Garlic Supplement?

[inugrey]

I just have to ask GT this one. I'm a frontline girl for flea and tick control but...

 

I got the Springtime supplement catalog in the mail today with an order of joint health and I just had to read through it. There are tons of testimonials about their Bug Off supplement.

 

Link to website

 

I realize it is advertisement for their product and there would be no messages from people who didn't find it to work, but it made me curious. Would/do any of you trust just garlic for tick control? Any general thoughts on the matter?

 

ETA: I came back to read responses and realized I couldn't spell worth a dang.

Edited May 25, 2009 by inugrey

[CaliforniaGreys]

I would say no. Not because I have any experience with ticks, I've never even seen one.

But last week waiting in a hospital while my client was in with the doc, I read an article in Prevention that claims that's a myth. The mag was this month's edition

Edited May 26, 2009 by cbudshome

[Guest Energy11]

I would say no. Not because I have any experience with ticks, I've never even seen one.

But last week waiting in a hospital while my clients was in with the doc, I read an article in Prevention that claims that's a myth. The mag was this month's edition

 

 

See, SOMETIMES waiting in a doc's office isn't a total waste! :-)) I head it was a myth, too!

[Guest kydie]

Nope, dogs love garlic, and I fed it 'casue they like it, but nver would I trust it for complete tick or flea control, my understanding is it was once thought to control fleas, not ticks, could be wrong here, but I live a high deer tick area of Pa, I use Advantix, I had a dog with Lymes, never again, I don't care what folks say about "natural" solutions, give my dogs protection, NO more lymes for me

[inugrey]

thanks for the input I just had to see what others thought about this

[Guest trevdog]

I tried it and mine don't like the taste of it actually. We still have an almost full bottle from last year. Luckily we don't see many fleas or ticks here....

[seeh2o]

I don't like the effect that Frontline has on Carl and I don't really like the thought of putting poison on them or in them to keep fleas at bay. So, I decided to try the Springtime Bug Off garlic granules. I started them on it about 3 - 4 weeks ago. So far so good, no fleas on anyone, though high flea season has not yet hit, so the jury isn't in just yet. I'll be sure to post if I do find any fleas. FYI, my dogs LOVE it, they have garlic breath for a little while after each meal, the bad thing is that smelling the garlic makes ME hungry!

 

I've lived in the LA area for 20+ years and have had dogs for nearly that long, I have never once found a tick on any of my dogs or even so much as seen a tick around here, so I'm really not all that concerned about tick prevention.

 

I am planning to order 2 more of their buy 2 get 2 free containers of it today.

Edited May 26, 2009 by ckruzan

[seeh2o]

I don't like the effect that Frontline has on Carl and I don't really like the thought of putting poison on them or in them to keep fleas at bay. So, I decided to try the Springtime Bug Off garlic granules. I started them on it about 3 - 4 weeks ago. So far so good, no fleas on anyone, though this isn't exactly high flea season yet, so the jury isn't in yet. I'll be sure to post if I do find any fleas. FYI, my dogs LOVE it, they have garlic breath for a little while after each meal, the bad thing is that smelling the garlic makes ME hungry!

 

I've lived in the LA area for 20+ years and have had dogs for nearly that long, I have never once seen a tick, so I'm really not all that concerned about tick prevention.

 

I am planning to order 2 more of their buy 2 get 2 free containers of it today.

 

Edited to add a piece of my dirty laundry:

I know that Springtime's stuff is all human grade, so I....used some of the garlic for cooking, just to see if it was as good as it smelled...it was. I figure if they become flea infested I'll throw the stuff in the freezer and use it for cooking. Now none of you guys will ever want to visit my house and have dinner!!!

Edited May 26, 2009 by ckruzan

[Guest Gert]

I don't like the effect that Frontline has on Carl and I don't really like the thought of putting poison on them or in them to keep fleas at bay. So, I decided to try the Springtime Bug Off garlic granules. I started them on it about 3 - 4 weeks ago. So far so good, no fleas on anyone, though this isn't exactly high flea season yet, so the jury isn't in yet. I'll be sure to post if I do find any fleas. FYI, my dogs LOVE it, they have garlic breath for a little while after each meal, the bad thing is that smelling the garlic makes ME hungry!

