Flea Control for Dish Soap

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The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.

Jennifer (Florida) on 07/09/2015:
5 out of 5 stars

For fleas - set out a shallow pan of water with dawn dish liquid (few drops mixed in) place a table lamp over it in a dark room, A night light works too. The fleas are attracted to the warmth of the lamp and jump in.

Erin (Indiana) on 08/22/2013:
5 out of 5 stars

I have 2 cats that both became infested with fleas. I put frontline on them a little more than a week ago. It did not work. They still had fleas, much to my astonishment, being as frontline is supposed to be good stuff... Not to mention, expensive! I just got done giving them both dawn dish soap baths. Got them wet, lathered them up very good, head toe, very good and thoroughly. Then let them sit for a few minutes in the lather. I almost immediately saw all the fleas dropping off, dead. Rinsed them down the drain and now I have a huge weight off my shoulders!

Awesome Person (Texas) on 07/17/2013:
5 out of 5 stars

I use dawn dish liquid to wash my dogs and it instantly kills most fleas.

Sparkkel (Alabaster, Alabama) on 03/27/2013:
5 out of 5 stars

Baby shampoo. I have used it for years on rescues dog or cats. I bath them in it. It kills the fleas and is gentle on their eyes.

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Pest Control (Atlanta, Usa) on 12/09/2011:
5 out of 5 stars

You can try using Dawn Pure Essentials dish soap on your pets and around the house for pest control

For Pets:

-Get a flea comb:

-Fill a large bowl with hot water and some dawn dish soap

-Dip the flea comb in the water solution and brush through pet

-Dip the flea comb back into the water;continue this pattern

For house infestations:

-Leave a few bowls with hot water and dawn dish doap around ares such as beds, couches, carpet for a few hours. The fleas will be attracted to the warm water and the soap will stick to them making them stuck in the water. They will die.

Hope this helps!

Sudsy88888 (Seattle, Wa Usa) on 08/30/2011:
5 out of 5 stars

use a pie plate filled with water and add a few drops of dish soap to discover fleas in the house. I agree with the borax natural treatment to rid the house. Both my cat and dog get a garlic oil supplement vitamin down their throat once a week and absolutely no fleas on their mugs. Hallelujah!!!!

Amanda (Palmetto, Ga) on 09/14/2010:
5 out of 5 stars

This method works great... Thanks so much.

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Emily (Boonies, Somewhere) on 02/01/2010:
5 out of 5 stars

I don't know why people keep putting stuff on their pets for fleas, all they need to do is use a flea comb, water, with a few drops of ____ dish soap (not concentrate) and keep going over their pets until they are not on them anymore, then rinse them off with warm NOT hot water. Wash the dog in the tub with the dish soap, and get all the fleas off, when you pick them off put them in a bowl of a little dish soap and water. Wash any flea down a hot sink drain and keep the water running so they can't crawl back up. Do not let the pets back in the area where there are fleas!! Which mean that you FIRST had to clean up a room to put them in after you are done with the flea combs and baths. To treat the room first vac really well, repeat and repeat! Burn the bag! Don't keep that bag in the house or anywhere they can crawl out! Use a carpet cleaner with very hot water and vinegar, go over everything and under any cushions and under furniture! Once dry go over the carpet and under any cushions and furniture with the vac again, repeat and repeat..Burn that bag too! You will need to keep going back and using the flea comb, water and dish soap on the pets to make sure you got every last one, which means to do it after a few hours again. Repeat the flea comb the next day and keep using your vac. I got rid of the fleas in my home and off all of my cats and dog doing exactly this! It works, but you can't allow pets back in an area that has fleas, they will only hop back on your pet!

Marilyn (Oswego, IL) on 09/16/2009:
5 out of 5 stars

___ ___dish washing liquid will rid your pet of fleas. There are even some vets who recommend this treatment. Just dont get into eyes. It really works.

Carol (Big Spring, Tx) on 09/08/2009:
5 out of 5 stars

After finding and reading your web site I found the dish soap worked but I hesitate to use it too often. The night light under a pan of soapy water worked for inside the house. The flea comb has been wonderful. He likes the attention and will readily let me comb him.(Male Cat) Now I dip the comb in 7 dust He hated the dust before but he doesn't mind the comb dipped in it. I pick the fleas off the comb and put them into soapy water. They drown. The OVER THE COUNTER flea applications on the back of the neck did not work.

Casper (Port Crane, Ny) on 09/03/2009:
5 out of 5 stars

Any dishwashing liquid will kill fleas. The ones containing lemon will work even faster. Fleas have an oily surface to them that keeps them alive. Mess that up with a little soap and they suffocate. You can always kill a few fleas taking your four legged friends for a swim. FLEAS CAN'T SWIM AND WILL ONLY DROWN IF IMMERSED IN WATER! I have black labs that swim most every day and fleas are never a problem.

