Preventic collars are most effective on the neck of the dog and not so much on the rest of the body. Also in the world of toxic they are pretty high up there. If I were you I'd use Frontline, it's non toxic and very effective on the whole body of the dog. You just have to make sure NOT to wash your dog 24 hours before or after application. I used Preventic collars back in the days before Frontline came out (mid 90's or so) but never again since.

As for your outdoor space I wish I could help but I have little gardening experience. I was a vet tech for 5 years back in my college days so I know how to treat the dogs and cats but not the lawn!

I use Frontline and it was not effective. I wish what you said was true! Vet says Preventic works on the whole dog in 24 hours and we have not seen any since putting on the collars.

In my experience Frontline will prevent a reinfestation of ticks, but won't knock of the ones on the animal if they're already covered with them. Get some Frontline after you've gotten the upper hand and it will help.

If you decide to spray make sure you go all the way--you'll probably need to spray at least 3-4 times at 1 week intervals or the ticks will come back.

Jason

I use Advantix on the dogs.

I don't have a treatment for cats, but cats groom so much that they almost never have a tick anyway.

I don't know of any nontoxic measures to get rid of them in the yard/lawn/garden , so I posted on the Pets Forum & the Organic Gardening Forum, will relay what I learn.

Last year, after 10 years of living here, we became infested with deer ticks. They were everywhere here in the house. I hate chemicals too, but I hate having ticks crawling around on me, my dogs, my cats, my DH and the house. I had an exterminator come out and treat the inside of the house. I cleaned up the dogs and removed the ticks. I washed all of their bedding and our bedding. Then I got the dogs on Frontline Plus. To date, the ticks are gone. YEA! I hated putting it on them, but the ticks carry so many diseases that the Frontline is better than the ticks.

In your yard, you can plant plants that will help to deter ticks in your yard. I have lots of herbs planted in my yard. I know that pennyroyal and lavender are supposed to help deter ticks. Since pennyroyal is a mint, I would have to assume that mints would also be beneficial. Also lemon scented herbs are said to help, i.e. lemon thyme, lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon grass, lemon eucalyptus, lemon pelargonium.

Here is a good website on Tick Control.

Here is a good website on remedies.

Good luck.

We give our dogs Sentinel which will kill ticks and fleas if they bite. I have yet to see a tick on my dog or anywhere in our backyard, but did see one flea. We put down nematodes in our backyard and I am due to do that again before the end of the month . . . which reminds me to add that to my shopping list. You know . . . just thinking about ticks and fleas makes me feel itchy . . . onto another subject!

***GROSS ALERT***

Do not read this post if you're easily sickened.

Ticks are pure evil. I lived in an area where ticks were EVERYWHERE. We're healthy, outdoorsy people--we garden, we hike, and in decent weather, we're out more than in--and we were always getting bitten. I don't like using bug sprays or repellents, so most of the time, we were out there in tick country unprotected.

Two people in my immediate family have suffered from tick-borne illnesses; my daughter had Lyme's Disease (caught early because of the textbook "bullseye" around the site) before she turned four years old, and I had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (NOT caught early because I thought I had the flu--this was very, very bad--the disease is fatal when untreated, and I was very close to DEAD before I was literally carried into the ER, semi-conscious; they first thought I had spinal meningitis!).

My friend's little boy got into a bunch of "seed ticks" and he looked like he was covered in pepper. It took hours to get them all off.

And all throughout this time, I was using Topspot and Frontline on my dogs, who rarely, if ever, had ticks. Our neighbor's dog, a working cattle dog, adopted us when he was off-duty. He lived right next door and had the same stomping grounds as my dogs, and he was constantly COVERED in ticks which were swollen up like olive-gray grapes. Every night, my husband would sit with this dog and try to help by pulling the ticks off, and my daughters would try to groom him sometimes, too. One afternoon, my daughters came running into the house, freaking out, and the littlest (about four at the time) was covered with blood on her hands and face. They were both yelling at once, and of course my first instinct was to grab a cloth and start wiping to find the site of the injury. I wasn't finding the source of the wound, and finally they calmed down enough to explain that she'd "popped" a tick when removing it from the neighbor's dog.

