u/Dottie15

Hi all! I plan on asking my dog’s vet about this question, but just wanted to get some insight beforehand and see if it’s worth even asking about (I.e. if these products are regarded as unnecessary or unhelpful in the vet community, don’t recommend because of safety concerns, etc).

We live in the Midwest with our sweet 3 year old yellow lab, who’s healthy and vaccinated, and we love the outdoors, but the ticks are of course a concern. He is on simparica trio year round. We limit exposure potential as much as possible by staying on paths when hiking, avoiding high grass and all that, but even sitting on a manicured lawn we’ve found a tick crawling on him. While we do tick checks regularly during warmer months and he’s on a preventive, they deeply disturb me even when I find them just crawling on him because they’re just such awful things lol. I’m wondering what the consensus among vets is as far as repellants for dogs and if they’re considered safe, are ever recommended or if they’re just a waste of money and can’t be recommended because there isn’t enough info about safety profiles. Just looking to see if there’s anything else we can implement to help prevent these buggers from hitching a ride to a potentially scrumptious meal courtesy of our doggo 😂😅.

No sports games for kids to go to on the weekend. No playdates to entertain. No lunches besides mine for work to pack the night before the week starts back up. I can sleep in/get extra sleep when I’m exhausted. No play dates to entertain or children’s birthday parties to go to where almost everyone’s coughing or sneezing. My life is completely mine. I can choose to go watch my niece and nephew at their sports, but I choose when it works for me and I’m not obligated to it every weekend. I spend my weekends doing stuff that I need to do and want to do and enjoy it. I’m spending this weekend hanging out with my dog because I’m exhausted from people, excluding my husband, after this past week. I’m going to play some video games, give my dog a bath because it’s Labrador shedding season and I’ve been looking forward to seeing all the fur I’ll get off of him 😂, spend some time together outside and get some cleaning done (he’s a Velcro boi so he follows me around, ergo he’s helping too lol). My husband’s working this weekend so it’s just me and the boy (our dog). I need a chill weekend with not much going on.

An edible and doing enjoyable stuff is how I’m kicking off the weekend, and with some 60lb lapdog snuggles of course (shh, no one tell him he’s a full grown lab and not a 4 lb lapdog). It refills my cup so much to spend time with dog, and my husband when he’s off, and just slow down and enjoy things. It’s been an emotionally heavy week for me with some family drama/dysfunction with my family and my husband’s dad. Plus, this hantavirus shit with that cruise ship is stressing me out because I’m a nurse and getting flashbacks to Covid… scary stuff🙃😵‍💫. I’m glad I can rest and reset this weekend and have a nice slow morning today. I need it. And I can do all of that without arranging a babysitter… so I’m grateful for my choices in life today.