Hi Terrie,

Thanks for your question.

Revolution is an anti-parasitic medication that has effectiveness against ticks, however it does not work fast enough to prevent Lyme disease transmission. A tick needs to bite a dog for a minimum of 24 hours to transfer Lyme disease. Therefore, it’s ideal to use a medication that will kill a tick within a 24 hour period so that the Lyme bacteria does not have the chance to transfer from the tick to your dog. Revolution actually takes a few days to kill a tick and therefore can’t prevent the transmission of Lyme disease.

The drugs that will work to kill a tick within 24 hours are Bravecto, Nexgard and Advantix. These drugs will prevent the transmission of Lyme disease to your dog if they are used as indicated by your veterinarian. These medications work a little differently from each other. The first two are medications that come in pill form and they work by killing the tick after it has been attached to your dog and allowed to bite for a few hours. Advantix is a topical treatment that you apply to the skin and it has the benefit of preventing a tick from even biting your dog in the first place which will prevent Lyme disease. I encourage you to take a look at our video ‘Ticks and Lyme Disease Prevention in Dogs’ for more information about tick prevention.

All the best and good luck.

Dr. Clayton Greenway