Insect repellent and smelling abilities

Colleen · Post by **Colleen** » Sun May 09, 2004 5:26 pm

Ok all, I live in tick central, so before heading into the woods, my boyfriend and I spray ourselves and our GSP down with Deet bug spray. Fletcher HATES it, we're guessing that if it smells so horrible to us, it is that x100 to him. But will it interfere with his ability to find birds? I don't want it to be so overpowering it's all he can smell, but man are the ticks bad around here!!

12 Volt Man · Post by **12 Volt Man** » Sun May 09, 2004 7:11 pm

Good question. I have wondered the same thing. I have thought about spraying my dog with it but never have.

WildRose · Post by **WildRose** » Sun May 09, 2004 7:17 pm

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but putting DEET on your dogs is very DANGEROUS!!! Deet is a VERY toxic chemical and can have nasty short and long term neurological effects. Dogs skin is much thinner than ours and is highly permeable, and on top of that they of course are constantly lickign and grooming themselves.

The ONLY insect repellants I use on the dogs are advantix and an all natural citrus based horse spray.

Most insecticides and repellents that are chemically based have very active neuro toxic chemicals and should be used with caution to say the least and in my opinion should never be used on a dog. CR

Wireviz_lady · Post by **Wireviz_lady** » Sun May 09, 2004 9:03 pm

CR is right dont use the spray on stuff. I do use Biospot on my Viz because we live where there are all kinds of ticks. Deer,bear, and those big ol wood ticks. I havent had any reations to my dogs and have also applied it to some elderly and or not so healthy dogs and have never had any adverse reactoins. This also helps keep the squeeters which carry heartworms. If your dog has any type of reaction to chemicals in the past check with your vet first.
Bec

Post by **Ayres** » Sun May 09, 2004 11:06 pm

I never even thought about repellant for a dog. Good topic!

Wireviz_lady · Post by **Wireviz_lady** » Mon May 10, 2004 12:08 am

You almost have to with all the tick borne and heart worm diseases out there. Lyme disease can really put a cramp in your pups activity level and lets face it...in the field they have to be feeling good.
Bec

Post by **Ayres** » Mon May 10, 2004 12:59 am

How good is the lyme disease vaccine I've heard about? There's a lot of deer ticks here in the Midwest, and I had planned on getting pup the lyme disease vaccine anyway...

Wireviz_lady · Post by **Wireviz_lady** » Mon May 10, 2004 1:03 am

I dont know. I havent used it. Maybe someone else has. Been thinking about it too.
Bec

WildRose · Post by **WildRose** » Mon May 10, 2004 11:51 am

The FT. Dodge Lyme disease vaccine seems to be both Highly effective and have a low risk of side effects. The worst thing about Lyme disease is that even though it's treatable, it's hard as heck to kill out completely and there can be a substatial risk autoimmune and arthritic problems long term after infection. If I lived in a region where it's of high concern I'd definitely talk to my vet about vaccinating for it. CR

Colleen · Post by **Colleen** » Mon May 10, 2004 12:28 pm

You know, Charles, right after I posted that I read on the can of spray (which maybe I should start doing beforehand, eh?) that you shouldn't use it on kids younger than 6, and a small % Deet on older kids, and a bit higher % Deet on adults. Figured that was my answer right there, a dog is probably comparable to an under-6 kid.

My pup is vaccinated against lyme, we don't have a lot of deer ticks here but we have a TON of every kind of tick, so eventually one will be a deer tick. I have him on Advantix but those buggers don't seem to care

I have heard that Frontline makes a spray-on product, but does anyone know if this is a repellent or if it is like the spot-on Frontline? For now I think I will look into the horse spray CR mentioned, it gets to be rather old picking 8-10 ticks off my dog every time we go out in the woods.

ourhunters · Post by **ourhunters** » Mon May 10, 2004 1:03 pm

I use frontline top spot on my weim and gsp. Haven't seen one tick stuck on the GSP. But, for some reason the weim has at least 10 stuck to him in the thick tick places. I do recall after putting it on him he shook real good, rolled around, etc. So, that may be the deal. Our vet told us that even if the tick is on them, it will die and fall off.

Just remember if you put it on them, don't bathe or let them swim for 48 hours.

I heard that the advantix also deters mosquito's so that's something we're going to have to check into. Don't want any of us getting West Nile! Bad Stuff. Have known a few people around here with it and all I can say is that they were in bad shape.