 

I've lived in the LA area for 20+ years and have had dogs for nearly that long, I have never once seen a tick, so I'm really not all that concerned about tick prevention.

 

I am planning to order 2 more of their buy 2 get 2 free containers of it today.

 

Edited to add a piece of my dirty laundry:

I know that Springtime's stuff is all human grade, so I....used some of the garlic for cooking, just to see if it was as good as it smelled...it was. I figure if they become flea infested I'll throw the stuff in the freezer and use it for cooking. Now none of you guys will ever want to visit my house and have dinner!!!

 

 

I used it on my two for about 2 months. It didn't do anything for the fleas....but, I'm in FL and they're bad here.......besides, they decided they wouldn't eat their food if it had more than a pinch on it, which isn't enough to do anything.

 

So, I'm with you now. I doubt I'll ever have to buy garlic powder again. I bought the Springtime when it was buy 2, get 2. So, I have about 3 lbs of garlic!

 

Do you think I should freeze it?? Will it last longer that way?? I didn't know it could go bad.

 

[seeh2o]

So, I'm with you now. I doubt I'll ever have to buy garlic powder again. I bought the Springtime when it was buy 2, get 2. So, I have about 3 lbs of garlic!

 

Do you think I should freeze it?? Will it last longer that way?? I didn't know it could go bad.

 

I assumed it would freeze ok! I'm not much of a cook, so I didn't want to store it in the cupboard and have it get nasty while it sat on the shelf for a long time. When I send out my order I'll ask them if it can be frozen and I'll let you know.

 

[inugrey]

Yeah I hate the frontline but I also hate fleas and tick diseases and we've never had an issue with the critters in the three years I've used the frontline. That said I'd really like to hear how this goes for you over the summer.

[greyhoundlady]

First, I am contemplating moving to California. No ticks??? What I would give for that! I am in northern woodsy New Jersey and we are inundated lately with those demons. In fact, last night one of my greys gave me a nice face rub on my leg - a few minutes later guess what was crawling up my body and onto my arm!!! (Wish I could put Frontline on myself.)

So, I use Frontline on both of mine. I hate putting 'poison' on them, but I don't want disease either, which is a really close decision but one that has to be made here. From all that I have researched, products used in repelling the flea/tick is a hit or miss, and they are not killed. That is what all the garlic and herb solutions do - repel. If the tick or flea is not repelled, it will tag along and either bite and attach to the dog, or frolic and multiply in the house. Like I said, it is tough to decide because I really, really, am opposed to insecticide, but Frontline it is for us.

[seeh2o]

Update:

I've had all three dogs (2 greys and one very very furry non-grey) on the Springtime since sometime in late April/early May. They get one scoop sprinkled over their breakfast and another scoop over dinner. Between the 3 of them there hasn't been 1 flea, no flea "dirt" and no flea bites. It may still be too soon to tell, we had a very nice and cool June, so maybe the fleas aren't out in full force yet. I'm waiting to see what happens when it gets really warm, it has been warming up in this past week, but so far so good (knocking on wood as I type this).

 

FYI, Springtime wrote me a note and told me not to freeze it, just store it at room temp.

 

[FosterFlunker]

I have a bunch of it too. I just started using it again. Last time I used it they had the Big D. I stopped using it just in case it was caused by the garlic. I am using very little and working up to a full scoop.

[greyhoundlov]

You might want to take a look at this:

 

http://peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&aid=1030

[seeh2o]

I started slow, too, but no one got the big D from it, fortunately. My neighbor did, however, ask me if I was feeding them salami! She said that sometimes when Carl shows up at her window he smells like I've just fed him salami or pastrami!

 

You might want to take a look at this:

 

http://peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&aid=1030

 

Thanks, I haven't had any problems at this point. When they had their bloodwork done in May they were anything but anemic. I'll keep it in mind, though, the next time I have their blood drawn.

