Fleas & Natural Flea Preventions - that work?

[Dame]

Well... Winston and I got back from the vet today. He's got tapeworms, and they found two fleas. Now I know he got tapeworms from eating fleas... no question about that! But part of this flea business is throwing me.

When I purchased Winston he had quite the flea issue, all the breeder's dogs did. I treated him, we never saw a flea since (and that was months ago.) The Vet recommended I treat my house, which I will no question but....

Does two fleas on my dog really mean I have to have a flea problem? We use K9 Advantix (his last dose was about two weeks ago.) The vet prefers frontline which they of course tried to sell me (understandable.) Am I justified for not understanding how Winston has a flea problem? He's attached at my hip, he gets combed every day, am I out of line for thinking that the might have picked these two fleas up before going to the vet and that we don't have a flea issue? I mean, wouldn't he have more then just two? Whenever we had a flea problem in my house it was clearly visible both on the dogs and on us humans. The no signs on anyone and two fleas on him leaves me throughly confused.

I have 4 months of K9 Advantix left, and not only do I not want to waste it but I can't really afford to just throw that money away. Apparently fleas are a lot worse then I realized here in KY so I'd like to find something I can add to our current flea meds as extra protection. I know Dawn kills fleas, but I obviously can't use it every day. Has anyone had first hand knowledge of natural flea remedies that worked for them?

I know there is a lot of info in past threads... but a large majority of it seemed to be second hand info. Having to treat Winston for tapeworms again would be counterproductive since it's going to cost more then another couple months of comfortis or frontline so I really want to try something I know will have some sort of positive effect.

[jp4m2]

Hi Dame, I don't like using the flea products ( I don't like calling them "medicine") that are put on dogs because of the toxic chemicals in them, so I've been doing my own reading and experimenting with/on fleas for the past few months. Most of the fleas that come into the house are not in the adult stage, maybe 1-5% are in the adult stage. The rest are in the egg, larvae, pupae stage. If you have carpet it gets a little harder to control because they can crawl down into the fibers and hide. Believe it or not the best weapon you have to ridding your house of fleas is the good old vacuum. Sweep... sweep.... sweep......Hear are two studies on vacuuming.....


Sciencedaily .com: Lead study author W. Fred Hink, professor emeritus of entomology at Ohio State and a longtime researcher in nontoxic controls of fleas on dogs, sought to test the effects of vacuuming on all flea life stages and whether any extra disposal steps or additional chemical controls are necessary.
The study involved groups of 100 adult fleas at a time, as well as groups of 50 pupae and 50 larvae, by vacuuming them up from a tightly woven kitchen-type of carpet. Six tests of vacuuming the adult fleas yielded an average of 96 percent of fleas killed; three tests of vacuumed pupae and one test of vacuumed larvae (in their third stage of development) resulted in 100 percent killed.
In comparison, an average of only 5 percent of adult fleas died after being held in paper vacuum bags to test for toxicity, and an average of only 3 percent died when circulated in moving air.
“I did not include eggs in the vacuum study, but I'm sure they would not have survived,” Hink said.

Dutch journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata:
The old upright is not only lethal to adult bugs, but it completely wipes out their young. Scientists from Ohio State University had set out to determine what additional measures might be needed to kill a bunch of Hoovered-up fleas: burning, freezing, poisoning, maybe even a little good old fashioned stomping. But it turns out that getting sucked into a vacuum bag does the whole job.
The researchers were so surprised by the results, they repeated the study several times. In each experiment, they sprinkled a kitchen carpet with 100 cat fleas, either adults or juveniles. And they found that the vacuum snuffed out pretty much all of them.

Personally, I tried the sprays with citrus in them but didn't like them, they only seemed to last a couple hours and I'm not sure they even did anything.....

I tried the Dawn and it did work, if you lather it up well and leave it on for 5 min. I wasn't to wild about using dish soap on my pets so I did an experiment with regular pet shampoo and with Pantene....I left the shampoos on for 6 minutes and found dead fleas....It appears it's the time left on and not the soap that is killing them, I'm thinking they must just drown.....I usually use a Neem oil shampoo for mine, like this....

Tropiclean Naturally Green Neem Oil & Citrus Shampoo


I also use Diatomaceous Earth (food grade)....I lightly dust it in their beds and I part their hair and lightly dust their skin. It feels dry and chalky so i try and not get it on the fur. I get it from Perma Guard.....I was curious if it really worked so I put two fleas in a small jar with a couple pinches of D.E. in there. I gently swirled it around and left it set, 12 hours later they where dead. It takes longer to kill than pesticides do but it's safer...........

