Urgh. Help me make a decision, here please... We usually use the Small/Medium Scalibor collar.

Scalibor collars come in 2 sizes (Small/Medium and Large).

The Small/Medium has 4% deltamethrin which is 0.76 deltamethrin per collar.

The Large is also 4% deltamethrin which is 1g deltamethrin per collar. So - there's more collar (it's longer), so more deltamethrin.

So the problem is... Due to Brexit, the Small/Medium collar isn't available almost anywhere except with a use-by date of June 2021. Apparently (according to manufacturer) this means it has to be started to be used before June, not finish its 6 months by then. Now, we may not go away before then. Or we may. It depends on Covid and travel. I also find that old Scalibor collars get very powdery with the white stuff on them, which being a pesticide kinda worries me....

Also, Scalibor collars just say to trim any excess length off. So if I get the Large one (no expiry date issues), can't I just trim it down when I put it on? It's not going to give more of the drug because the % is the same and the length of the collar is proportionate to the size of the dog's neck, whatever size is used? They are both 4% of whatever length they are, and we're trimming it to fit the dog...

Do I:

Use the Small/Medium collars with expiry date of June 2021?
Use the Large collar and just trim it down?
Use another product, probably the Seresto? (I've not used this before and it has 2 meds in it - imidaclopramid and flumethrin, for fleas and ticks - rather than just the deltamethrin for ticks, which the Scalibor has. We don't really need to treat for fleas...and I try to only use meds for what I need).

Answers please, I need to stop procrastinating on this one!!!

I have no experience with Scalibor collars.   However, I do with Seresto which I bought for my Basset.   That only lasted on him for a couple of weeks before the skin under his chin became red and inflamed to the point I had to take it off.    I have always used Beaphar flea and tick collars to good effect.

I always trimmed the collars to fit and put the extra in my vacuum.

I’ve used Seresto collars for years and had no issues. Seem to work well as I rarely see a tick on her, if I do I feel they are trying to escape.

Thanks guys, I think I'm going to go with the Large collar and trim it down. I mean, if something is 4% deltamethrin and it's cut to fit the neck of the dog then I don't see how it can't be ok - I mean, if it were 2 metres long and still 4%, and we cut it to fit the neck of the dog, it would still be administering the same amount of drug.

We'll just cut more off. They are only just in the Small/Medium collars anyway.

Gosh personally I wouldn't go for a larger one.  The stuff that is impregnated on those collars is horrific.  Gave one of my boy's lesions on his throat but I had no alternative other than leave it off for a few days and put it back on as the sandflies were awful too.

Ah ok, same chemical content.  apols, didn't read it properly.

Yeah, I think you're just paying for a longer length collar - but if you trim it, it's the same size whatever it started out as...

I always wanted to use collars more than oral flea and tick treatment but unfortunately it never worked for my dogs, never tried Scalibor though. Since two years i am ordering Frontline plus in the Pet pharmacy and i am very happy with it. I also wash my dogs with apple vinegar once a week, i read somewhere that insects dont like the smell.

markie, if you want to use collars over oral meds, the two collars to try are Scalibor and Seresto which you can order online from pet pharmacies. Not the cheapo collars you can buy in stores or pet shops.

Comfortis treats fleas, not ticks.

Well, just to say that the Scalibor collars have been on about 2 weeks now and today I found a tick embedded in my dog's chest. I used the tick twister to get it out and it was still alive and partially engorged.

Losing a bit of faith in Scalibor collars after this. Anyone else experienced this?

Perhaps we should try Seresto next time.

As I’ve said further up my dog has a Seresto collar. A few days ago I found a very dead tick on the floor

Was it partially engorged? (I guess so or you wouldn't have seen it, they are tiny otherwise...!)

I wanted to avoid Seresto because it contains 2 drugs - and it is effective against both ticks and fleas. Scalibor only has one drug (deltamethrin) and is not effective against fleas. (Which I don't need anyway.) So in the name of minimising the stuff I use on the dogs, this seemed like e a good compromise...

It was partially engorged so had presumably latched on and then poisoned itself

Well maybe that's what was happening with this tick. It looked kinda wrinkly(!) but I didn't know if that meant it was unwell or it just wasn't full yet. I think the former as they are not usually wrinkly like this.

