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Non-Toxic Flea and Tick Prevention

September 26, 2018 By Jodi

Living in CT, just 50 (ish) miles from where Lyme disease was discovered, you can imagine tick prevention is extremely important to me.

In my mind, ticks and fleas go hand in hand. They are both bloodsucking, disease carrying parasites, and I have no desire to have them on my pets, or in my house.

 

I stopped using a topical flea and tick preventative on my dogs many years ago. We did use it initially, but Sampson always cringed when we applied it, and then I started thinking about the fact, I was applying a poison to my dog, that was absorbed into his blood that was strong enough to kill a tick!

Have you ever tried to kill a tick? Yeah, it’s not like you can step on them and squish them.

The dogs and I love to hike in the woods, which, of course, are full of ticks. Additionally, due to all the wildlife in our area, we can pick up ticks just walking around the neighborhood.

Fleas

I’ve heard healthy dogs don’t attract fleas, and while most healthy dogs are unattractive to fleas, any dog can pick up a flea and bring it into your home. Once inside your home, fleas can lay eggs in carpets, upholstery, cracks in the floor, etc. They can lie dormant for months, and then a nice sunny day, those bitches pop up like you were playing Whack-A-Mole. Unlike Whack-A-Mole, you can’t just pop a flea on the head and think it’s gone. It can literally take you months…months!

Fleas carry diseases. I’m not going to go into them here, but if you are interested, you can read some of the diseases HERE.

Of course, we recently had a bout with Tapeworm, another really gross by product of the infamous flea. In that instance, I could not find evidence of fleas, either on the dogs or in the house, BUT, that doesn’t mean Sampson didn’t ingest a flea, or flea egg whether it was at the vet’s or outside.

Must. You. Go. There?

Ticks

As I mentioned, we live less than an hour away from where Lyme disease was first discovered. I want to vomit just thinking about these fat bastards, what they do and what they carry. Besides Lyme, they carry a number of serious  diseases, and while most are treatable, it’s just one more thing I don’t want to worry about.

I’m not saying ticks are BETTER than fleas, but usually when I find a tick, it’s ONE tick, and it’s easily removed. We have a small container filled with rubbing alcohol where nasty ticks go to die. It sits on the counter with our tick key, and is always ready when needed. I know some people who put the tick in tape, or a plastic bag with the date on it, in case they need to have the tick checked.

I like to prevent fleas and ticks, as opposed to treating for them, so this is how we do it.

Treating the yard.

Almost immediately upon moving to our home almost 11-years ago, I found a tick, attached to my stomach. We had just moved in, and a lot of items hadn’t been unpacked, so removal was primitive. (I think I held the flashlight and Hubby used a steak knife.) 🙂

I called for a professional service soon after. We used a traditional flea/tick service until about three years ago, that’s when I found Think Green, a professional service that uses a combination of essential oils to spray the yard. They come out four times per year at $95 a treatment. The bonus to this service is…my yard smells like a Tic Tac right after being sprayed. 🙂

So that’s what a Tic Tac smells like. I’m sure I’d love it, if I knew what it was.

Treating the dogs.

In addition to treating our yard, I use a non-toxic flea and tick spray on the dogs. I do this twice per day. Back in the spring, I was only spraying once per day, and there were occasions (maybe once per week,) when I’d find a tick on one of the dogs. Then I switched to twice per day, and that seems to have done the trick.

Ticks tend to thrive in the cooler weather of spring and fall, so we are heading into ‘tick season’ right now. Spraying the dogs twice per day adds more time to my schedule, but if it keeps them from getting ticks, and tick diseases, I’m okay with that.

When I look for a natural/non-toxic tick spray, I look for ingredients I can read and pronounce, (nothing with sodium lauryl sulfate in them.) It’s important to pay attention to the ingredients in natural products, as natural and non-toxic are not the same thing.  Also, some sprays use rubbing alcohol as a base, and while I’m okay spraying that on my dogs with thick Labrador coats, some dogs (especially those with thin coats) could have some issues with skin drying out, which could cause itching.

I typically rotate my flea and tick sprays, and one of my go-to’s is Pet Natural’s of Vermont.

I rotate my spray for two reasons. One, I don’t want Sampson or Delilah to develop and intolerance or have a reaction because I’ve used the same product too much. Two, I don’t want those fleas or ticks to get used to the smell and become immune to it. 🙂

The bonus for using a non-toxic spray, is I can use it on myself as well.

How do you keep your pets from getting fleas or ticks?

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase by clicking a link, we may get a small commission, and we thank you for your support.

This is part 4, in a series designed to help you make simple changes, that will help reduce toxin exposures for both you and your pets. If you’ve missed the previous installments, or are just tuning in, installment one can be found HERE, installment two can be found HERE, and installment three can be found HERE.