Buy Diatomaceous Earth to kill fleas, ticks, bed bugs and parasites naturally

I also use cedar oil from Cedercide. I have two little canisters that I always have by my side when I do a flea check. If I see one I do one quick mist and the flea is dead in under five seconds. I love this stuff. It used to be if I saw a flea and tried to grab it the flea would hop away or I would lose it in their fur. Not any more. if I see it, it's dead. I also use this in their beds. It does have a strong cedar smell, but I'm getting used to it.

Best Yet 4 Oz. 2 Pack


This is from my trials and errors so I hope I gave you something to work with....

[FlDebra]

Try Minksheen shampoo. You can get a sample size bottle to try it. I started using it and have stopped using the Frontline Plus that I was using and so far so good. It has natural insecticides like Citronella in it.

[polomysweetpup]

I use this triple sure spray it is all natural, and have been using it all summer!
and it works he has no fleas and no ticks, and in the south in the woods there are a lot of ticks and fleas.
I would definitely recommend it.
You do need to apply it about every two days and rub it around, into there fur
but it works really well

here is the link
All-Natural Flea Control and Tick Remedy. Official TripleSure Site Dog Flea Cat

[jp4m2]

Originally Posted by polomysweetpup

I use this triple sure spray it is all natural, and have been using it all summer!
and it works he has no fleas and no ticks, and in the south in the woods there are a lot of ticks and fleas.
I would definitely recommend it.
You do need to apply it about every two days and rub it around, into there fur
but it works really well

here is the link
All-Natural Flea Control and Tick Remedy. Official TripleSure Site Dog Flea Cat

Thank you for the link......I see this is made with cedar oil too but with the addition of peppermint. I will be giving this a try too......

[BLowry]

maybe you should bomb your house? If your dog has fleas then they are in your house, carpets, in cracks on the floor, furniture...they could be anywhere. I don't use chemicals on my girls. I mix 1 cup of water to 15 drops of peppermint oil, spray a rag/towel and wipe them down with it (getting it as close to their skin as possible) A holistic vet told my parents to do this,. It won't hurt the animal because it is natural. You can apply everyday if you need to. My girls don't have fleas but, when we camp I worry that one will jump on them,,,It's also good to repel ticks. My Mom has been using this all summer on her little maltipoo and hasn't had a flea or tick on her yet! and she has alot of woods near her.

[Weneebug]

Originally Posted by Dame

Well... Winston and I got back from the vet today. He's got tapeworms, and they found two fleas. Now I know he got tapeworms from eating fleas... no question about that! But part of this flea business is throwing me.

When I purchased Winston he had quite the flea issue, all the breeder's dogs did. I treated him, we never saw a flea since (and that was months ago.) The Vet recommended I treat my house, which I will no question but....

Does two fleas on my dog really mean I have to have a flea problem? We use K9 Advantix (his last dose was about two weeks ago.) The vet prefers frontline which they of course tried to sell me (understandable.) Am I justified for not understanding how Winston has a flea problem? He's attached at my hip, he gets combed every day, am I out of line for thinking that the might have picked these two fleas up before going to the vet and that we don't have a flea issue? I mean, wouldn't he have more then just two? Whenever we had a flea problem in my house it was clearly visible both on the dogs and on us humans. The no signs on anyone and two fleas on him leaves me throughly confused.

I have 4 months of K9 Advantix left, and not only do I not want to waste it but I can't really afford to just throw that money away. Apparently fleas are a lot worse then I realized here in KY so I'd like to find something I can add to our current flea meds as extra protection. I know Dawn kills fleas, but I obviously can't use it every day. Has anyone had first hand knowledge of natural flea remedies that worked for them?

I know there is a lot of info in past threads... but a large majority of it seemed to be second hand info. Having to treat Winston for tapeworms again would be counterproductive since it's going to cost more then another couple months of comfortis or frontline so I really want to try something I know will have some sort of positive effect.

My vet recommended spraying my carpets, linens and furniture with Knockout Spray. I know you can get it at the vets office...don't know if it is sold in stores or not. I found 2 fleas on Harley (he is also on Frontline) which is really upsetting. I am going to treat my carpets and furniture Thursday and wash all of my bedding and his bedding and toys. Does anyone know if it is better to bath him in Dawn or Flea and tick shampoo? I don't know why but I am hesitate about using the shampoo.

[tortoisekeeper]

My Mom had a terrible flea problem in the house and then in her car. She used Bengal flea bombs in the house and car and never had another problem. Some Walmarts carry it or you can buy it online. They also make a great Roach killer. I used it in every apartment I ever lived in and it really works. We also use the fire ant killer (when we lived in Louisiana) and the wasp and hornet spray. Here is their website if you can find it locally. http://www.bengal.com/products.htm

[Yorkiedaze]

This site is one I seem to post all the time, but it really does have some great ideas. Chinaroad Lowchens of Australia - Ticks, fleas, bees, flies, snakes and other gremlins! And how to deal with them!

