[Jenn H]

As much of a pain it is to deal with fleas I agree. Ticks however are another matter. They cause problems worse than fleas.
I’ve been using a homemade repellant using essential oil and almond oil. Here in the Northeast ticks are everywhere all year.
It’s been surpringly effective. The only drawback is you have to put it on every day. It takes 2 seconds. The hardest part was remembering to do it until it became routine.
I have little bottle of it at home and in the Jeep so if they go swimming I can reapply.

As for heartworm I stopped it completely. Every 4 months I bring a fecal to the vet for testing. Heartworm preventative are nothing more than pesticides that kill the parasites. If they don’t have the parasites why should I feed them pesticides? By testing samples in that interval it catches them at the larva stage. Still young enough to not need the intense heartworm treatment of full grown worms.
Part of heartworm treatment is giving high doses of the monthly preventative. I just can’t feed them poison if they don’t need it.

I think it’s important to note that a lot of the drug companies that make these products have been bought & sold to other drug companies. Sometimes they change formulas.
Another thing to keep in mind is that many pests are evolving to tolerate some pesticides. So companies have to change things to try to keep up with nature.
I’ve just decided to try to repel the pests using natural means and dealing with any that get past it only if necessary. I’m done with making my animals sick trying to keep them from getting sick.