It's flea and tick season! Here are some of our favorite ways to keep your pet and home pest free, naturally.             

Prevention for Dogs
There are several effective options for flea and tick prevention for dogs. Spraying your dog down with Wondercide or Skout's Honor sprays before walks is a great way to keep ticks and fleas at bay. Natural Collars, natural Spot on treatments, and Internal (edible) preventatives are other great options to prevent fleas and ticks. Hot tip! Wondercide's and Skout's Honor Spray preventatives work for fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes - we even spray it on ourselves for mosquito and tick repelant! 

Our go to's for dogs are: Wondercide Sprays, Wondercide's Spot On or Collar for dogs, Skout's Honor spray for dogs, and Earth Animal's Spot On or Collar for dogs. For non-topical preventatives, we like Earth Animal Flea & Tick Herbal Remedy Liquid, and Earth Animal Flea & Tick Internal Powder.              

Prevention for Cats
We recommend keeping your cats indoors 100% of the time. Being an indoor cat will limit the fleas or ticks that your cat is exposed to. (Indoor cats also live longer on average than outdoor cats.) Please keep in mind that some essential oils and oil formulations are toxic for our cat friends. If you have dogs and cats that share the same household, using only cat-safe products is key. Phenols or phenolic compounds, occur in many essential oils and cat safe formulas are properly diluted to remove phenols. This is important because cats do not have the liver enzyme to detoxify phenols found in many essential oils. For this reason we do not recommend making homemade essential oil formulations for cats. We recommend only using products specifically formulated for cats. Check the labels on cat safe products and match the ingredients with the dog products you are using, if you're in a household with both dogs and cats.

Properly formulated natural topical flea and tick preventatives are effective for cats. Our go to's for cats are: Wondercide's Spot On or Collar for Cats, and Earth Animal's Spot On or Collar for Cats. For non-topical preventatives, we like Earth Animal Flea & Tick Herbal Remedy Liquid, and Earth Animal Flea & Tick Internal Powder.              

Avoiding the Pests
Part of prevention for many of us includes avoiding pests when needed. Avoiding tall grass or heavily wooded areas during tick season, can help avoid ticks. If you frequent an area that is more likely to have ticks, be sure to check your dog all over when you get home. Pay special attention to the armpits, ears, eyes, mouth, and other nooks and crannies.            

Environment Management
For tick and flea prevention in the yard, both Wondercide and Skouts Honor make sprays that can be applied to your yard and even trees to prevent and kill ticks and fleas. Follow the instructions on the bottles for best results, and reapply after rain storms. Clearing brush from your yard, and keeping trees trimmed can also help reduce the likelyhood of fleas and ticks in the yard. A note for gardeners and on beneficial insects: both Wondercide and Skouts Honor sprays should not be sprayed in gardens and flower beds with pollinator insects present. The spray is safe for beneficial insects when dry, but when first sprayed, can damage the bugs we like along with the bugs we don't.       



If you notice a flea on your dog or cat, be sure to wash all bedding and vacumn any areas where your dog frequents very well. Continue doing this routine often for several weeks to months (the growth cycle of fleas is from many weeks up to 3 months long). Wondercide can be sprayed on carpet and furniture to kill fleas - be sure to spot test before spraying all over. Let the spray dry and then vacumn. Be sure to thouroghly clean the vacumn out too!

Shampoos: If a bath for fleas is needed, Skout's Honor Flea and Tick Shampoo may be used on DOGS ONLY (not recommended for cats). Earth Animal Flea & Tick Nature's Protection Herbal Shampoo is safe for both cats and dogs.           

Oh No, There's a Tick!
Even with the best prevention, sometimes a tick bites! First, remain calm if a tick bites your dog (or you!). Next, it's time to remove that little sucker! When removing a tick you want to be sure to remove the entire tick, including the head. (it's very important to get the head out to reduce the possibility of tick-borne diseases). We like to keep a Tick Key or Tick Twister Remover at our house and in our walking bag or pocket during tick season, for easy removal. You can also carefully use tweezers to remove ticks. With tweezers, carefully grip the tick as close to the skin as possible and then firmly pull the tick out, in the direction the tick entered. Place the tick in rubbing alcohol or spray with Wondercide and save in a plastic bag, or take a clear photograph of the tick before disposing of it. Being able to identify the type of tick can be helpful if your pet or you develop a rash or other symptoms.            

Here's an illustrated view of how to remove ticks with the Tick Key, and with Tweezers.            

              

       

Thanks for joining us for another blog entry and trusting us as a resource for your pet's nutrition and health.   

We hope to see you at the shop this summer, Green Spot family!