I believe Sam and Megan pretty much covered it for me, nothing really for me to add. But yes, drops on collars with the oils and the ACV and garlic added to their food. Bugs are really bad this year because of our mild winter but my dogs are still totally pest free.

Huskyluv wrote:

I believe Sam and Megan pretty much covered it for me, nothing really for me to add. But yes, drops on collars with the oils and the ACV and garlic added to their food. Bugs are really bad this year because of our mild winter but my dogs are still totally pest free.

What brand ACV do you use and how much of it do you use?

At lot of people use Bragg's. I forget what brand I have but just be sure to use the unpasteurized product that contains "mother". I mix 1 tbsp in my sibes food every other day.

I'm sorry for adding another question, but is the hollistic method safe to use on a 10 wk old puppy? Is the ACV okay to use in the food as well? Of course I would probably use 1/2 a tbsp since she's around 12-14 LBs.

Thanks for any input. Also, thank you for the tip! This will definitely save me some money and I feel better about not using chemicals.

Hmm, I hadn't thought about ACV for puppies. I would think it would be fine but I haven't found out that for sure so don't quote me on that. As far as dose goes, my 6.5 lb Chihuahuas get 1 tsp of ACV every other day. My 50 lb sibe gets 1 tbsp of ACV every other day.

Valerie arent those oils toxic for cats? I have 3 cats so would the oils pose a problem?

I don't think the cats will be negatively affected unless they come in direct contact with the oils which is unlikely. My dogs used to live with 4 cats and never was there any problem. My mother in law uses the oils on her 4 dogs and none of her 3 cats has had an issue.

So Link is due for a dose of flea, tick , and heartworm treatment and I have been reading and researching holistic methods.

I keep coming back to these oils and digested items (garlic and ACV). I get how the digested items work because basically they work just like the topical poisons the vets give work-distribution through the bloodstream.

But with the oils, what is the distribution method? How does one drop of oil on a collar prevent fleas from crawling up their back legs and hips?

I'm not being a skeptic on the functionality or value, but I'm just curious about the HOW.

I am really hesitant to buy more topical poison to circulate through my dog's body. I just can't help comparing the functionality of the poison to a drop of oil on a collar. I don't get how the latter actually does anything in terms of circulation and as a repellant.

Thanks for the help.

The poisons don't usually repel at all - the oil does repel. It repels very, very well.

I believe fleas have a stronger sense of smell than we think. I do 3 different oils once a week. I think tea tree is the most effective, but I don't like the smell lol.

I use: cedarwood, rose geranium (for ticks) and lavender. I probably drop 2-3 drops on the collar per 'scent'. The garlic and organic ACV (has to be organic for the mother) emits through their fur and scent glands, therefore keeping the fleas at bay (they don't like the smell).

Thanks Jackie, that's a great synopsis.

So it is really the smell of the oils from the collar that repels them. Good to know. I was thinking that maybe it could have been a chemical deterrent.

seattlesibe wrote:

Thanks Jackie, that's a great synopsis.  

So it is really the smell of the oils from the collar that repels them.  Good to know.  I was thinking that maybe it could have been a chemical deterrent.  

Yep, just the oils! Make sure it's 100% pure oil and not a mix or blend. Sometimes they mix other stuff in there to dissipate the oil as much as possible. Also, you have to not have any fleas at all for this to work. Meaning this hollistic method only prevents fleas, not get rid of. I usually give juneau a capstar pill if I catch any fleas on her. It's also normal to do oils twice a week in summer if it's humid in your area.

For the garlic, you can use minced or powder. Doesn't really make a difference between the two. Incase you were wondering

Ok, so another practical question.

Link's collar is the Ruffwear waterproof collar.  Essentially a rubber type of material. He's a swimmer and it rains here a lot.

Would this be a problem because the oils wouldn't be able to soak into it?

What is the time period needed for the application? Does the treated collar need to be worn constantly?  Applied on say Monday and then worn only until.....?

seattlesibe wrote:

Ok, so another practical question.

