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Miles (Oceanside, California) on 06/16/2008
5 out of 5 stars

I use to have a German Shepard, and every year around summer time he would become infested with fleas. Flea/tick shampoo was pretty much useless, as I would have to bathe him with it 4-5 times before all the fleas were gone. However, the eggs would still live on, so a week later he would be infested all over again. I had enough so I took him to the Vet, who strangely gave me garlic pills to give him. He told me most Vets don't recommend it, but he has been giving his dogs garlic for years and they've lived healthy lives. My dog hated it, and it was very difficult to get him to swallow it(even if I put it in the back of his throat, or wrap it in a treat). So I started chopping cloves daily and mixing it with plain white rice(the chopped garlic sticks to the rice so he has to eat it). About a week later, I started to notice something...no more fleas! The only side effect I saw(or smelled) was a bitter smelling flatulence. Every year, around mid-May, I would chop cloves and mix it with rice daily. My neighbor said I was "killing" my dog slowly, but his dog always was sick or had some kind of problem, and he would feed her as much RX pills as your average American family takes(needless to say that's a lot). Of course, his dog died, and it was very sad because he thought synthetic man-made pills wasn't the reason. His exact words were something like "she was an unlucky dog". She never even got to see 10, she died at 9 years old from complications, and they had to put her down. However, my dog lived to see 17, and every time I would take him to the vet they would tell me how healthy my dog was, how healthy his coat looked, and they could never find worms. I only gave my dog garlic daily between May-August, so maybe excessively giving them garlic might lead to anemia. However, I don't believe that since some of my friends give their dogs garlic daily year-round and they're healthy. I now have a year old Boxer, who like many Boxers, has minor digestive problems. When he was a pup he would vomit alot and get diarrhea. He also started getting fleas(not nearly as bad as my Shepard) around 6 months, so I started the garlic treatment with him too. To my surprise not only did it get rid of the fleas, but it cured his digestive problems! I thought the garlic might give him diarrhea, but I wanted his fleas gone so I took a chance. I couldn't believe it, he no longer vomited or had diarrhea after feeding him cloves daily with a cup of white rice. I can honestly say garlic is NOT fatal or even harmful to dogs. Whoever published that statement that it is, was probably just trying to market a new pill for dogs, or doesn't want you to know that $2 a month will cure/treat symptoms that most vets charge $200+ for. Last time I checked, I never heard of anyone getting negative side-effects from natural medicine, but how many negative side-effects are there in your prescription and OTC medicines? Exactly! So to all you "experts" who wanna tell me that some world-renown vet said it's harmful, save your breath. I really don't care. I've seen the results, and it continues to work for me and my dog, and that's all that really matters.
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Replied By Bethanie (Charlotte, NC) on 11/10/2008

You just gave me the perfect way to feed garlic to my dog. He loves rice so I know he'll eat it. I've been researching on the internet. We always have trouble with fleas during the summer here. I can give him a pill...or I can put stuff on his back. Last time i put the stuff on his back I noticed that within thirty minutes his skin had turned bright red. This really worried me and since then I've been considering how to get rid of fleas without putting poison on my dog. I oiled him with a tea tree oil otc mixture (not pure tt oil, but diluted) this evening and will give him this as well. He has a recurring worm problem because of the fleas so we'll see if this helps him at all. Thanks for the tip.

B

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Replied By Janis (Renton, US) on 11/11/2008

Another solution for fleas is brewers yeast tablets. I buy the human kind and some dogs even like the taste of it.If they wont just eat the brewers yeast pill you can crush it up and put in their food. Fleas hate brewers yeast.
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Replied By Cynthia (Alabama) on 09/08/2016

You know, garlic powder works just the same with killing fleas. I've been doing this with my oldest dog and now my little pup and the fleas start die down
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Replied By Marcia (Birmingham ) on 04/14/2017

Thanks for the info! I have been at my wits end about my pomeranians flea problem! Makes it worse that she is allergic to all flea products so we are going aunaturelle! Thanks Cynthia
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