While researching whether it’s true a healthy dog does not get fleas, I came across this…Top 10 Flea Myths from Only Natural Pet.

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Filed Under: Health Related Tagged With: Health, Life With Sampson And Delilah

Lots of Smiles

September 23, 2018 By Jodi

I’ve been posting You Make Me Smile posts for over three years. That’s a lot of smiles, yo!

There have been times, I’m sure, when I’ve done the same or similar post, because honestly, I’m not keeping track.

And there are weeks, when I think, I have nothing to post that I haven’t posted already. Even though these guys really do make me laugh every day. I just don’t always capture it in a picture.

Then there are weeks when the dogs just comet through for me. Maybe on a day when I look down and see that Sampson is fully under Hubby’s chair.

Golden Labrador

So under, that Hubby can’t get out of his chair.

Let’s check this from a different angle.

Yup, he’s well and truly under that chair.

Of course we laughed. He’s just such a silly dog.

You make me laugh (or smile). The sweet, funny, loving things my dogs do that brings a smile to my face, or a laugh to my lips.

What did your pet do that made you laugh or smile this week?

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Filed Under: You Make Me Laugh Tagged With: Sampson, You Make Me Laugh

Holter Monitor – Take 1

September 19, 2018 By Jodi

When Delilah first saw the canine cardiologist for her heart arrhythmia, it was recommended she wear a Holter Monitor, to see if we could get an idea of what might be contributing to the arrhythmia, and what we could do to help her.

Initially I said, “No.” Mostly because they wanted me to sign a waiver saying I would replace the $1,400 machine if Delilah broke and it, but the other reason was I couldn’t see bundling her up in the heat and humidity of the summer.

As luck would have it, we went in for a check-up August 29th. Delilah’s arrhythmias were down to six in a four minute period, which was really good. Dr. Morris mentioned the Holter Monitor again, and since it was fairly cool with low humidity, and I had already decided I was working 1/2 a day, I said, “Go ahead.”

First Dana had to shave Delilah. Then she put six leads on her, three on each side of her body. Once that was done, Dana attached wires to the leads, and taped the leads and wires to Delilah’s body.

After that was done, the Holter Monitor was placed on Delilah’s back, and more tape was added.

Once everything was taped good, Dana put Delilah in a Thundershirt.

She advised me when removing the device, to not use scissors because I could inadvertently cut the wires.

Delilah didn’t seem to mind wearing the Holter or the Thundershirt at all while I was with her, but I was nervous about leaving her.

Still, I had to go into work, and so I did.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got home, that Delilah was still in her Thundershirt, and she didn’t seem put out in any way.

In fact, there was a lot of this going on.

She had two walks and two meals, and when we hit the 24-hour mark, it was time to remove the Holter Monitor and leads.

Houston we have a problem.

The first thing I noticed when the Thundershirt came off was a wire, just hanging there.

I realize the wire is hard to see, so I added the arrow.

The connector wasn’t there. Just a wire.

Well shit, that can’t be good!

There was nothing else to be done, I had to remove the leads.

Dana had mentioned rubbing alcohol on the adhesive, but I was hesitant to use it just in case any of the leads had agitated Delilah.

Hubby and I thought maybe some Vaseline, but I thought I’d take the tape off first, then determine how to remove the leads.

Unfortunately, the leads were coming off with the tape. I felt bad pulling on the tape, and while I was very careful removing it, I was pulling on poor Delilah, but she was a real trooper, she did flinch a couple of times, but she still let me remove them.

After they were all removed, I found the connector. It was still attached to one of the leads.

Hubby was able to attach the connector to the wire, and I packaged the whole thing up and sent it back to the Cardiologist.

Once they had received it, I called up and explained what happened to Dana. We just couldn’t figure out HOW that one lead became disconnected from the wire. Our hope was the wire came off towards the end of the 24-hour period, and there would be enough data to give the Dr. what she needed.

The best laid plans, sometimes just don’t work out.

Dana called me last week to let me know, the entire 24-hours was complete static. They got absolutely nothing.

We will have to repeat the test. I have her scheduled for the middle of October, but I’m going to see if I can get her in earlier.

Dana has assured me, we will NOT be using the same monitor and there is no charge to repeat the test.

Let’s hope that connector stays where it needs to.

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Filed Under: Health Related Tagged With: Delilah, Health, Heart Like A Dog

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About Jodi

jodiHi, my name is Jodi. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog! I have all kinds of fun writing about my two crazy pups, Sampson and Delilah. Find out more!

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Heart Like A Dog by Jodi E. Stone is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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