We give Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar a rating of 4.75 out of 5 stars.
What Is the Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar? How Does It Work?
Sobaken is a pet company that specializes in natural flea and tick products for cats and dogs. It also sells pheromone collars, calming collars, and calming treats. The Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar for dogs utilizes natural ingredients and essential oils to repel fleas and ticks. The collars are also marketed as effective against mosquitoes, lice, and sarcoptic mange.
Like other flea and tick products, the collars work by transferring oils onto the dog’s skin. Once there, the oils are absorbed and disseminated over the skin through the sebaceous glands. Unlike most other flea collars, the repellent in Sobaken’s formula is 100% natural, which is always a plus!
This formula is marketed as being hypoallergenic and free from nasty side effects. Rather than killing pests using neurotoxins or pesticides, Sobaken collars simply repel them using highly scented essential oils.
Chemical flea and tick products come with a host of downsides. They can cause scary side effects in dogs, including vomiting, seizures, and even death. Worse still, humans, especially children, who pet the dogs treated with these products are at risk of neurological damage. Natural products, like those from Sobaken, offer a safer alternative. But are they as effective?
I tried Sobaken Flea & Tick Collars on Ragz, my Dalmatian mix, and Papyrus, my Chihuahua. Both have been struggling with fleas since we moved to Hawaii, so I was very excited to find a natural product that promises results.
Keep reading to discover if these natural flea collars live up to the hype.
Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar – A Quick Look
- All natural active ingredients
- Hypoallergenic
- Easy to use
- Lasts up to 8 months
- One size fits all
- Some may not like the smell of citronella
- A little stiff
Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar – What’s Included
I received two flea and tick collars, one for my 30-pound Dalmatian mix and one for my 7-pound Chihuahua mix. Because they are one-size-fits-all collars, I got the same product for each.
- The collar (25” – cut to size)
- A small instruction pamphlet
- A warranty card
Ease of Use
Like most flea collars, the Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar was incredibly easy to use. As the instructions advised, I fitted them on each dog just loose enough to allow my fingers to slip underneath. Then, I trimmed the excess, leaving 2 inches of extra length after the buckle.
Each collar lasts for 8 months under normal circumstances, another characteristic that makes this product user-friendly. Compared to monthly oral flea and tick medication or topical treatments, the Sobaken collar requires much less work for dog owners.
Ingredients
- Spearmint oil
- Clove oil
- Citronella essential oil
The all-natural ingredients are safe for dogs and puppies over 3 months of age. Unlike chemical flea and tick repellents, they are very unlikely to cause side effects outside of rare allergic reactions. Equally as important, the ingredients won’t cause problems for children and adults who come into contact with them.
The collar is made of polyethylene. While no plastic is 100% safe from leaching chemicals, polyethylene is one of the safest materials. When used topically as it is meant to be, it is unlikely to cause any health problems.
The last ingredient listed is zinc stearate, a naturally occurring fatty acid used as a releasing agent. The Environmental Working Group scored this ingredient as low risk in all categories.
Effectiveness
Natural products are often much safer for pets to use. However, they are also often less effective. Luckily, I can confidently say that Sobaken’s Flea & Tick Collar works incredibly well. In fact, of all the natural treatments I’ve tried for fleas, this one is by far the most effective.
You can read more about how this product worked for my dogs in the “Our Experience” section below. For now, I will leave the collars on my dogs for the full 8 months and order more once they stop working.
Side Effects and Downsides
The Sobaken website claims this collar will not cause allergic reactions or hair loss. The thousands of reviews for the product across the web seem to agree. I saw zero side effects when I used it on my dogs.
Since the collar’s active ingredients emit odors, each scent is detectable. Citronella doesn’t bother me or my dog, so that was not an issue for us, but it should be considered if you are scent-sensitive.
Lastly, it is worth remembering that the collars repel but do not kill fleas. If your dog is infested and you put the collar on, the pests will start jumping ship as the product takes effect after about 24 hours. Therefore, I highly recommend bathing your dog to kill fleas and ticks on them before putting the collar on.
Is Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar a Good Value?
Considering that this collar works for 8 months, I’d say it is very well-priced.
It costs about as much as three Frontline Topical Flea and Tick Protection treatments but lasts nearly three times as long. It is a tad more expensive than most chemical flea and tick collars but about half the price as Seresto, the leading flea collar brand.
FAQ
Does It Repel Mosquitoes?
Sobaken Flea & Tick Collars also repel mosquitoes, lice, and sarcoptic mange. The all-natural active ingredients absorb into the dog’s skin, creating a protective odor shield that mosquitoes and other pests don’t like.
How Durable Is the Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar?
The collar is water-resistant and made of durable polyethylene. It is not meant to be chewed on and could be dangerous if ingested. However, when left on the neck, it should easily last 8 months.
Does This Collar Stay On?
If you follow the trimming instructions, the Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar should stay on without an issue. However, if you trim the excess too short, it is likely to slip through the buckle and come off. Excessive scratching at the neck can also cause the collar to come off.
Our Experience With the Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar
I have been dealing with a constant flea problem for the last two months. The common space behind our house is filled with fleas, and our dogs frequently pick them up. The Sobaken collar is our most recent attempt to deal with this issue.
Both our dogs have a history of idiopathic seizures, so chemical flea and tick preventatives are not safe to use. That’s why I was so excited to find this all-natural product. I admit that I was a little skeptical, however. I have been using a topical flea spray that utilizes many of the same essential oil ingredients as Sobaken, and I have not been happy with the results.
Luckily, I found these collars are much more effective! Before putting the collars on, I bathed both my dogs to kill the fleas already present. Despite my attempts to mitigate the issue with natural sprays, diatomaceous earth, and frequent bathing, I found seven fleas on Papyrus, my Chihuahua, and three on Ragz, my Dalmatian.
Once my dogs were dry, I put on the flea collars. They were easy to fit and secure. After some initial scratching, my dogs both got used to them.
The Results
Over the next week and a half, I watched my dogs carefully. I used the flea comb every other day to check for pests and flea dirt. Not only did I not find any, but I never saw any excess itching or discomfort that would signal the presence of fleas.
After 10 days, I bathed both dogs to check for flea activity. I didn’t find a single flea or evidence of flea dirt on Papyrus. I did find one flea on Ragz, but no obvious flea dirt, meaning it had likely not been on her long enough to feed. These results were amazing, considering how many fleas I’d found every time I bathed them previously.
In the middle of the collar test run, I had a flea-ridden foster kitten come into my care. It took days to get the hundreds of fleas off this poor cat but, thanks to the collars, none of them made it onto my dogs!
Overall, I am very happy with these collars. They have been by far the most effective natural flea solutions I’ve found, and I plan to continue using them for the foreseeable future.
Conclusion
After testing the Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar on my dogs, I can confidently say that it is one natural pest solution that lives up to the hype. Not only did this collar reduce my dogs’ flea load by over 90%, but it was also easy to use and had absolutely no side effects.
I highly recommend the Sobaken Flea & Tick Collar to all dog owners who want to avoid chemical products and need an effective, natural flea solution that requires less work.
