Ticks and Dogs. What's the Best Prevention You Use??

We use NexGuard as well, along with the heartworm pill May - Nov (we start the NexGuard in Mar and end in Dec). We did get our first one free from the vet, which at about $20/pill is a great savings, so I would ask about that as the vet said it was the manufacturer that offered that, not the vet. I thought about trying Revolution, but I don't care for topical applications for fleas/ticks - I prefer the pill and my dogs tolerate it well.

Good luck!

We have a big dog and lots of wildlife in our yard (and an indoor cat that doesn't need anything because the dog is protected.) We use Sentinel once a month for heartworm protection and we use Bravecto once every three months for fleas and ticks. It's the same routine our vet uses on his dogs. They are both chewables. We used the topical stuff on our last dog and it was ok but messy. This dog had a skin reaction from it. I like the chewables much more. If you do go this route, I would stagger the start date, if possible, for about a week so you can see if he has any adverse reactions to either formula.

For me, the fact that the cat is flea and tick free says a great deal about the success of the dog's routine!

I use NexGard for my 2 dogs. It's a pill once a month like the heartworm pill.

I live on a large wooded lot and I've never had an issue with ticks or fleas.

It is pricey... about $75 for a 3 month supply for EACH dog.

We have a lot of woods and are near the state forest, so I understand your environment!

We always used Frontline for our dogs. The first one got Lyme anyway, and we supplemented with a Seresto collar. The 2nd dog got Lyme and had a reaction to Frontline (first time she was sluggish, 2nd time she got serious tremors) so now the vet has her on NexGard (oral) which has worked fine so far. If it didn't, I'd probably talk to the vet about continuing the oral treatment and supplementing with a collar.

I agree with you that spraying doesn't make sense. You're not going to get all the ticks, I question the safety of the spray for everyone else plus the birds and animals that eat in the area, and it won't help you one bit if you take the dog anywhere else.

Good luck!

I've never needed to use flea/tick treatments *knock on wood* in my 40+ years of owning dogs. However, I know many people in other areas of the country that do, & many of them have concerns about the topical application (drops around the neck/shoulder area), with reactions.

I would suggest talking to your vet, & maybe even sampling at the vet hospitals in your area, to find out what they have found effective. Sometimes, different regions have different 'varieties' of infestation, & what might work well in the south doesn't have as much effect in the north, or different coasts.

On another note - have you discussed treatment with your vet for the anaplasmosis? Standard treatment when presenting with symptoms is an antibiotic (doxycycline) for 4 weeks. There may be some benefit in treating prior to onset of symptoms, to suppress or eliminate the possibility of active infection, but I am not up to date on that literature. A quick Google search only gave me results from 5+ years ago.

Good luck! T. :)

Sonesta collar is the best shot you have. The vet recommended it to us.