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Tammie (Hickman, KY) on 05/23/2009:
5 out of 5 stars

I TRIED THE DISH SOAP AN IT WORKED. IT KILLED THE FLEAS BUT THE FLEAS WERE HARD TO GET OFF. ALL I DID WAS WET MY BABY AN PUT ALOT OF DISH SOAP ON HER AN LET IT SET FOR 10MINS. WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO GET THE FLEAS OFF HER THANKS

EC: Try a flea comb!

Stacy (The Woodlands, Texas) on 05/15/2009:
5 out of 5 stars

We just bathed our 5.5m old puppy with a mixture of Dawn, Joy Lemon and three drops of lemon essential oil. I mixed about 1.5 tablespoons but prob only used a couple of teaspoons. The fleas were jumping off of him onto my dress as I bathed him. We dried him on a white towel that became full of dead fleas. We scanned him and all but one of the fleas we found were dead on his body. He is a very tiny chihuahua, weiner, schnauzer mix and prob doesnt even weigh 5 lbs. I doubt it took longer than 5 minutes to totally bathe him.

Brenda (Columbus, Ms) on 01/27/2009:
5 out of 5 stars

I was told about JOY dish soap for fleas. I have used it several times on my dogs and it worked great. During bath time, I found dead fleas in the water. I haven't noticed any drying of the skin. I only used it 2 times for one week. You can also use lavender oil to keep fleas off your pets and their bedding. Just rub a cotton ball with lavender oil down their back. This works for me and it smells nice too.

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KENDRA (Anjung-ri, South Korea) on 01/26/2009:
5 out of 5 stars

my husband just recently rescued a stray dog from a vet. the dog is about two months old and has been living with us for a week now. i just recently noticed black specs all over the dog in its fur. so i kept searching and i found a flea... i read to use ___ dish soap so i did. i only found two dead fleas and that one that was alive, so it worked.... but i have hard wood floors so i swept and mopped with water, pinesol, and dawn dish soap... i also washed all the bedding in the house. we couldn't find any dead fleas or alive ones on the floor. do you think we could possibly have a flea problem on our hands... what should we do??? should we use frontline on our puppy and our other dog who doesn't have fleas??? also is there some type of lotion i can put on the dogs skin because it seemed to dry his skin out??? thank you so much for your time!!!

Rachel (Underwood, Indiana) on 11/13/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

I found out about dish soap years ago it works great. Kills the fleas instantly. But yes, they tend to run to the eyes and mouth area to escape the suds. My Mom was a dog groomer and taught me a way of protecting the eyes from the sting of soap,put a drop of MINERAL OIL in each eye before bathing the animal. the animal will not get soap in their eyes and you can make sure you can get close without hurting them. Now you still need to be careful around the nose and mouth areas. So try to put a barrier of soap around them so the fleas will not go there. Keep in mind though that you do not want to get Dawn in their nose or mouth, so be really careful when rinsing off. Try a wet rag in these areas. Also Dawn does tend to dry the skin out, so the animal may start itching the dry skin. If you put Avon's Intensive Treatment Lotion on the animal it helps with their dry skin and really lushes the coat. It also repells the fleas for several days, but it does make the coat oily when you first put it on, after a day tho the oil soaks in. You will notice a HUGE change in a very short time.

Dawn will also kill lice and mites. If you have a bird mite problem, wash the cage down with dish soap and spray the bird with a mite spray specially for birds.

I really love ___ for killing fleas. As a matter of fact, when I see someone at the store looking at flea shampoos I stop them and tell them not to waste their money, just buy a $1 bottle of ___. It kills fleas instantly and you don't have to have your animal sitting shivering waiting for 5-15 minutes with the flea shampoo which does not work anyway.

Celine (Pine City, MN USA) on 10/22/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

I came to this site looking for a remedy for the three cats we have. For the first time in two years of having them they have acquired fleas. I know I had allergy reactions to the Hartz formula for dogs so I switched to switched to frontline and no longer let the dogs on our bed. But keeping the cats off the bed wasn't going to happen so I needed a remedy that I wouldn't react to so I went to search for a natural one. After all fleas have been around for ages. I found this site to the answer to my prayers and my animals. I first tried dish soap. The cats didn't seem to mind it. I used a flea comb to make sure they really got lathered up with it. I started at the very top of the neck with just the dawn, as a contributor suggested. Because the fleas will move upward to where they can go where there is no soap. Then I wet the cats down. Then I lathered them up real good. The dish soap killed them! The cats have no fleas. I'm going to spray them down with Apple Cider Vinager to make sure they stay off of them before I let them outside. (The dogs are inside with no fleas) I will report back how well the ACV works at keeping them off but I'm confident it will. Thank you for having this site!

