*It’s a bit lengthy, but worth a read.* 🙂

With the addition of Jade to our canine family, I was reevaluating my dog budget. (Yes, I’m a budget-er!) I do this simply to track what supplies I need, and how much I am spending on each one. By doing this, I also see what areas I can possibly cut back on my costs.

Bunny Trail: For example, I use fendendazole to worm my dogs. (I plan to do a post some time about the variety of wormers and how to use them.) I had been buying the name brand Panacur C powder formula, which gets expensive- roughly $20 per dog. Since it is very effective, though, I was willing to pay for it. However, I was recently introduced to a liquid form of fenbendazole. Now, instead of paying $60 every few months to worm my girls, I paid $22 for a whole year’s supply! 🙂 That looks great on my budget.

Anyway, with three dogs now, my biggest monthly expense is food. As you can imagine, three dogs eat a lot of food. My second largest monthly expense is flea and tick prevention. As with any medications, I try to use ones that are safe for pregnant dogs. Frontline is one of the few flea and tick preventatives that is safe to use during pregnancy for dogs. Buying doses for three dogs each month costs me about $40.

I have had some concerns, though, about the harshness of Frontline. I don’t want to say that Frontline is a bad product, because it’s not. It’s effective and safe if used properly. However, you are supposed to separate the dog from children and other pets for 24 hours after applying Frontline. This tells me that there is a level of risk (albeit, probably a small risk) in using this product. I know with our dogs, having to keep them apart for a whole day (or even half a day) is a joke.

There were times I did some online research about other more “natural” flea and tick preventatives. Most of them seemed to be of questionable effectiveness; and if I am going to use something, I want it to WORK. I even tried one highly-lauded natural preventative with disastrous results. However, this terrible experiment was what led me to what I believe will be my solution.

I had read about Rose Geranium Oil, which is supposed to be a natural tick preventative. It was bragged up so very much that I decided to give it a try. I got my chance to test it out in March. It was a warm weekend and my husband and I and another couple decided to take our dogs for a hike on the State Game lands near our home. Zach and I took Duchess and Mia, and the other couple took their dog Nina. I knew from previous experience that this area had a booming tick population. I put the recommended two drops of Rose Geranium Oil on my dogs and on myself as well. My husband did not use any kind of repellent. (Foolish man, I thought!)

In talking to the other couple, they told me that they were using Wondercide, a product that repels fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes. (Sounds too good to be true, right?) This wonder spray is human food grade, making it completely safe around kids. Actually, you can use it on kids if you want. (Whoever heard of a food grade flea and tick preventative?) It can also be used on plants, lawns, and furniture. (Whaaaat?)

So we put Wondercide to the test against my Rose Geranium Oil. The results? Check it out.

Zach (human using no repellent)- 0 ticks

Jordan (human using no repellent)- 0 ticks

Sonya (human using Wondercide)- 0 ticks

Nina (canine using Wondercide)- 0 ticks

Kristen (human using Rose Geranium Oil)- 7 ticks

Duchess (canine using Rose Geranium Oil)- 2 ticks

Mia (canine using Rose Geranium Oil)- 11 ticks

I think the results speak for themselves. Even no protection was better than Rose Geranium Oil. I came home and promptly threw away my lousy bottle of oil. 😦 Then I looked up Wondercide, and I liked what I saw. (Here is their website.)

Here are the basics of how Wondercide works, and why I decided to try it. The flea, tick, and mosquito spray is cedar oil based. “Cedar oil affects octopamine, which is essential to life for pheromone-driven pests like fleas and ticks. Octopamine is responsible for regulating heart rate, movement and behavior in pests. Cedar oil blocks the octopamine neurotransmitter receptors in pests, causing pests to be repelled from the area. When contacted, pests suffocate and die. Mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and beneficial insects are not affected by cedar oil because they do not have octopamine neurotransmitters (copied from wondercide.com).”

The budget-conscious part of my brain also kicked in as I looked at this product. Say one bottle of Wondercide, which costs around $20, lasts for one month. That will cut my flea and tick prevention cost in half! (Yay for the budget!)

I bought one bottle of Wondercide flea, tick, and mosquito spray, and I am trying it out for a month. I plan to do a follow up post with my final review and opinion in a few weeks. So far, this is a list of pros and cons I have accumulated.

Pros:

• It is natural and gentle.
• It can be used on people (although it is not labeled as a human product).
• It also repels mosquitoes (the first step in preventing heartworms!).
• It has other uses beyond just pest control on pets.
• It is 100% safe around children and other pets- no need to separate!
• It is safe for use on pregnant and nursing dogs and even puppies.
• It smells good! 🙂

Cons:

• It has to be applied very frequently- 2 or 3 times a week.
• The smell is quite strong when first applied- think Grandma’s cedar chest!

Like I said, I will post about this again in a few weeks after giving it a tough trial run. In the meantime, have any of you had good or bad experiences with Wondercide or other flea and tick preventatives? I would love to hear about it!