Natural Tick Repellants--some Questions

[tx_cowgirl]

So tick season is coming up, and where I live we are already seeing ticks--it's warm here in Texas. I live in the country, and ticks have always been an enormous problem here. I tried several natural solutions last year but we still use tooooons of chemicals because quite frankly, we have to. But I want to do as much as I can this year with natural solutions so that we can use less--or even NO(hey I can dream) chemicals. Previously, I have used monthly drops, collars, sprayed the yard(more times than I can count), sprayed and fogged the house, bathed the dogs with F/T shampoo, and of course, picked them off.
Last year I planted some lavendar in the front yard, which grew well, but unfortunately never got a chance to designate a spot to plant in the backyard. This year I literally want to border my whoooooole backyard in tick-repelling plants.
So I've done a little research and have found three plants that supposedly repel ticks that are capable of doing well in this climate:

• Lavendar
• Rosemary
• American Pennyroyal (tickweed)

Questions:

I haven't seen anywhere that these plants could be harmful to my animals, but just to make sure...has anyone ever heard of these being bad for dogs? Is there any downside to me planting a large number of these plants?
I was reading a review for some Rose Geranium oil on Amazon, and the buyer mentioned that pennyroyal had been taken off the market due to side effects. That was in June of 2010 but I'm wondering now if I should be leery of Pennyroyal oil. If this is the case, with the plant itself not be safe??? Herbal medicine is confusing.

 

[Ina]

Hi there,

I am not sure about the plants, but we had a flea problem and someone mentioned I use lavender oil on the dogs bandanna. Smokey has it on his bandanna since 2 weeks now - no more fleas and no health issues.

Don't know if that's useful?

 

[laramie]

I know it's been a long time since you asked this, but I'm learning about herbs for the dogs right now, so I figured I would post what I've learned. Pennyroyal essential oil is toxic to dogs when applied topically or ingested, but I'm not sure about the plant. You can plant lemon-scented plants like lemon balm and there's a citronella plant as well that shouldn't harm your dogs. Lavender and rosemary aren't harmful as far as I know because Fairley likes to munch on my herbs every so often and it never has any ill effects. You can put a drop of lemon essential oil on their collars and reapply whenever the scent dissipates. I'm sure you could use lavender or rosemary essential oil, but make sure none of them come in contact with the dog's skin. Because essential oils are so concentrated, only a few can be applied directly to the skin without dilution, and none of these are safe to apply to a dog as far as I'm aware.

 

[srdogtrainer]

I know it's been a long time since you asked this, but I'm learning about herbs for the dogs right now, so I figured I would post what I've learned. Pennyroyal essential oil is toxic to dogs when applied topically or ingested, but I'm not sure about the plant. You can plant lemon-scented plants like lemon balm and there's a citronella plant as well that shouldn't harm your dogs. Lavender and rosemary aren't harmful as far as I know because Fairley likes to munch on my herbs every so often and it never has any ill effects. You can put a drop of lemon essential oil on their collars and reapply whenever the scent dissipates. I'm sure you could use lavender or rosemary essential oil, but make sure none of them come in contact with the dog's skin. Because essential oils are so concentrated, only a few can be applied directly to the skin without dilution, and none of these are safe to apply to a dog as far as I'm aware.

Oh, good to know...Thanks for posting. I had read that putting Lavender, rosemary and some other essential oil right on your dog would keep ticks away. I had been debating on trying it. I think I will try the lemon on the collar instead!
He can have sensitive skin to some flea tick/ or one brand of either de-shedding shampoo/ or conditioner that we tried (not sure which one game him a skin reaction.)

 

[avalanche]

Thank you I just made some oil. Really did want to wait for fleas.