Stephanie (Ft. Worth, Texas) on 10/16/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

We just tried the ___ Dish Soap method for getting rid of fleas. It appears that it worked like a charm. In the past, when using standard over the counter flea shampoos, we would see them crawling and have to pick them off by the dozens. With the Dawn, there were NO crawling fleas--only dead ones. And...the best part of all is that the cats didn't seem to mind it nearly as much. My guess is that it didn't sting them like the other shampoo.

Thank you very much for giving us a better and safer alternative for flea removal.

We have used the ___ in a dish with the light for home flea removal in the past. Thanks for the reminder of this "forgotten" rememdy as well. We are about to try it today as well.

Stephanie and 2 grateful cats

Sherri (Houston, TX) on 10/16/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

I TOTALLY agree with ___ Soap for killing fleas! It worked so well that fleas seem to "run away" from the suds -- I'd started sudsing my dog's back around the shoulder blades, then washed his neck. Next I was going to start on his ears, but when I lifted one of his long floppy ears, I was mortified to see hundreds of fleas lined up next to each other to escape the soap. It looked like small brown fish scales at first, they were so close together; it actually nauseated me a little to see it.

I poured out a LOT of ___ onto a washcloth and went to work on the fleas in his ears, then rinsed them under the tub spigot to make sure they rinsed off. But I never bathed him in that order again -- I came up with a much better system over time:

I wrapped a soft washcloth around my index finger, then applied a generous dab of ___ to the end. I carefully worked in the soap around his eyes, nose, and mouth area, being careful not to get any soap too near the sensitive areas. I made sure to work the area under their chin too. Then I got the inside of his ears sudsy to prevent the fleas from escaping to that area when I worked the rest of his body. I continued down until I reached his neck area, and all around the neck zone.

Next I did his privates, then tail, then hind legs -- I didn't want the fleas to escape to his private parts like they did in his ears the last time! Finally, I could work the rest of his body in any order I chose to, because I had put up a suds barrier to all the escape areas.

Sherri

Heather (Monticello, IN) on 10/09/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

I used ___ dish soap on my cat and watched the fleas drop off of her instantly. I used it also on my dog. The ___ is worth it.

Cheryl (Centerton, Arkansas) on 09/18/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

You can use Dawn in a shampooer just put it in the soap container and mix it with water. I also have a spray bottle with flea shampoo and water in it to spray under the beds and hard to reach areas for any fleas & eggs that might have fallen off the dogs. It also works good on furniture and carpet as well for bad cases. If its a mild case like I have now, I recommend water and vinegar solution to spray everything down plus it works as a deodorizer.

Sue (Hazel Green, WI) on 09/05/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

I'm just updating on the flea bath. We did all 3 of our cat in the vinegar, dish soap bath. It has worked wonders. They are happy cats now. Thanks for the cure. Hope everyone can enjoy this website as much as I am.

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Sue (Hazel Green, WI) on 09/01/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

I just bathed my 2 8 week old kittens with the vinegar and dish soap recipe. We picked some fleas off. It seemed to work for now. Hopefully no more for quite a while. Thanks for having this posted on this sight. I had been looking for a safe remedy for little kittens. They are comfortable under a blanket with a heating pad.

Leslie (Martin, TN) on 07/16/2008:
1 out of 5 stars

Warning

re: Flea remedies -- You can't put dawn dish soap in your steam cleaner, it will ruin it. It also will take forever to come out of the carpet.

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Melissa (Belpre, OH) on 06/08/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

___Dish soap truly kills fleas! I took in a stray cat and tried using the flea shampoos from Walmart several time and the fleas kept coming back... So my mom told me about it. So we gave the poor cat one last bath and it killed every flea on his body within minutes!! Make sure to avoid the eyes and mouth. A little soap goes a long way. His fur was also soft afterwards!

Kay (USA) on 06/05/2008:
1 out of 5 stars

Warning

For those of you who are bathing your pets in ___ Dish Soap. I thought you might be interested in a bit of info.

Toxin Detergents.
Detergents are divided into several categories.
Soaps: Bar soaps, laundry soaps, and homemade soaps.
Anionic detergents: Laundry detergents, shampoos, dish soaps, and electric dishwashing detergents
Cationic detergents: Fabric softeners, sanitizers, disinfectants, and rust inhibitors in petroleum products. This category includes quaternary ammoniums.
Non-ionic detergents: Dishwashing detergents, shampoos, and some laundry detergents.

General Information
Detergents come in a variety of forms with each having a different level of toxicity. Every home has these common products in some form, and all family members need to be aware of the dangers.

