Are there natural or over the counter treatments for fleas and ticks?

I have heard of some. I did not learn of any in vet school. And I do just have to let you know that you need to be very, very careful because I have seen in some blogs where owners have tried to use garlic to repel fleas and ticks. And I should warn you that garlic is toxic to dogs. And I've also seen some owners try to use some essential or natural oils, although some varieties of those can also be toxic. So before you use anything over the counter or anything like that, chat with your veterinarian.

That comes up a lot these days. Some remedies supposedly have an effect on killing fleas. I don't know of any that have a long duration of action to prevent them, but it may be out there. The problem with those things is not that they're for sure ineffective, there is just not any good research to support using something like essential oils as flea prevention. There are also potential risks involved, like if your pet ingests too much of it. The short answer is that I can't recommend any options that are definitely going to be effective or safe. When we're looking at products, particularly FDA-regulated products, we can be confident to a certain degree that those products have been tested and will be safe and effective. Even the over-the-counter products have at least been tested for safety concerns.