Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello Dr. Tobin,

Finally I took my puppy to the vet for his shot the other day.

I live in Western Mass (near Springfield) and was recommended to use a product called Revolution.

http://www.revolution4dogs.com/content.asp?country=US&lang=EN&drug=RV&species=CN&sec=100

I have never used any of those products before and wasn't going to use Revolution either, but the vet STRONGLY suggested me to use them because prevention is the key and this is pretty much safe to use.

Also she recommended to use a tick collar called Virbac Prevent Tick Collar.

ACTIVE INGREDIENT
AMITRAS CAS# 33089 61 1 ...........................9.0%
OTHER INGREDIENTS........................... 91.0%
TOTAL...................................................100.0%

Again I have never used any of these tick collars, but we DO have ticks around here.

I wonder what your opinions are about these products that she has recommended. If you're against them, what wouold you suggest to do?

Thank you very much.

I don't recommend using either of those products. Black walnut hull extract given twice a day in the food is very effective at preventing ticks. Keeping mosquitoes away from the dog is the key to preventing heartworm. To that end, you can dilute citronella oil in rubbing alcohol, put in a spray bottle, and give a light spray just before going outside, if there are mosquitoes around. I would also use a heartworm nosode, or if you prefer something more conventional, ivermectin diluted1:10000, and given at a rate of 1 drop per pound body weight, if mosquitoes have been out continually for the previous 45 days.

Will oral black walnut hulls work on fleas also?

I haven't found that the black walnut works against fleas. Brewers yeast and fresh garlic in the food daily works quite well to repel fleas.