# Natural Flea Control



## jay lyda (Apr 10, 2006)

Whats every ones take on this?

http://www.eartheasy.com/article_natural_flea_control.htm


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

One of the community practice attending clinicians at our teaching hospital raves about this stuff:

http://www.fleabuster.com/Products/Rx_Plus/flea_powder.html

He likes it because if you use regular boric acid (i.e.-Borax), the fleas will know and avoid it because they can sense pH in the environment, but this stuff is apparently neutral . And it kills fleas mechanically, not with chemicals, so no getting immune to the effects.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

My granpa swore up and dowm that he didn't have flea problems when he kept walnut leaves iin the dog house. :-k Maybe fleas didn't like green dogs.
He also claimed his cattle had fewer parisites when ranged in a walnut grove. No idea how true either was.


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## Emilio Rodriguez (Jan 16, 2009)

Isn't cedar chip supposed to repel something too?



> Whats every ones take on this?
> 
> http://www.eartheasy.com/article_natural_flea_control.htm


 First and foremost it's an infomercial for their supplements. A lot of good sensible analysis, I went that route myself with some chemicals and natural chemicals. I would always try to find the generic version and buy whatever it is for horses, comes out to be a fraction of the price. As far as fleas and ticks nothing worked. Then on some dogs the fleas were simply gone. I noticed that dogs can come in and be stressed out from the relocation and they'd get fleas but then they'd balance out again and have no more fleas (I feed raw). So I attributed no fleas to the dog being in good health a while back. I don't have a problem with fleas on my dog but my next door neighbor does. He owns a little white poodle. I can't see the poodle being stressed out too much even though it's one of those that try to attack everyone, she's kinda confident about it. Anyways I've seen them feed it kibble so that must be it. I don't believe it matters how many fleas you have outside.

I remember reading something strong against garlic and brewer's yeast but don't remember why it was deemed bad.

Ticks are a problem that doesn't depend on the dog's health. My only problem with the dog is ticks. I got cheap alternatives for everything else. Intestinal parasites, heart worm etc. The only thing that worked is preventic tick collar. But I hate having another collar on my dog. More so the white doesn't look good on a rott. I've thought of dying it black but I'm afraid it will do something to the active chemical. I think I'll end up doing it though, selamectin/revolution is too damn expensive still.


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## James Downey (Oct 27, 2008)

Emilio Rodriguez said:


> Isn't cedar chip supposed to repel something too?
> 
> 
> First and foremost it's an infomercial for their supplements. A lot of good sensible analysis, I went that route myself with some chemicals and natural chemicals. I would always try to find the generic version and buy whatever it is for horses, comes out to be a fraction of the price. As far as fleas and ticks nothing worked. Then on some dogs the fleas were simply gone. I noticed that dogs can come in and be stressed out from the relocation and they'd get fleas but then they'd balance out again and have no more fleas (I feed raw). So I attributed no fleas to the dog being in good health a while back. I don't have a problem with fleas on my dog but my next door neighbor does. He owns a little white poodle. I can't see the poodle being stressed out too much even though it's one of those that try to attack everyone, she's kinda confident about it. Anyways I've seen them feed it kibble so that must be it. I don't believe it matters how many fleas you have outside.
> ...


 
The only type of cedar that works is western red cedar. But it does have a pesticide...it's strong enough to repel sometypes of snakes. With small rodents the dust has proven lethal...so again it may or may not be safe. 

Garlic and Yeast...waste of money. I have tried it. And Dogs...given enough of anything from the nightshade family (which garlic is in) can be toxic to them. I am not sure if long term use of small amounts is toxic. 


I have had luck with vacuuming the crap out of my house. but it takes daily vacuuming and dumping out the bag often.

I have had less flea problems in the last 4 years since I went to RAW. But I have still had them. 

What I have done is used half doses of advantix...I found that It still works, just as well at half doses.


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## Jaimie Van Orden (Dec 3, 2008)

James Downey said:


> Garlic and Yeast...waste of money. I have tried it. And Dogs...given enough of anything from the nightshade family (which garlic is in) can be toxic to them. I am not sure if long term use of small amounts is toxic. quote]
> 
> I'd be curious to know more about that, I show a four year old bitch and her owner has her on garlic pills every day for fleas...


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Onions and garlic (particularly onions) can cause Heinze body oxidation stress in the red blood cells, which can rupture them, leading to anemia in dogs and cats. The amount that is need for garlic is up for debate, as garlic has long been a flavor enhancer in dog food. Brewers yeast can be a potential allergen.

If you've got multiple dogs, the Frontline spray (which isn't advertised as much as the Plus or Top Spot) is actually cheaper than the spot on stuff, but works just as well according to our professor. You do have to do about one pump per 1-2 lbs of dog to really get them good, or so says the label if I recall. 

