Apple cider vinegar is an easy-to-use natural tick repellant. You can add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar per quart of water to your dog's water bowl to keep ticks away from your dog. Apple cider vinegar can also be mixed with water to make a tick repellant spray.
Vinegar Spray
Be sure to use this once or twice a month, whenever you're giving your dog a bath. Vinegar can kill ticks and prevent infestations in the future, AKC Pet Insurance explains.
Use Dental Floss In a Pinch
But if you don't have tweezers around, some dental floss might work as well. Simply tie some thread around the mouthpart area of the tick (as close to the skin as possible), then pull up and outwards. Pull slowly, so you don't break the tick off but rather pull it off completely.
Nothing does the job quite like rubbing alcohol. Not only is it famous for killing any bad bacteria in wounds, but it can also wipe out a tick for good. After you remove the tick, drop it in a cup of alcohol and place a lid over it so it can't escape. It shouldn't take time for the alcohol to do its job.
A rag soaked with hydrogen peroxide and held on the area for a few minutes will make the tick uncomfortable causing it to release. This way you can grab it and dispose of it without yanking. If your pet is on preventive medication and has been bitten by a tick and that tick died, removal can be a little more difficult.
Use tweezers
To remove a tick from your dog, grab a pair of fine-point tweezers (or a tick removal tool) and spread your pup's fur. Bring the tweezers as close as possible to your dog's skin and gently pull the tick out in a straight, upward movement.
Certain Aromatherapy Essential Oils
Not only smell great, but they are also known to be natural tick repellents. Ticks hate the smell of lemon, orange, cinnamon, lavender, peppermint, and rose geranium so they'll avoid latching on to anything that smells of those items.
When the solution was applied to his wrist, and a tick placed on his arm – the tick actually made a run for the vinegar solution! Lubelczyk does not recommend using homemade vinegar and water on for personal tick protection.
Kurtz says vinegar is not strong enough to kill or even repel ticks. She says you would need to get a prescription-grade repellant from a veterinarian. She also says over-the-counter repellant is also not effective. Additionally, many animals are sensitive to vinegar, and trying it will make them uncomfortable.
Ticks hate the smell and taste of vinegar, and will be easily be repelled by this ingredient alone.
Best overall tick repellent
The CDC — along with six experts I spoke with — recommends DEET as an effective tick repellent. “The EPA suggests that any product with DEET should have a concentration between 20 and 30 percent of the active ingredient,” says Molaei.
Apple Cider Vinegar
The smell and stickiness from spraying apple cider vinegar on your pet's bedding—or directly on your pet—is enough to keep you away, but fleas and ticks aren't as picky. Forcing your pet to drink vinegar will also do nothing to keep away fleas and ticks.
It sounds credible, but it is not true. Putting liquid soap, petroleum jelly, Vicks VapoRub, nail polish or any other goo on a tick will not make it let go faster. Aggravating a tick might cause it to regurgitate saliva into the bite, increasing the risk of infection.
If not dealt with swiftly and safely, ticks can present a very real threat to the health and wellbeing of a doggy's life. Besides looking awful, ticks can cause a reaction in the skin that leads to a small abscess, especially if not removed properly.
Ticks will bite and feed on your dog or cat for up to a few days, and drop off once they've had enough. During this time, it's possible the tick could give your pet a disease. Ticks carry a serious bacterial infection called Lyme disease.
Combine equal parts lemon juice and water and spritz your dog (and yourself) to combat fleas and ticks. Don't use this blend on cats – they tend to not like lemon. No lemon juice on hand? Boil some orange peels and use that water instead…
The citrus present in lemon helps removing ticks naturally. You can prepare a disinfectant solution for bathing your pet with the help of lemon juice. Squeeze out the juice of lemon in a cup of water. Also add peels and pulp in the water.
There's the old way and the right way to remove a tick. "Using matches or nail polish remover or Vaseline ─ you want to avoid those," says Dr. Bobbi Pritt, a Mayo Clinic parasitic diseases expert.
Garlic, sage, mint, lavender, beautyberry, rosemary and marigolds are some of the most familiar and effective tick-repelling plants, and they are great to use in landscaping borders around decks, walkways, pet runs, patios and other areas to keep ticks away.
Using tweezers or hemostats, simply pluck the tick as close to the skin where it is attached. If your pet's hair is long, you may saturate the area with alcohol to better see where the tick is attached to the skin. Do not squeeze the body of the tick as you remove it.