My one wasn’t moving its legs, not wrinkly at all, about the size of a small pea (petit pois)

Petit pois lol love the description.
Shan't be having peas without thinking about your tick

Yeah I am kinda off peas now

Scalibor getting really put to the test today with a bunch of nymph ticks on the dogs. We took the collars off at home and shampooed them to rinse off any that might be loose and not yet attached, then put the collars back on again.

I hate these things. I picked up the pup (too young to have any tick meds yet) who I'd put on the floor to toddle around and flicked off about 4-5 from her, then found about 3-4 on my own hands ARGGGG. I'd been clutching the pup to my chest, so then I was like... are they all over me too?! We showered ourselves at home and are about to put all clothes and the car dog blanket in the dryer for 6 mins, which is supposed to kill them apparently... Found one crawling up my welly on the outside (I wore those even though it was hot because I thought they would better protect me, ha ha!).

Someone please invent some safe and effective tick solution because trying to negotiate parvo risk reduction for pup, tick crisis 101 and a pandemic is going to see me developing OCD any minute....

Have you tried Cedarcide? It’s a natural product which allegedly repels ticks. Not used it so can’t comment on effectiveness. It’s sprayed on prior to each walk, spray onto hands and rub onto face so to protect eyes. It is strong smelling which may put dogs off.

Argh what a nightmare, the ticks are everywhere here too, mine have all had bravecto so I'm just picking tiny dead ticks off them, they don't get even partially engorged, I have to use the smallest tick tool to remove them.

A friend of mine had a huge tick on her back, she only noticed it when it was massive, urgh!

I really wish there was a natural remedy that worked, I've probably spent thousands of pounds trying everything anyone recommends but bravecto is the only reliable killer of them in my experience. I'm so envious of friends with dogs who walk in the same areas, with no tick protection and never get any. Silken coats are tick magnets!

I'm the same chaumsong. I've tried everything natural that exists, Billy no mates, Wondercide, various natural collars, garlic... Nothing works when the ticks are bad. Perhaps it reduces them, but you can't get just a little bit of Lyme!

I've used Bravecto with a dog in the past and it worked great. But I got worried about the recent press about the fluralaner meds (Bravecto, Simparica, Nexgard etc) - although I loved the convenience of just giving a tablet and forgetting about it.

So now my approach was to use either Scalibor or Seresto - since collars can be removed if there's a reaction. None of these crawling nymph ticks were attached yet. I'm keeping my distance from the dogs and hoping they attach and get killed(!).

It’s a few weeks later. Since I last posted we had a few little ticks which I removed with the tick twister and I decided to give the Scalibor the benefit of the doubt and assume it would have killed them if they’d stayed attached.

Then today I stroked one of the dogs and a giant tick fell off, engorged and alive - from her shoulder. I later removed another, not yet engorged but starting, from her chest. Not that far from the tick collar.

So I now have no faith in Scalibors and will try Seresto next time.

Oh what a nightmare I told you, bravecto is the only thing that works for ticks, I've discovered that you can give far less than the recommended amount which makes me feel a bit better about using it.

We have used Seresto collars successfully for the past few years but have noticed that this year for the first month of having the collars on, we were still finding ticks that are still alive attached of varying sizes.  Am thinking of writing to the place we got them to see if something has changed or if the ticks are getting resistant maybe?  I do struggle with using these collars because of the harm they do to our river life so try to keep dogs out of the water when wearing but don't want to give the Bravecto.  I too wish there was another answer but fear that the tick problem is only going to get worse.  Such a pity about the lack of a Lyme vaccination but maybe Valneva's one will work out and get less backlash than the LYMErix did: https://valneva.com/research-development/lyme-disease/

I believe there is a vaccine against Lyme for dogs available in the US, but like the Lepto one it has a risk of side effects. (There is more risk of Lyme than Lepto IMO though!)

It needs 2 shots a few weeks apart and has to be repeated every year. I don't know when/if it will be available in the UK.

Valley, the active ingredient in Seresto and Scalibor is different so it would be weird if the ticks had gotten ok with both. Like you I'm reluctant to use Bravecto or any of the oral tick meds.

PS Just thought I'd add, there is also a vaccine against leishmaniasis now if anyone is travelling down Spain or the Mediterranean with their dogs.

It involves 3 vaccines, a few weeks apart and you can travel I think 4 weeks after the last vaccine. I'd definitely look into it if going anywhere hot - because leishmaniasis is an incurable disease.