Emilio, don't bother with the Revolution if you're just worried about ticks. It's only labeled as being efficacious for the American dog tick. The deer tick and the lone star tick are also common around here, so it doesn't necessarily help, at least on label use. Revolution is better for mites, fleas, heartworms, and some of the intestinal roundworms. For the amitraz collars, you could probably just only keep them on the dogs when they outside where the ticks are and take them off in the house, car, etc.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Jaimie Van Orden said:


> I'd be curious to know more about that, I show a four year old bitch and her owner has her on garlic pills every day for fleas...


One of my dogs got into a container of minced garlic out of the trash and I suspect that was the source of his seemingly transient acanthocytosis on his blood work. Hopefully, as usually that kind of red blood cells is indicative of either liver disease (bad) or hemangiosarcoma (really really bad).


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

If you have fleas outside, the little monsters feed on flea larvae. Doesn't do shit for in the house. It is a good way to help control an infestation without poison.


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

Bob Scott said:


> My granpa swore up and dowm that he didn't have flea problems when he kept walnut leaves iin the dog house. :-k Maybe fleas didn't like green dogs.
> He also claimed his cattle had fewer parisites when ranged in a walnut grove. No idea how true either was.


I know certain types of walnuts can produce a chemical in their leaves/husks that are toxic to some plants/animals, so maybe this is why it worked? My cousins had walnut trees at their property and were careful not to get any of them in the compost pile because of this. When they gave my mom bags of walnuts she did the same thing, we had to take all the husks off but threw them away or burned them, everything else went into the compost heap. I'd be curious if the cattle were eating the walnuts or just coming into contact with the chemical through the oils that are in the husk? Obviously squirrels don't have a problem with it LOL I do remember the husks would stain our hands, so I don't know that I'd want to put it in my dogs bedding


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

I put nematodes out in the fall of 2007 and they REALLY helped with the Japanese Beetles, but I can't say if they worked for anything else. I've never had a flea problem, but always used Frontline during the summer months because ticks are so bad in this area. Last year, I started using food grade diatomaceous earth instead of Frontline and it seemed to work quite well. I sprinkled it in their dog houses, in their kennels, and underneath the pine tree where they spend most of their time when they're out of their kennel. You can also put it directly on them if you're going hiking or into an insect-heavy area, but it can dry out their skin, so I never did that. I also give it orally once a month to get rid of any internal parasites they may have.





I've heard of black walnut being used to treat heartworm, but it can be very toxic to the dog as well, so you have to be very careful and know your dosages!!


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

Diatomaceous earth, as an all natural powder that kills fleas and other bugs by penetrating their skin and manually killing them. It's safe to put on the dog like a powder, spread on bedding, carpets, lawn, anywhere you have fleas, ants or other little bastard bugs that are hard to kill. You can even give it internally for worms. I spread it around in my yard after the rains stop all year until they start again. I also feed the best food, add AC vinager to my dogs food and do NOT use Frontline or any other flea control anymore. I never see fleas on my dogs. Haven't in years and this is a bad aread for them.

http://www.entirelypets.com/dearth12oz.html


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## David Scholes (Jul 12, 2008)

James Downey said:


> ...given enough of anything from the nightshade family (which garlic is in) can be toxic to them. I am not sure if long term use of small amounts is toxic. ...


Garlic is definitely NOT at all related to the nightshade family. More like potatoes, tomatoes, garden huckleberries, peppers, egg plant. The leaves are what you need to be careful of. Garlic is a [FONT=arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]Liliaceae, more in the "lily" family, same for onions.[/SIZE][/FONT]


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## Emilio Rodriguez (Jan 16, 2009)

Maren Bell Jones said:


> For the amitraz collars, you could probably just only keep them on the dogs when they outside where the ticks are and take them off in the house, car, etc.


I believe you're right about that. The effect seems to continue for a couple of weeks after I take the collar off. I had one puppy that wore the tick collar and one that didn't. They spend a lot of time in close proximity and the puppy without the collar also became tick free.


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## Dwyras Brown (Nov 21, 2008)

Has anyone tried wintergreen oil? I was thinking about trying that. Just hard to find the stuff. It is supposedly not harmful for cats or dogs.


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## James Downey (Oct 27, 2008)

David Scholes said:


> Garlic is definitely NOT at all related to the nightshade family. More like potatoes, tomatoes, garden huckleberries, peppers, egg plant. The leaves are what you need to be careful of. Garlic is a [FONT=arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]Liliaceae, more in the "lily" family, same for onions.[/SIZE][/FONT]


I stand corrected.


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