Does anyone know if spot on could cause a abcess on the back of a dogs neck,my friend noticed a very large lump on the back of her goldies neck a week after applying frontline,she took her to vets,as she was very concerned,op cost her 270 pounds and diognosis came back as a abcess.

Sheila

I've known it happen once before (Stronghold, not Frontline). The vet contacted the manufacturers and they covered the cost of the investigation and treatment.

Yes it can, there have been a few cases where the skin has been burned too, these are very strong chemicals and best avoided, using garlic either fresh or capsules daily and neem shampoo to guard against fleas and ticks.

Your friend should report this as an adverse reaction.  Also your friend should not have been asked to pay the bill, the vet and the manufactuerer should pay the costs for this - it is disgusting that the vet charged your friend in this instance and I would be inclined to pester the manufacturer of the product for the costs.

Important not to use again as once an animal has reacted adversely then he or she will more than likely react adversely to future treatments.

Interesting topic. I recently Frontlined my golden retriever. A couple of days later I noticed a number of hard lumps under her skin in the area that the Frontline had been applied, together with a number of smaller lumps at behind her ears. I took her to the vets and queried the possibility of a link with the Frontline, but was told it was unlikely. I had already decided that I would not use Frontline again, but am totally convinced now.

i have heard a few dogs had this reaction to frontline and our timo yelped in pain after it was applied to his neck so id assume in some dogs it does burn.after timos reaction i wont use it again.roy.

A while back I applied it to my gang and one of my girls had a reaction to it. Her skin became red, angry and swollen. It was clearly painful as she was trying to reach the spot and was agitated. I cut away all the hair in that area and gave it a thorough wash.

I will never use it again.

my dog had a large lump after frontline, it took 3 weeks to clear up.

My Dachie had a reaction to frontline immediately after it was done I no longer use chemical flea treatments ,twice a week I give them fresh crushed garlic on thier food and it seems to do the trick .

Do you think the crushed garlic keeps ticks away also? Last year my samoyed got infested with ticks after a trip to the woods, he developed Limes disease and the vet told me I was very lucky to have caught it so quickly, he lost the power to his back legs and it was a very scary time, as he was an import I wondered if he had no immunity to the ticks in this country? or is that just rubbish? If anyone can advise a good way of keeping ticks off my dogs without chemicals I would appreciate their help, we live in the country and the farmer lets us run the dogs in his fields and woods we are very lucky but the ticks seems to be on the increase.

I have noticed a real increase in the number of ticks, and have been told that it due to farmers no longer being able to use the traditional sheep-dip chemicals which killed just about everything but the sheep. I'm not sure whether this is true, but it sounds quite logical.

I think the garlic will help and also make sure your dog gets b vitamins in things such as brewers yeast which will also help and you could also try this: http://www.neemgenie.co.uk/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PG1&Category_Code=007&Product_Count=14

Thank you so much for your replies, I will order some tomorrow, it sounds fabulous, have you tried it?

I do keep some in my cupboard yes, not been used as my dogs so far have not had tics, not sure if it is where I walk them or because they have garlic, brewers yeast and I do use the neem shampoo when I wash them (about once a month) so that all helps to keep them at bay.  I bought it just in case, but I have heard good reports about it.

You could also try 'Billy No Mates' from CSJ.  This is a herbal mixture which is added to food, and also contains Neem.

For the first time ever and embarrassingly too I have found ticks on two of my pups.

I had given them a bath using a weak solution of Vetzyme JDS (it was the shampoo I had in for the adults).  I was taking two of the pups to meet up with new owners at a breed club event and when we were petting and fussing them we found very small ticks on each of their faces.

Now I live in the middle of Bristol, pups had access only to a concrete run and the paved area the dogs use which has just a bit of border. 

I can only think that because we had that cold weather and then it suddenly warmed up that the hedgehogs had been active and that is where the ticks came from.

In all my years here (over 20) I have only ever had to deal with one tick on my very first dog who has been dead since 1992!

I have had a reaction, but ony to the Spot on not the Spray.

The spray is less oncentrated as you spray on more of it if you get me.

I think what Teri says is spot on (excuse the pun) because the farmers are not allowed to use the chemicals any more they are definitly on the increase but to get ticks in the middle of Bristol well that is a mystery!! must be the hedgehogs, I wasnt aware they carry ticks I thought it was just fleas. This is a brilliant forum for learning.

Don't forget the urban foxes carry them too. And cats. In fact they'll hitch a lift with any mammal, have a feed then drop off and wait for the next passer-by.

> In fact they'll hitch a lift with any mammal

I know people who've found them 'attached'   No scruples (or scroobles :-D ) whatsoever - that's ticks, not people - although ..... :-p