[macoduck]

You might want to take a look at this:

 

http://peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&aid=1030

 

Yup. And Dr Couto didn't like garlic for dogs either.

[seeh2o]

You might want to take a look at this:

 

http://peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&aid=1030

 

Yup. And Dr Couto didn't like garlic for dogs either.

 

Interesting! I went to their website, but couldn't find any guidance on it, I also did a Google search ("Dr. Couto" + garlic) and couldn't find anything, so I emailed them for guidance. I will post what they say here. God knows, I don't want to do any harm...that's why I sought an alternative to the Frontline and other harsh chemicals in the first place. Thanks.

[macoduck]

You might want to take a look at this:

 

http://peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&aid=1030

 

Yup. And Dr Couto didn't like garlic for dogs either.

 

Interesting! I went to their website, but couldn't find any guidance on it, I also did a Google search ("Dr. Couto" + garlic) and couldn't find anything, so I emailed them for guidance. I will post what they say here. God knows, I don't want to do any harm...that's why I sought an alternative to the Frontline and other harsh chemicals in the first place. Thanks.

It was just something he mentioned at Mountain Hounds and I can't now remember the context of how it came up.

[Batmom]

Interesting! I went to their website, but couldn't find any guidance on it,

 

It's in the list of "items to avoid" here: http://peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&aid=1030

 

And it references an article here: http://peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&aid=2414

 

Really not a good idea to feed garlic to pets.

[seeh2o]

I don't know, for every piece I read cautioning garlic I can find one that sing it's praises...in moderation, all from decent reputable sources. Hopefully, I'll get a definitive answer from the kind folks at OSU. And ultimately, which is worse, to put a known poison (Frontline, etc.) on them every 3 months or so which I know, for Carl, causes head bobbing...what's the cumulative effect of that? My gut tells me it's no good. Damn fleas!

Edited June 29, 2009 by ckruzan

[Batmom]

Wouldn't you call something that is documented to cause hemolytic anemia a poison?

 

For most dogs, Frontline is an amazing and wonderful thing as the active ingredient doesn't affect mammals -- really very cool. If your dog doesn't get along with it and there are fleas in your area, might consider different meds, which have different active (and inactive) ingredients. Advantage, Revolution, Sentinel are three that are safe for sighthounds. If you only occasionally see a single flea -- such as after playgroup or an outing to a particular area -- there's also Capstar.

 

If you get an infestation, the amount of chemical you'll have to use to combat that one incident will exceed by many times the amount of chemical you'll put on a dog in a lifetime of monthly Frontline/Advantage treatment. And that's just for fleas. We won't talk about what happens if you get a tick infestation ..... <shudders>

 

[Guest longdogs]

I would really like somebody whose dog had an indisputable flea infestation to try a garlic 'cure' and describe the results. I know what they are likely to be - I've lived in communities where garlic consumption is high and (human) flea populations very healthy. Garlic might have a minor repellent effect if applied directly, that's about as good as it gets. It is toxic to some degree and cumulative. Dogs have died from it so it can't be considered a harmless alternative to commercial products, especially if large quantities are involved. The leading commercial products have a good margin of safety and definitely work. Not a hard choice for me.

[Guest KennelMom]

Wouldn't you call something that is documented to cause hemolytic anemia a poison?

 

For most dogs, Frontline is an amazing and wonderful thing as the active ingredient doesn't affect mammals -- really very cool. If your dog doesn't get along with it and there are fleas in your area, might consider different meds, which have different active (and inactive) ingredients. Advantage, Revolution, Sentinel are three that are safe for sighthounds. If you only occasionally see a single flea -- such as after playgroup or an outing to a particular area -- there's also Capstar.

 

If you get an infestation, the amount of chemical you'll have to use to combat that one incident will exceed by many times the amount of chemical you'll put on a dog in a lifetime of monthly Frontline/Advantage treatment. And that's just for fleas. We won't talk about what happens if you get a tick infestation ..... <shudders>

 

+1 Great post.