Preventative Health Medication

[CandoAviary]

You bet I go for advantage to keep fleas off (can't use frontline, my little doggie is allergic to it) I hate sprays...they make the fur sticky. I feel the drugs they have these days are pretty safe....but in my hippie days .... the dogs regularly got the garlic and eggshells
In my dog grooming salon I used natural stuff...d'limeonine (derived from citrus peels)to dissolve the oil coating on fleas causeing them to drown. Chamomile and oatmeal conditioners for dry skin, etc. My customer loved the products and I never had to worry about any chemical/drug interaction in case they forgot to tell me thier dog had something on them. some mixing of chemicals can prove deadly

[MLaRue]

The only thing I'll comment on is I think we should be careful about where we reference our information, particularly if the source of said information is out to market their own product(s) ;)

I tend to gear my searches for relevant information on topics like this to Google scholar.
See page 13 and on..
http://files.waff.com/Guide%20to%20EPA% ... potOns.pdf

Also - I tend to steer clear of medications/topical treatments (Read: Bio Spot, Hartz, Adams, etc) for dogs/cats that are available in places like Wal-Mart :\
Same reason I wouldn't buy the dog or cat food sold at Wal-Mart

I also tend to immediately ask: "Can I trust that the owner of the Yorkie was using the product correctly?"

I rode and owned horses up until I found out I had two herniated discs and anyone who has ever owned horses understands rotational worming treatments and the issue over fly sprays.

Also - these people could probably all agree with me here that the "natural" fly sprays never work.


I tried..

I felt the natural sprays worked better then the other fly sprays for my horses. But then I had "garlic" in my horses diet everyday to prevent flies. It worked and the horses love the garlic.

[MLaRue]

I have only one comment to make. Where do our wild realatives of the finches we keep go to get rid of thier worms?

They surely don't go to the vets or get online and order up some dewormer and have fed exed...... I think it must be natural... there are many natural foods that kill worms...diatoms in earth for one as Tiffany mentioned. Probably many plants or nuts also.

For my dogs, pumpkin seed or walnuts w/shells, garlic and broken eggshells. The first 2 ingredients can kill worms , the garlic is a natural antibiotic (to prevent any infection the worms may have caused), and the eggshells scrape the intestines...removing the dead worms attached to the walls of the intestines.
Interesting note...Foxes in the wild have been observed soaking in the water up to thier noses to drown fleas. They also will roll in mud so thick that they can barely carry the weight of it. Then they will sun themselves allowing the mud to dry in hard clumps. They then shake like returning from a bath and the mud balls go flying with ticks and dead undercoat with it. Wise little foxes they are.
Point is thier are natural remedies out there...just not as convienient and accessible as chemical wormers and sprays

Good point Candace - I always wonder this myself. But then I think herbs play into a lot of prevention and or treatment for them. Funny my horses would roll each time I sprayed them - love to keep themselves nice and thick with dirt!

[Sally]

And the reality too is that many of the wild relatives just don't live as long as those pets that get all the extra attention and care. A feral cat has a much shorter life span than the spoiled rotten things we are slaves to. And I doubt there are any wild horses out there that live to be 35, as my Honey did.

Honey had her vaccinations to keep her healthy, wormers to keep her cleaned out, fly sprays to make life tolerable, and when she had no teeth and started having disgestive problems, there was a vet available who was happy to hook up those IV-fluids (at a price).

My sister once asked how wild horses keep their hooves trimmed, and I explained that rough terrain does the trimming (like natural perches for our birds), and when they have a real problem and become lame, they become part of the food chain, whereas our tamed horses have a farrier to keep them trimmed and stalls for those times they might become lame.

So natural isn't always wonderful, either.

[dfcauley]

And the reality too is that many of the wild relatives just don't live as long as those pets that get all the extra attention and care.
So natural isn't always wonderful, either.

Very well said Sally!!!

[MLaRue]

All of this could be said for our life expectancies as well - we are living longer and longer.

[CandoAviary]

So natural isn't always wonderful, either.

True, but they are free

[franny]

Free to be eaten....