I think the diacotomus earth will work on ticks. That is what I am using this year. It is a dust that you can dust on the grass, and you can also rub it into your dog's fur. Just make sure the animals don't inhale it. It is non-poisonous, but it is bad for the lungs. I get mine at the local Atwoods, but I think you can get it at Ace, and maybe some walmarts. Oh, and you can also use it in your carpet, if you need to. I used it last year in my garden, with pretty good success against most of the pest. Sheri

I found two ticks on my dogs last night. I went ahead and put their Frontline on them. I will try and find some of that stuff at Atwoods when I'm in Norman. Thanks!

I picked up a bag of Lowe's the other day, But it said it was harmful for dogs..
I am now confused.

Kirts,

YIKES, I thought if the diacotomus earth didn't have anything added to it, that it was safe for use on pets, as long as not inhaled. I think there may be 2 different kinds of it, so maybe one is harmful for pets. I know there is a freshwater, and oceanwater version, so maybe that is the difference. I probably better check my bag too, I am glad you noticed that.

Maybe Dawn or someone can help us out with this one. Sheri

We don't put anything in the yard, we just use the stuff that goes directly on the dog (I know, I know, but it works) I think this time I used K9 Advantix, because it is supposed to protect them againsty mosquitos too.

The problem I have found with relying on the topical tick control (which I use as well) is that the safer ones don't repel the ticks; as soon as the tick bites, it becomes paralyzed and eventually dies, so it doesn't attach itself to the dog, but they still bite which is where you run into concerns with lime disease and the like. My neighborhood has quite a number of dogs that don't receive tick control, so there are bound to be issues (confirmed by a neighbor), so I can't just rely on the topical ointment...wish I could! (It's bad enough...although, even my holistic veterinarian uses it as it is the lesser of all evils...). Anyway, hopefully we can come up with something that is less toxic to put on the yard! Thanks for all of the good conversation!

~Ada

Well, we let our chickens and guineas do tick control for us, but having free-range poultry is not an option for everyone.

If you buy 100% natural DE with NOTHING chemical added, it is perfectly safe for use on pets. The problem nowadays is that some chemical companies are adding chemicals to DE and selling it and sometimes people buy one of those DE-chemical products by mistake when they thought they were buying safe, organic DE. You want the DE that is made for organic gardening, and not the kind processed for swimming pool filters, which is not safe for pet or garden use. I only buy food-grade DE and I order it online.

I've linked a webpage that discusses organic tick control.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Flea/Tick Control from Dirtdoctor.com

Tisha,

I hear you, I was using the poisonous stuff on my dogs up until last year. I hated doing that to my dogs, because as soon as they would see me coming with the little tube, they would take off running and hide. So I know it bothers them, and it made my sister's dog have seisures, she can't use any of those at all. After the last fight over the Advantix or Frontline, I decided NO MORE. I'm going to try a less toxic approach this year.

Lovetotweet,

We had a horrible tick outbreak in our yard last summer, I have no idea where they came from, I think I pulled about 30 ticks off of each one of my Dobermans in one week. So I got some Neem oil, mixed it in the sprayer and sprayed the yard, heavily in the dog pen and where they lay. I removed the dogs from the area for a day. I think I did that twice and sprayed an all natural Dr. Seargents flea and tick spray (from walmart, green bottle) on the dogs. I never seen another tick last summer. This year I am going to try the DE in the yard and rub a little on the dogs on occasion, and see how that works out. I bring mine in at night to protect them from the mosquitos, but if they were going to be out at night, I would probably still use the Dr. Seargents on them. Sheri

Dawn,

Thanks for the link; we'll give that a try and hope for the best!

Sheri,

Wow! I hadn't thought about Neem, and it's great to know about Dr. Seargents...I'll give that a try. I hate using the topical tick control as well. I take my dogs to a holistic veterinarian and try to minimize as much as possible any chemicals I have to use on them (or me, for that matter!!). If this works, maybe we can lay off of the topical stuff. I use frontline, and my current group of pups seem okay on it, but they are young, and I know my last two dogs felt terrible for at least a day after I applied it. :-P If you find another way to go that is more natural, please let us know about it!! :-)

Thanks again y'all.

Ada

Dawn,

I looked around for DE but can't find food grade locally. Would you mind sharing the website you order it from? Thanks!

Ada

It's not easy to find, that's why I ordered it online. I think I got it from GH organics, so I linked their website.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: GHOrganics website

Thanks! I just checked and they do carry it. Yay!

~Ada

I read somewhere that lavendar repels ticks. You would probably have to have a solid row of it around your property and then it wouldn't be effective if you have animals going through.

Ada,

I just read the same thing that river22 posted, I think I read it in one of my companion planting books. You can get lavendar oil at wal mart in the cosmetic section. It is very strong. Maybe you could dilute it down and spray some around your yard in the evening, when temps are lower. Sheri

Thanks Sheri and river22; I'll give that a try. I know that I've read some things that suggest planting lavender near the front door to ward off bugs. We'll see what happens!

:-) Ada

Hi,

I am up in MA north of Boston. We own a company that does a lot of tickspraying. We were getting so many calls outside our area looking for help or information. A lot of people were looking for a way to determine if what they had was in fact a tick. So out of my own pocket I started www.Tickspraying.com a website with tick identification, info about Lyme disease and some other tick borne diseases. There is a page on how to remove a tick and some answers to FAQ's, and a blog as well. Currently I treat my lab with frontline spring thru fall. I have heard all the neg about putting a chemical on him, however I look at how nasty Lyme disease is. In regard to sprays there is a natural pyrethrum made from chrysanthemums called HydroPy-300 its not 100% organic due to the synergist in it. Garlic based products are advertised as a repellant, but if a tick is in the middle of wherever it doesnt know which way to walk, plus they dont travel like ants do. Repelants also wont control any that fall off of mice, chipmunks etc. DE wont work if the ticks are up on brush either. My take is to kill them, I am all for organic this or that, but up here a tick bite can ruin your life. HydroPy-300 is probably the best product to use. The other product we had good sucess with with was ecoexempt IC2 it smelled like root beer. It is made with plant oils that effect the octopamine transmitters in the tick, didnt work good for mosquitoes, but worked on ticks.

Here is a link that might be useful: organic tick spraying