Flea prevention for Lhasa Apso with long coat

A long-coated Lhasa Apso with dandruff is one of the trickier spot-on situations — the coat parts unevenly, the dry skin means the product often doesn't contact cleanly, and there's a real risk of it sitting on fur rather than skin. The most effective prevention depends on your dog's weight, your local tick pressure, and whether you'd rather sidestep topicals entirely. To point you to the right thing: how much does your Lhasa weigh, are you in a rural or semi-rural area with ticks, and has your vet flagged anything about the dandruff — is it a known skin condition or just general dryness?

That's a really common problem with Lhasas — you part the coat, apply, and it disappears into the fur and you genuinely don't know if it landed right. At 7kg with real tick exposure, I'd move her off topicals completely and onto an oral treatment. One clear recommendation: NexGard (afoxolaner) chewable tablets for dogs 4–10kg. It's a monthly beef-flavoured chew, kills fleas and covers the main UK tick species including Ixodes ricinus, and because it's systemic there's zero application uncertainty — she either ate it or she didn't. Can I ask one more thing: does she have any history of seizures? NexGard carries a label caution for dogs with a seizure history, so worth knowing before you commit.

NexGard is a prescription-only medicine in the UK, so you'll need a vet to prescribe it — but that's straightforward at her annual check or a quick consultation. Once you have a prescription, you can buy it from a registered online vet pharmacy which is usually cheaper than the surgery's in-house price. The prescription typically covers a year's supply. Given she's six and you're in regular woodland terrain, it's worth having the vet check for any ticks already on her at that appointment too — Lhasa coats hide them well around the neck and between the toes.

NexGard is actually one of the easier ones for fussy dogs — it's a soft chew rather than a hard tablet, and the beef flavour means most dogs take it willingly from the hand or in a small piece of food. If she's sceptical, hide it in a small amount of cream cheese or inside a piece of cooked chicken. The main thing is to give it with or just after a meal — absorption is better with food and it reduces any chance of stomach upset, though that's uncommon. Set a monthly reminder so the protection doesn't lapse, especially heading into spring and autumn when tick activity peaks.

Good plan. Mention the coat and dandruff history to the vet too — they may want to look at whether a fatty acid supplement could help the skin, which would make things easier if you ever need a topical treatment in future for any reason. For now, NexGard monthly is the clean solution for a dog in her situation.