After that, I wished we could put Frontline on the neighbors dog and on ourselves!

The moral of this story: I still don't like using chemicals, sprays and repellents, but *sometimes* it's better than the alternative.

Thank you all
I look around and see that I can trim up the scrub around the edges of my backyard. I'm going to get a permethrine product that I can use with my hose and spary the yard. After all the rain, it's busy. The notion of wonderfu wildflowers...yes they are growing...was a bad idea. Virtually everything is getting mowed down.

Thank goodness there have been none on the humans, we have more than a few on each of 3 dogs, but not 100's.

I wish Frontline did all it promised, but apparantly when there are more than a few in the yard, it doesn't do it. I wish I hadn't learned this and hope Frontline continues to be enough for the rest of you.

Tick born disease is horrendous! I read quite a bit last night and the thought of brain swelling and brutal pain is enough for me to take chemical action.

I THOUGHT that using no pesticide or herbicides back there would encourage natural bio protection, and maybe that has kept it where it is. This is new territory for me, ticks in the woods yes, but in my back yard...never.

BTW my back yard backs up onto a wooded area and ground cover is everywhere...not in my yard, but all around here.

Spraying beneficial nematodes on your yard will help control the ticks, fleas, chiggers, grubs, roaches, ants, termites and other pesky pests. It'll also improve the quality of your soil. Apply them in the late evening or early, early morning before it gets hot.

To control fleas in your house, you can sprinkle Borax on your floors and furniture. You can even sprinkle it on your dogs & cats then thoroughly brush/comb out. Borax is a laundry boosting additive, totally organic, and found in the laundry detergent aisle at the store. If you have carpet, use a broom to get under furniture and down into the bottom of the carpet. Leave it on overnight, then thoroughly vacuum it up the next day.

I've known lots of people who give their dogs garlic tablets to help control fleas & ticks. Do NOT ever, ever, EVER give garlic to a cat, though. Ingesting garlic will kill a cat.

You can also apply Diatomaceous Earth to your yard, NOT the kind you use in a swimming pool, but the kind you get at a feed store or organic nursery. That will also help with lots of other bugs.

Stephanie

I found this in Aggiehorticulture.com I'm posting here for posterity. Cynthia BTW my vet say pyrethrans won't do it...contrary to this "answer".

I have a large long-haired dog that lives outside in the backyard. I'm on a corner lot and my surrounding neighbors have dogs. My poor dog is infested with ticks. Fleas have not been a significant problem. I initially put out about 25 million beneficial nematodes. However, I didn't get any directions with them and left them in my sweltering garage for 2 weeks before applying them so the effectiveness of that application was likely greatly reduced. I subsequently put down a couple of application of 1 million nematodes with better technique: watered prior, applied late evening, watered after application with some liquid seaweed and Hastagro, etc. I have seen some results, but they have been less than spectacular. On a scale of 1-10 my tick problem was a 10. For a while after the last applications of nematodes it went down to about a 2-3. Now we're back to a 9-10. I would appreciate any advice concerning organic tick control.

Your problem is common this time of year. I know it's too late for you to hear this now, but beneficial nematodes only control organisms in the soil. Ticks do not live in the soil and wouldn't come in contact with the nematodes. Good organic controls for ticks include pyrethrins, dusting sulfur and you might even try neem oil. You also must do something for your pet. One product that kills ticks for 2 weeks and fleas for 4 weeks on the dog is Frontline. Also consider a tick collar and haircut for the pet. Nathan Riggs, EA-IPM (Fire Ants) Texas Cooperative Extension - Bexar County

If Frontline doesn't work for you Advantix might. I don't know if it's a breed of tick thing or what but some people find that one works better than the other.
BTW, Frontline comes in spray form (for growing puppies) and even though it's not labeled for human use it does state that it's non toxic to humans and animals. I've used it on myself when I'd go hiking in Maryland (land of Lyme disease) and those things would cover your legs if you stood still longer than 2 seconds. It was sooo nasty but the Frontline spray worked.

thanks michellesgm that's great information. I've been reading a lot about ticks and amazed at how many there are in the north east Yikes! I won't complain.

cynthia