Link's collar is the Ruffwear waterproof collar.  Essentially a rubber type of material.  He's a swimmer and it rains here a lot.

Would this be a problem because the oils wouldn't be able to soak into it?

What is the time period needed for the application? Does the treated collar need to be worn constantly?  Applied on say Monday and then worn only until.....?

Yeah, that'd be a problem. :l I love that collar though lol.

Do you have a harness that he can wear? Or maybe you can have him switch between two collars. One for the house and one for swimming. Even if he went swimming in a regular collar, the oil would probably wash out. That's why we feed the garlic and ACV.

Yes, the collar would need to be worn constantly. Unless you take it off for sleeping or something.

I do the oils on Saturday afternoon and do them again the next Saturday. You feed the garlic and ACV every other day. There are certain doses per the weight of your husky. 1/16 tspn of garlic and 1 tablespoon for 50 lbs. There's a dosage thread around here somewhere...

Hope I'm answering your questions!

Ok noted.

I'll have to consider these practical issues.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome. It's so economical and safe, which is why I like using it.

I think it might be good for us. Link has never had fleas or ticks, as far as I know, and we just moved into a new house so things should be good.

We do go to the woods a lot so maybe we will consider having some...err...poison on hand for these times, as Val mentioned she does earlier in this thread.

seattlesibe wrote:

I think it might be good for us. Link has never had fleas or ticks, as far as I know, and we just moved into a new house so things should be good.  

We do go to the woods a lot so maybe we will consider having some...err...poison on hand for these times, as Val mentioned she does earlier in this thread.  

Yeah, that's fine. My rescue organization supplies us with frontline. I just don't use it personally on a regular basis because our family dog would get sick from it. I would probably use it if we were going hiking though.

Jackie, what do you use for heartworms?

seattlesibe wrote:

Jackie, what do you use for heartworms?

I use ivermectin straight out of the bottle. You can get it online or a local feed store. There's a ml/lbs formula floating around. It's used for swine and is the main ingredient in all heartworm regimes. The formula is .001ml/lb. There's a thread floating around about this too. A few other members do it. My bottle will last me a few yrs at least and it was $45. I use a syringe and put it on a treat. Juneau gets 1.2 ml.

Perfect, you rock. Thanks.

I know the key is preventing mosquito bites which the oils and things do. I am reading this site now

http://www.thewholedog.org/heartworm.html

seattlesibe wrote:

Perfect, you rock. Thanks.  

I know the key is preventing mosquito bites which the oils and things do.  I am reading this site now

http://www.thewholedog.org/heartworm.html

Awesome! I've even talked to my vet. She's fine with it and we've ran a test at her annual checkup. Still heartworm free after using ivermectin after a year.

Are they recommending that you use heartworm prevention there in the PNW now? Back when we lived there they told us we didn't need it because the instances of HW in that area were so rare that we didn't need it. We lived in Mukilteo, WA when we lived out there (not far from Seattle) and never used HW prevention until we moved back to the southeast in late 2008.

No, Val, not specifically. I am just doing general research and learning and I just know that in general the big 3 to look out for are fleas, ticks, and heartworms.

So far we have used Advantage Multi for all 3 and Link has been fine, at least as far as the 3 parasites go. No trace of any of them.

I don't know how Seattle ranks in terms of likelihood of any of these 3, actually. But I am not aware of it being too bad or heard anything. It's never hot or dry here.

That said, our vet up until the move was pretty run of the mill: here's some poisons and some Purina and please be very scared and come back if anything is wrong whatsoever.

So I have no direct supervision or support.

I am just thankful they have been indifferent at worst towards his raw diet.

Our new vet that we haven't seen yet said the same about his diet:

" we are indifferent but we have seen some complications with raw diets."

"yeah, well there are complications with corporate kibble too."

"yes, this is true."

Truce.

Not sure how the essential oil and natural parasite prevention conversation is gonna go...