I felt exactly the same as the OP...right up until the day my dogs got fleas. And the year-long battle to rid them from my home, yard, and animals. Never again.

I've never seen anything that can cause as much misery as a flea bite to a dog with an allergy/hypersensitivity to flea saliva.

This pack eats raw, has minimal vaccinations, and sees a holistic vet. But they will continue to get a topical flea preventative every three weeks for as long as they live.

I do minimal vaccinations and either raw or a high quality kibble. But I also do HW preventative. The mosquitoes can be horrid here in the summertime, my dogs spent a decent amount of time outside and it's just not worth the risk.

I quit using it in the late fall and start back up again after it's warm enough for mosquitoes to be out. Usually I start it in early to mid May and then the get their last dose for the year in mid November.

I usually use a spray as needed instead of a spot on for fleas.

I have a similar situation to Mara as far as food vacc. and HW preventative (start up late spring and stop after everything is frozen over) I only use flea and tick sprays during that time as well. (Unless I have foster dogs coming through, then I use a topical a couple days before)
My opinion is that the danger and misery casued by the bugs is a far greater risk than using the products half the year.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: SamanthaTopper

As for heart worm - the bug's gotta bite the dog for the infection to happen. .... the bugs don't bite my dog.

Not quarreling with this, but asking: how can you know if mosquitos don't bite your dogs?

I wear the same stuff I put on my dogs and as long as I apply it correctly I don't ever have a bug bite. Ever. It's absolutely amazing, really. Since I'm thorough in applying it to the dogs just like myself, I never notice any bugs on them and assume they don't get bitten just like me. We also eat garlic here. People and dogs gets fresh cloves daily according to weight dosage.

I have had problems with dogs swimming and washing away the bug repellent, so if we are going to be in the water it's in the hottest part of the day when the bugs are hiding and we immediately get back into the car once we're done.

Some dogs pee on paper and never go outdoors. Natural remedies prevent fleas and heartworm in these dogs. Fifi in Palm Beach who has a bath twice a month at the groomer and rarely goes out of the condo does not need monthly Frontline.

Following up on this -

My dog lives inside with me and goes outside when I go outside. It wasn't always that way. For the past 4 years of following my own regimen my dogs have lived in Coastal South Carolina, Coastal Georgia, and New Orleans. These three places are super infested with heart worms. Not a single one of my dogs came up with heart worm infestation and I tested every 6 months because that's what my vet recommended.
I also haven't had an infestation of fleas, either, despite my dogs being active outside. I dust the carpet, I dust them, and I keep an eye out for scratching. The foster pup brought in fleas, River got a few and so did the cat. I found them with a flea comb so I know they were there. A few Dawn baths and DE once they dried off fixed it. I haven't found any more fleas and there's no more scratching. I'm REALLY hoping that living in Michigan will let me relax a bit on how strict I've been in the past. I was basically OCD while living in New Orleans.

Also, yes I use food grade DE. I've had problems with round and hook worms in the past and I believe the cat was reintroducing the dogs. I dosed with vet recommended wormer and use the DE as a maintainer. I used DE on the foster pup for his round worms and it solved the problem, but unfortunately DE does not help with tape worms so we had to use a wormer for those. He had a pretty heavy load since he was from Louisiana.
I think not having a problem with internal parasites is also attributed to preventing fleas and controlling their environment. We don't go to places that I suspect are heavily infested. We've gone to the dog park a few times this winter but I seriously doubt there's much activity with inches of ice on the ground.

I think this all depends on the dog and where you live. In Australia we unfortunately have paralysis ticks which can kill quite quickly (not sure if you have them over there). This year we've also had an incredibly, incredibly bad flea season. Literally every dog/cat to come into work (a vets office) has had fleas.
The regular flea treatments; frontline, advatage etc. did not work. The best stuff for fleas by far is Comfortis, and Capstar for quick relief.
Treating fleas and ticks is not an option; it's either that or they live in constant discomfort, or die.

 Quote: SamanthaTopper

I wear the same stuff I put on my dogs and as long as I apply it correctly I don't ever have a bug bite. Ever. It's absolutely amazing, really.

Samantha, what is the stuff that you use? I live in Michigan as well and have been experimenting with various natural products. I still haven't found one I'm 100% happy with.

Thanks!

Lee- I finally found a bottle of the old stuff I used. I don't have any more but when I lived in Georgia WOW did it work. And it smells good, too. Like a stick of gum I'll be ordering some more for summer since I like the way it smells and feels on my skin.

http://www.maxtherapy.com/catalog/i21.html

I also use Vets Best fleas spray and

http://healingtreenaturals.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=90

With all of these I spray liberally into my hand and then work it into the face around the eyes and up to the nose. I get it ALL over the muzzle, under the chin, inside of the ears. I get really intimate with my dog's anatomy when I've got some spray on my hands.

I've experimented with clove oil on the paws for repelling ticks while in the woods, but I can't say if it worked or not since we used the other stuff as well (bad flies and mean gnats in GA) but I've heard a drop or three on the paws and rubbed in helps since the smell is so strong and something about clove oil seems to really F up a bug and kill it. I think that once the smell dies down it smells like pumpkin pie.

That sounds great, thank you Samantha! I will be ordering some of that stuff ASAP.

Your second link didn't work for me... I got a page not found error.

I have found that using a cedar oil based repellant works well for the yard mosquitoes but not the deep woods ones. I think the last one I tried was all lemon, peppermint, tea tree and cedar oils. It smelled great too.




Note: Try this link for the Healing Tree site:
http://healingtreenaturals.com/



Edited by Connie Sutherland (04/02/2013 12:27 PM)
Edit reason: mod note

Did either of you find the ingredient list for Max Botanical Bug Guard?

When I clicked on "ingredients" on the Max link, it game me their two skin lotions but not the Bug Guard.

Can anyone link me to ingredients?

Maybe rosemary oil?