The ticks are getting worse by the looks of it. After a long weekend on the Thunersee, and hiking in the foot hills, hairy had loads on him.
Also got the first grass seed to draw blood, so that's something else to watch out for now.
Bravecto got the ones that slipped through the inspections though.

I ended up buying the Martec collar from Qualipet and 10 days on, Carrot has had hardly any of the blighters so it seems to be working
The listing suggested it had a breaking catch - turns out not, but we've made it tighter so it shouldn't get caught up (if he gets caught up anywhere, it's more likely to be on his harness)

We are about to see tick season starting in Spain. Currently using Seresto collars on our two (Lab + Shepherd/Mastiff), as they like to swim and have been advised that it protects a bit better than the Scalibor that we used to use. Anything new in CH that vets are recommending? Cheers!

Thanks for the timely reminder, Fduvall!

I see that temps are expected to climb into the teens by the end of the week, which means that ticks will surely start appearing.

I haven't heard of new products this year, but I'll ask when we see the vet for Robin's Lepto vax tomorrow. (Yes, folks, it's getting to that time of year, too.)

For tick control, I'll likely stick with topical Frontline, as neither Heffalump nor Robin Goodfellow have had adverse reactions.

My Vet has changed his recommendation from Bravecto (every three months) to a monthly 'Credelio' tablet (lotilaner). We have not started it yet, but I thought it was noteworthy that my (great) Vet changed his recommendation.

Has Leishmaniasis been found in Switzerland? It is transmitted by sandflies, which look a bit like mosquitos. It is mostly found in Mediterranean countries, but has been spreading. One of our Labs had it, and my cousin's Ridgeback was bitten on a visit to Spain and the dog died in CH a few yrs later. Not sure if Bravecto or Credelio protect against sandflies/Leish. Will need to do some research.

The sandflies that are the vector have been found in Tessin. I'm not sure if cases of Leishmaniasis not traceable to travel have been found, though. But it's enough of a worry that many Ticinese dog owners have started using prevention regularly.

I just realized that I didn't get back to this thread after visiting the vet last week... My vet also is now recommending Credilio for some dogs.

I'm still wary of the oral meds, as Heffalump's (unrelated) dodgy tummy seems to be a chronic thing. Until we get on top of that I'm sticking to topical preparations and daily control.

We used to use frontline liquid, and dog would still have ticks everywhere after a walk. Since using Nexguard Afoxolaner tablets I don't think I've found a single one. Also, got the encephalitis jab for myself last year!

I think I’ll stick with Seresto this year. It worked well for us last year and I didn’t seem to have any reactions (I react to Frontline!).

A week after buying two new Seresto collars for our doggos, I came across this article. Not encouraging for Seresto or Bayer, but we had no problems over the last year. It still bothers me, though, that there is very little awareness of the potential danger: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.gre...zjoNn5Gbldcsgk

I’ve seen a several articles on this. Unfortunately all of the pesticide options on the market come with risks. Seresto is especially difficult to nail down actual numbers on because there are so many fakes on the market in the US. I had a terrible experience with Frontline on my first dog (not to mention my own allergies) and then a bad experience with Nexguard on the second dog. With the two I have now I tried going back to all natural stuff but here there’s too much Lyme for me to be happy with that level of risk. Unfortunately that means taking on pesticides, in one form or another, with all the risks that entails :/

Interesting.

I hadn't heard of concerns with Seresto before, so did a bit of superficial searching.

The Snopes page lists this report at this time as 'Unproven' - the detailed write-up of their research into the issue makes for interesting reading.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/se...ollars-deaths/

Vetpharm, my go-to resource in Switzerland, mentions what appear to be minor side effects. The page on Flumethrin, the active ingredient, reports that few adverse effects were found at the 10mg/kg dosage (I think that's the recommendaiton, but don't know for certain.) It goes on to describe toxicity at massive overdoses of 10,000mg/kg.
https://www.vetpharm.uzh.ch/TAK/06000000/00062811.01


I'm not sure what to think.

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Bottom line: As with all products, discuss the issue with your veterinarian.

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And as always - if your own pet ever experiences a bad reaction to any drug, ask your vet if filing a report with VetVigilance is appropriate.

Removed the first tick of the year from our cat last Friday (March 12). It's gone colder since so we await more when the weather warms up...