Also what I have noticed is dogs who eat commercial dog food seem to attract more fleas than those who are fed real food with some yeast flakes.
My be something to look into.

[Dame]

Originally Posted by Weneebug

My vet recommended spraying my carpets, linens and furniture with Knockout Spray. I know you can get it at the vets office...don't know if it is sold in stores or not. I found 2 fleas on Harley (he is also on Frontline) which is really upsetting. I am going to treat my carpets and furniture Thursday and wash all of my bedding and his bedding and toys. Does anyone know if it is better to bath him in Dawn or Flea and tick shampoo? I don't know why but I am hesitate about using the shampoo.

The vet's office recommended "siphotrol plus" to treat my house with. Since I didn't really want to have to make another trip I just purchased what they recommended. (edited to add, this stuff claims to work for 7 months?!) I won't be using flea bombs, partly because I live in an apt & because I have a small animal who is not friendly. I've used them before, but its not something I want to resort to considering the situation. (If it gets really really bad I just might but I'd really like to avoid it.)

I had planned on treating the house since its well... simple irregardless! (Better to treat and not have an issue then to think I don't have one where I should have treated.) This situation just goes against every flea infestation I've seen, and that we had growing up fostering greyhounds. To me, its just.... two fleas? I had to do a drop off, so I don't know.... I question how likely those two fleas could be from my house, my lawn, the vet's lawn, off another dog/cat or one of the employees (who had no trouble admitting they bring fleas home! hehe)

I'm trying to make this a positive thing though (lol) since if its no where near as bad as what I dealt with many times growing up... if I have a flea problem it can't be a tremendous one. The vacuum thing may explain that though... since I normally vacuum at least a room every other day. If I do have a flea problem maybe thats what has been keeping the population down.

Weneebug, from a personal standpoint - I would never use flea shampoo. Its hard to really control how much pesticide they get exposed to and thats always concerned me. I am going to be using some head and shoulders on Winston (its what someone said they use and their vet recommended for fleas) since I have some in the house. Not sure how much help it will do but I figure it can't hurt. (I also used to do this years ago with my other yorkie Barry since he had sensitive skin, and strangely enough we never had fleas and I used nothing else.) I will have to keep in mind what you mention Yorkiedaze. Some yeast supplements may be in our future.

Dang economy .... if I hadn't been unemployed for 5 months I would have put him on comfortis and called it a day.

[sweetest1307]

I'm in South Texas and LOVE Minksheen, we have a bad Mosquito problem and it works wonders for those critters too, I bathe mine once and week...they always smell clean. Some people don't like the smell, but I do! It has citronella so it repels insects. It's good for prego dogs as well as it won't harm the pups.

[Weneebug]

Originally Posted by Dame

The vet's office recommended "siphotrol plus" to treat my house with. Since I didn't really want to have to make another trip I just purchased what they recommended. (edited to add, this stuff claims to work for 7 months?!) I won't be using flea bombs, partly because I live in an apt & because I have a small animal who is not friendly. I've used them before, but its not something I want to resort to considering the situation. (If it gets really really bad I just might but I'd really like to avoid it.)

I had planned on treating the house since its well... simple irregardless! (Better to treat and not have an issue then to think I don't have one where I should have treated.) This situation just goes against every flea infestation I've seen, and that we had growing up fostering greyhounds. To me, its just.... two fleas? I had to do a drop off, so I don't know.... I question how likely those two fleas could be from my house, my lawn, the vet's lawn, off another dog/cat or one of the employees (who had no trouble admitting they bring fleas home! hehe)

I'm trying to make this a positive thing though (lol) since if its no where near as bad as what I dealt with many times growing up... if I have a flea problem it can't be a tremendous one. The vacuum thing may explain that though... since I normally vacuum at least a room every other day. If I do have a flea problem maybe thats what has been keeping the population down.

Weneebug, from a personal standpoint - I would never use flea shampoo. Its hard to really control how much pesticide they get exposed to and thats always concerned me. I am going to be using some head and shoulders on Winston (its what someone said they use and their vet recommended for fleas) since I have some in the house. Not sure how much help it will do but I figure it can't hurt. (I also used to do this years ago with my other yorkie Barry since he had sensitive skin, and strangely enough we never had fleas and I used nothing else.) I will have to keep in mind what you mention Yorkiedaze. Some yeast supplements may be in our future.

Dang economy .... if I hadn't been unemployed for 5 months I would have put him on comfortis and called it a day.

My husband thought if we had a flea problem that they would be jumping on us. I've only seen 2 on Harley and I didn't see them until after he had went to the groomer. I'm wondering if he got it from there. I bathed him with Dawn after I saw the first one but that didn't seem to do the trick because I found the 2nd one after that. I'm going ahead and treating the house because I don't want it to turn into a big problem.