Flea and Tick shampoo

Question
QUESTION: I have a question about flea and tick shampoo and its effectiveness on currently feeding ticks. Do you answer these types of questions? Thank you very much.

ANSWER: HI
I understand you have a question about flea and tick shampoo.
Most flea and tick shampoo is effective on live fleas and ticks, but it is very important that you follow the guidelines as to how long to soak the dog.  If you do not soak the dog and keep the shampoo in a lather, you are wasting your time, and this can be rather difficult if the dog is trying to shake the shampoo off!
I recommend you wash the dog FIRST in Dawn dish soap or another grease cutting dish soap. Put a squirt in a container and add warm water. Put this on the dogs neck and hind end first, to prevent the fleas from running into the dogs ear and anal openings.
Lather well and let it sit while you prepare the flea and tick shampoo. This will kill most of the critters, or knock them down so the flea and tick shampoo can do a better job. Rinse it well.
Apply your flea/tick shampoo and follow the directions. Remember, flea/tick shampoos have NO residual properties, so as soon as you rinse them off, nothing on the dog will die.
I recommend a flea/tick dip or better yet, Frontline plus put on the dog after 3 days.

Your best bet is to pick off the ticks while the dog is soaking. The timing of the flea/tick shampoo to kill the fleas is just not going to be quick enough. Grasp the tick close to the dogs skin with your fingers or tweezers, give a 1/4 twist and then pull straight out.

Put the tick in a jar of alcohol and flush them down the toilet.  If you suspect the dog may be ill from all the ticks, put them in a freezer bag for testing for disease later, instead of flushing them.

Good luck
Lori

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The dog is 95 lbs. and had Advantix applied 2 weeks ago. He has been swimming a lot and we live in a rural area known to have ticks. I am not 100% sure if they are ticks or moles. There are two in question on his privates. Never noticed them before but I have never examined this area too closely before this. Would a dip kill actively feeding ticks? Would it be safe since he had Advantix only 2 weeks ago? Thanks for your help.

Answer
I understand your problem better now, with this additional information.
Your dog is very big, how cool!  You wouldnt' want to apply dip since he has had the Advantix, as the chemicals will either void each other out, or make him have a reaction from too many chemicals.
I understand you can't tell the ticks from the moles, that is OK, after about an hour or two a tick will look vastly different from what it looked like when you first checked it. They change and get alot bigger in a couple of hours. If you can get the dog to hold still, use a magnifying glass and see if the mole/tick has legs, you can move the tick around some and see little legs, then pull it off!
At this point, you can put SEVIN garden dust directly on the tick and it will smother and kill it pretty quickly and not hurt the dog. You can also put baby oil on it to smother it, but that doesn't work very quickly.
Since your dog is so large, I would not have confidence that the Advantix, or any other product for that matter, will kill the ticks in a timely fashion.  These products are great, but on large dogs in heavily infested areas, the ticks and fleas seem to be getting resistant to the products, and you need to reapply them every 3 weeks, which is alot of money!  Your best bet is to figure out what you are seeing and pull them off.
Check for size, consistency in color and legs on these spots.  Watch them to see if they change.
Good luck, I know it is hard, but dont' dip him since he has the advantix on. You can also call your vet, (free) and ask if there is a better product for your particular dog in the tick season.  they will know your dogs hair, skin and weight and be able to tell you what to do for certain.
Lori