar 30, 2004 9:37:54 GMT -5
Have any of you had a problem with the rabies vaccine? She's never had one but I know she must have it. My brothers dog Reign had a problem with the rabbies vaccine. About 5 days after receiving it he developed a backwards sneezing problem. He would have a snorting fit for 30-60 seconds about 20 times a day. It would happen while he was sleeping, standing, walking, playing, whenever. Now, 2 years later it only happpens once every few months. The vet wouldn't acknowledge the connection. He said it was an allergy that just coincindently started right after the vaccine. But I have to give it by law. I suppose the potential consequences of not giving can be far more tragic.
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Post by Willow on Mar 30, 2004 13:09:48 GMT -5
Mattie, what kind of *organic* food are you trying to feed your dog? Raw meaty bones are the best, the cheapest and as easy as feeding ki**le. As far as hw *preventative* (It doesn't *prevent it. It kills them IF they get them), all it is is a wormer, so you may be putting all those chemicals into your dogs body un-necessarily if they don't have hw. For round, whip and hook worms, Panacur works well and is the safest to use. As sibemom said, for mosquoitos, there are natural repellents out there that work very well. I will get the website, but I bought some last yr. from *flutterby* or *flutterbye*....I'm not sure how it's spelled, but is just www.flutterby.com or www.flutterbye.com. It has to be applied more often than things like *off* with deet, but is worth it. You can also make up your own concoction and I will post it here later. Ticks are a huge problem where I live and I have long haired dogs, but other's who have long haired dogs just go over their dogs everyday and pick off the ticks, and that is what I will do this year. Last yr. I used Frontline on mine and I still picked big engorged ticks off of them!! One more thing, I am glad to hear there is another *older person* here....I am older than dirt, and if I can do it, anyone can!
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Post by Willow on Mar 30, 2004 13:19:42 GMT -5
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Post by mattie on Mar 31, 2004 7:42:01 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for your help. Willow are you saying you don't give your dogs hw preventative? I feed organic meat and kibbles. Thanks again.
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Post by Willow on Mar 31, 2004 19:25:27 GMT -5
I always did give my dogs hw preventative. This will be the first year I won't.
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Post by tmgrl3 on Jul 15, 2006 17:54:44 GMT -5
LOVE THESE FORUMS!!
I have a 6 year old mini-schnauzer with severe inflammatory bowel disease...started a post this week here and got great help!
In the past two years, we discontinued all heartworm treatment, refused flea ointments...Cindy is an indoor dog, except for the dead of winter, when we take her for backyard walks...hubby is blind and disabled and for first five years of Cindy's life (since I wasn't retired) she was his sole indoor buddy...
That aside, my breeder said that in the 30 plus years she has bred schnauzers (for show predominantly)...she has never used heartworm or flea preparations and never had a problem she couldn't deal with in the old-fashioned ways.
Also, I finally got my vets on board....did the 3-year Rabies booster in April after Cindy had 3 months of health...no vomiting or diarrhea...and it set off three more months of vomiting....
Went to my former vet...he totally agreed...no more vaccines, boosters, heartworm, flea-tick treatments for our Cindy.
So...we hope to keep her alive a long time!!
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Post by Aussienot on Jul 15, 2006 19:22:51 GMT -5
If you do decide to go with Heart worm preventative, only do it seasonally. The dogs do not need to take them year round - unless you live in the tropics! The information that Amyjo provided is that the temp must be above 57 degrees for a solid month (day and night) before the mosquito can transmit the larvae to the dog. www.heartwormsociety.org/AHS%20Guidelines-Canine.htm. My dogs get heart worm preventative usually three or four months per year. I give Sentinel Spectrum (mibemycin oxime, lufenuron and praziquantel), because it's a general wormer as well. And as to fleas, well the best thing I did to fight fleas was to stop treating for fleas. Finn is super allergic itchy, and he was scratching himself raw over every flea bite. Willow made a suggestion to stop putting flea treatments on his skin. It was a scary idea, but I had tried everything else, so I had nothing to lose. Doing nothing really works. There is almost never a flea on either dog. I'm sure it has something to do with raw feeding. It must change the smell of them or something, but I have to wonder if fleas have become resistant to current insecticides.
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Post by tmgrl3 on Jul 15, 2006 20:03:02 GMT -5
Hi mattie....you said you live in the South. My cousin, who lives in Dade County Florida...has fairly large property...with four dogs, three poodles and a dachshund....she never uses any of the flea preparations....but she does have her property sprayed several times a year to control population and she says it is a great help! I do believe they take the heartworm part of the year...we did that for our other dogs...6 months on, 6 months off.
But the pills and flea creams are really toxic.....IMHO...and many others....
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Post by dragoness on Aug 1, 2006 21:59:30 GMT -5
REading these posts, I can't help but worry about your poor dogs! Please give them their flea and heartworm preventatives! I am a 4th year vet student, and I am freshly through learning about all this stuff, so please ask me any questions you have.
Willow, you misunderstand the nature of heartworm preventatives. Yes, they are a monthly " dewormer" for heartworms. But that does NOT mean that it isn't prevention! The stage of the heartworm that the monthly preventative kills is the early larval stage that lives under the skin for a month or two before the heartworm matures and moves into the blood vessels of the lungs and the heart. If you miss killing this stage, the adult heartworms are immune to these very safe preventatives, and can only be killed by very dangerous arsenic compounds, which cause bits of dead worms to end up in the bloodstream (hence the need to keep a dog being treated for a heartworm infection under cage rest, because excercise gets the blood moving and can cause these worm bits to lodge in the blood vessels of the lungs).
Personally, when it comes to flea products, I recommend Frontline. It is pretty rare for dogs to have a reaction to it, and it is very effective. It also does ticks, which can carry some pretty nasty diseases in some areas and are very hard to find and pluck off on long-haired dogs. THe herbal stuff may do some good for repelling mosquitoes, but it does that by "blinding" the mosquitoes methods of detecting where animals are, and since fleas use a totally different method, it really doesn't do much for them.
When you do think about chemicals and organics, please do remember that all herbs that do their job do so through natural chemicals that they contain, which can be just as potent (or nasty) as synthetic chemicals (hey, poison oak is all natural). Many synthetic chemicals, in fact, were originally derived from herbs, and are now sold as the flea products that you all seem so wary of. What is different is that these products are able to deliver those same chemicals in a finely measured dose that has been tested extensively for safety and efficacy and is regulated to make sure it is safe and effective, while the herbal stuff just has to not outright lie on the label, has no guarantee of the concentrations of any given chemical in their product, and undergoes no testing. All- natural does not mean all-good-- you still need to apply your consumer common sense.
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