Wim, many people are worried about ticks transmitting Tick Borne Diseases to their pets, and trying to find alternative methods of keeping ticks and fleas off their pets. Certain things can be used on dogs – like essential oil mists – that I’m not sure I would use on a cat.

I saw your post at Hpathy last year about homeopathic tick and flea repellents. Below is a condensed version, and I think it may have been you that posted it! Anyway, I posted this over on the Lyme board where I hang out sometimes:

"I usually prescribe homeopathic Sulphur for this situation.

This remedy has the reputation for making the skin less attractive to fleas [and other biting bugs] and in that way deterring them from living on the dog/animal.

To maintain the right degree of acidity (pH value) give 1 dose of Sulphur 30x once a week for 6-8 weeks approx. (longer if necessary) and it’ll chase away all kinds of skin parasites.

One dose is 1 tablet or 3 coarse pellets/granules for small dogs and 2 tablets or 4-5 coarse pellets/granules for bigger dogs. (Coarse tablets are #35 pellets).

At times of high risk, it’s possible to give Sulphur 200c, dose 3 times weekly (same dose as mentioned above)."


A lady in Switzerland (who has Lyme Disease) started using the Sulphur for her cat. Apparently, her area is endemic for Tick-Borne Encephalitis and her cat often has ticks on him. I want to quote part of what she wrote and see if you have any suggestions or comments. (She is talking about a cat here):


"I would like to share a VERY INTERESTING STORY about sulphur homeopathic to my poor cat.

I had given the 30 K sulphur for 2 days before I left to a trip. Then when I came back, about 1 week later, I found so far 49 ticks on him. He's still got some left.

The first 35 ticks I got on day 1 were alive. I started giving the homeopathic sulphur, both the D30 and C200. The second 6 ticks I pulled off next day, I dont' remember, I just burned them before looking closely. I gave him more sulphur homeopathic again. Then yesterday, I took 8 ticks (he's still got some left), and interestingly, they looked dead. I put them in a glass and waited.

They usually move their legs when they're pulled off. Nope, there were only 2 tiny ones moving (these were ON THE BODIES of the big ticks, but were not attached to my cat). I frequently see a 'phenomenon' here with my cat that almost all big ticks come with at least one small ticks attached to their bodies. I wonder why, it's a VERY COMMON thing. The smaller ones won't be attached.

I didn't see my cat today to pull some more ticks and check if they live or not. But I WONDER IF THE SULPHUR homeopathic (or not) KILLS TICKS??? Or I coincidentally killed all of them while pulling them off? They look intact though.

I hope I'm not going to kill my cat with this experiment. But this was extremely exciting!

I find Korsakov formulas especially interesting because of individual's different needs of homeopathic potencies and because homeopathy ceases to work if you insist using same potency long (a few weeks, in my experience). Because of heterogeneity, it'll take longer (in theory) to get 'resistant' to the formulas K than H (my homeopath's explanation, or at least, how I understood).

Look at the trial I'm doing with my cat and myself with this sulphur. We'll have to use the same potency for a long time (whole tick season!) so I have fears it can work well in the beginning, and lose effectiveness after a few weeks."


(I don’t need explanation of the K and H methods of making remedies, and I understand the European potency designations - like D is equivalent to X - are often different than what we have in the USA.)

Anyway, does it take awhile – or a few doses – before the Sulphur will repel the ticks?

Do you think it was the Sulphur that caused some ticks to die, or just coincidence?

Any other thoughts on prevention of ticks on pets would be appreciated.

Tracy