Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Tick medication toxic to fish

Does anyone know of any over-the-counter tick medication for dogs that's not highly toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates? Everything I've chedked out is toxic to fish. My dogs swim in my pond every day. Dogs aren't supposed to be bathed for 48 hr before or after application of the topical stuff I've been using because it washes off. I have spray on stuff that can be used fairly often, but it has the same toxicity to fish, it's never been particularly effective, and some is also toxic to my cat.

Call the company and find out how toxic it is to the fish. Ask them for a Parts per Billion toxicity level (PPB).

I'll bet once you do the math you will find it's a non-issue.

The prescription stuff I had for Luna would kill a cat in a heartbeat, which is OK if you ask me.

You put drops onto the skin and rub it in from the back of their head to tail. Soaks in fairly quick and is waterproof after a short time.

I use to take her swimming in the Muskegon River. Boy, did she like that!

Much more expensive than OTC tho, but it worked well.

My dog would get sprayed and we used FrontLine topical control....never saw a dead fish, and he swam all the time

I would recommend you consider oral tick control medication. There are some good varieties out there. Some do ticks and fleas, some even do ticks, fleas, and mosquitos. I'm sure there is a Vet on the forum who can tell you more about the pros and cons of each. I pursued oral to avoid the hassle of topicals. So I now have a heart worm chewable and a flea/tick chewable. Dog loves the taste, owner is happy.

They are expensive and most require a script from your vet. I did find you can purchase online at quite a discount.

We used a new collar that has the topical medication impregnated into it, which I believe is similar to permethrin in many ways. The main ingredient for many topical flea and tick medications is permethrin-like.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin

+1 on investigating an effective flea and tick collar. Cats hate collars but dogs think they make them look sexy!

I don't really dislike cats.

I use the topical flea/tick/mosquito on Kate. Seems to work fine. Also use the chewable for heartworm.