Biospot "Defense"-- new formula is totally ineffective
I've used Biospot without any problems for 7 years. This year they changed the formula. I was able to get the original formula for my yellow dog, Luna, but they were out of my big, black dog Jake's size, so I had to get the new formula.
Luna has not had a single tick on him. Easy to spot on him because of his color, but nothing.
Jake has had 6. SIX. 
I found the 1st one 4 days after his first treatment with the new Biospot. It was already fully engorged, and not dead. After I found a 4th engorged tick, I re-read the directions to see if I'd applied it wrong. Nope. But I noticed it did mention that you could "re-treat" after 8 days, but not more than twice in a month.
So I re-treated him, this time not only down his back, but also around his neck where I keep finding the ticks. 4 days later, another giant, fat thing on his neck, right where I treated him. I search and search, but they disappear into his black coat and the folds of skin around his neck. This morning I found one on his face (still small).
I'm calling them tomorrow to complain. 6 ticks in 3 weeks, 5 got fully engorged and only 2 died of the lot. And now it will be weeks before I can treat him with something that actually works. And I'm worried he'll end up with Lyme, although they looked like dog ticks, not deer ticks. 
New Biospot Defense 
= new reply since forum marked as read
turns out its made by the same company as the Biospot. Same product, different brand and marketed differently. I guess I'm not surprised by that.
Instead of marketing it by small, medium and large dog, it's sold only in 1cc vials in a 48 vial box, and you use 1, 2 or 3 vials depending on the size of the dog.
And I'm getting 9-10 months worth of Zodiac for the price of 6 months worth of Biospot. 
Between the 2 dogs, I'm set for this year and next!
Thank you, though. If the ticks start showing resistance to the Zodiac (I also had read rumors of that regarding Biospot, but have seen zero sign of it), I'll switch to the Frontline generic.
Meantime, they're not getting as much free time. I found another coffee-beaner, bringing it to 7. This one had dropped off and was dead. And I've also started finding a lot of little dead ticks everywhere. Yuck. Apparently the new formula doesn't repel the ticks, although it does seem to be killing some of them (maybe half?) before they fill up.
I seem to remember having read somewhere that they have to be active in you for 48 hours before the lyme disease microbe (forget its name) gets through in sufficient amount to give you the disease. But that was for humans, was probably referring to a single tick, and of course your immune system activity is an important factor too.
Tick larvae will attach to lizards and lizard blood has antibodies that kill Lyme disease. This interrupts the cycle of transmission.
If the larvae attach exclusively to mammals they can transmit lyme disease from one host to the next.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease
