You prob. all know those systemic anti-tick / anti-flea remedies for dogs, the ones you need to apply m/l between the shoulderblades … a couple of drops will do … 3-5ml for a full sized dog
I got a Q: It seems (pls confirm) that the remedy needs to come into contact to the skin of the animal in order to be absorbed into the metabolism and then protect the animal from “within”, as opposed to the older gen. remedies that only seem to have worked on the outside of the animal, “coating” it somewhat with a dust, etc…
If my hypothesis is true, why between shoulderblades? … I mean I get it (somewhat) … thats a place where the dog cannot lick it away and get sick or so …but thats a pretty hairy place, and lots of those expensive oils never make it to the skin (ever figured the 1L. price of those - eyewatering!!!)
but why not for example apply it to the inside of the ears (thats all skin and no hair) … of in case of an imobilized dog on the belly, which also is way more skin than hair? You should get a way higher “oil actually reaches skin” ratio than on the hairy parts of the dog=
am I missing something? e.g. the oil needs to be spread out wider (but then again the shoulderblades aren’t exacly wide spread out, either …
I would guess it’s because the dog can reach his ears with his paws. Lick the paw, wipe the ear, lick the paw again, and now the dog is ingesting the oil.
Other places on a dog’s body can be easily licked or rubbed off. Even on the shoulder blades can roll on his back. We switched to the pills because we have 2 dogs and they can reach each other’s backs.
Immobilizing a dog? Duke is half dog, half cat, and half rubber. We’d need a tranq gun.
When I used it on my obese beagle I put it in 2 spots on her back. She couldn’t reach either. She did always roll around like a goof trying to rub it off. It wasn’t very successful.
The pills are much easier.
I think the people who sit around figuring out these things have spent at least 20 minutes deciding the shoulder blades were the best bet.
As I understand it, the primary mechanism for long lasting flea/tick remedies for pets is that the active components linger in the skin oils and in the fur. This is the case with the treatments that are administered orally - the chemicals are secreted in the skin oils and don’t persist very long within the bloodstream.
This is part of the reason humans can’t take advantage of similar treatments to prevent tick bites - we wash too often for the active chemicals to persist.
(Similarly, dogs that are bathed frequently or that swim a lot, also lose the protection).