Soaps: True soaps are usually not toxic.
Anionic: Slightly to moderately toxic; may result in illness but generally not fatalities.
Cationic: Highly to extremely toxic; 1% solutions are damaging to mucous membranes .
Non-ionic: Less toxic than the anionic and cationic detergents

Signs
Soaps: Vomiting and diarrhea.
Homemade soap may cause corrosive GI lesions (burns).
Anionic: Irritated mucous membranes, vomiting, lack of appetite, diarrhea, and GI distention. May have corrosive injuries in the mouth and GI tract. Eye exposure may result in edema around the cornea reddening and swelling of the conjunctiva and corneal erosions or ulcers.
Cationic: Vomiting, lack of appetite, drooling, muscle weakness, depression, seizures, collapse coma, and burns to the mouth and GI tract. Eye exposure may cause redness and severe corneal erosions and ulcers. Skin exposure may result in hair loss and skin irritation. Non-ionic: Vomiting and diarrhea. Immediate Action

DO NOT induce vomiting if ingested. It may cause more harm. Seek veterinary attention. In the case of dermal contact, flush the skin for at least 30 minutes with running water. In the case of eye contact, flush the eye with sterile saline or water for 20 minutes. Seek veterinary attention while you are performing the decontamination. General treatment: Administration of milk or water in the case of soap, anionic, or non-ionic detergent ingestion, or administration of milk, water, or egg whites in the case of cationic detergent ingestion. If dermal (skin) or ocular exposure occurred, the affected areas will continue to be flushed with sterile saline.

Prognosis
Fair to good, depending on detergent ingested. Keep this and all other medications out of the reach of children and pets. If you think your pet has been poisoned...Contact your veterinarian or one of the Animal Poison Hotlines (listed below) if you think your pet may have accidentally received or been given an overdose of the medication.

**ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center 1-900-443-0000 ($55.00 per case. The charge is billed directly to caller's phone.) 1-888-4ANI-HELP (1-888-426-4435. $55.00 per case, billed to caller's credit card only.) Follow-up calls can be made for no additional charge by dialing 888-299-2973. There is no charge when the call involves a product covered by the Animal Product Safety Service. **Animal Poison Hotline - a joint service provided by North Shore Animal League America (NSAL) and PROSAR International Animal Poison Center (IAPC). 1-888-232-8870 ($35.00 per incident. The charge is billed to caller's credit card only.) Staffed 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.

Michael (Shell Beach, Ca) on 03/03/2008:
5 out of 5 stars

We just bathed one of our cats with the ___ dish soap method and it was amazing. It was like instant the fleas had no time to run and hide and didn't even know what hit them. By the end of the bath we had a not so happy but flea ridden cat. Thank you so much Michael and Christin

Laura (Umatilla, FL) on 11/07/2007:
5 out of 5 stars

For your pet, Fill your kitchen sink with 1/4 body temperature water. Add ___ dish soap, white vinegar and baby oil together to form a bubble bath. Have a baby shampoo ready for their head.

Ease your small dog, or kitten/cat in the bath (use rubber gloves so you don't get scratched) Immerse the body and not the head!

Pump some baby shampoo on to your hand and rub on their neck and between the ears across their head. The fleas are Dead!

For your HOME: Use ___ dish soap in a glass pie plate with water 1/2 inch deep at several sunny places in front of a door and/or window. The fleas jump in and die. Change the water every day and in less that 1-2 wks ALL fleas are gone. A guy for a pest control company wouldnt charge me because of my little kids and the risk of inhalation of his chemical. I stuck to his intruction and WOW I was flea free! Its cheap too! The ___ dish soap and a hose water sprayer kills bugs off my bushes in Florida (I love dawn dish soap!)

Candice (Victorville, CA) on 11/21/2006:
5 out of 5 stars

We rescued two kittens, just to find out that they were infested with fleas. Since they were so young they could not use the traditional flea baths/powers/creams. This is when I searched (earthclinic) and seen the remedy. I decided to combine a couple of them.

USED:
*Dish soap (Ajax, but any will do).
*Rice Vinegar (this is just what I had)
*Baby shampoo
*tweezers
*Heating pad (optional)

First-what I did was filled up the sink half way with lukewarm (make sure not too hot, because what is comfortable to us is hot to them) I then added the VINEGAR (any vinegar will work!) I put a very good helping.

Second-I dipped the kittens in the vinegar solution (minus their heads) then I began to massage the DISH SOAP on. YOU WILL SEE THE FLEAS RUNNING! They will be running towards the head. This is when you lather the kitten with the BABY SHAMPOO ... try your hardest not to get any in the eyes.

Third-Now dip the kitten back into the solution (making sure not to get the head wet) and use a cup or your hands to make sure that you are saturating the fur entirely.

Fourth-This is where it gets tricky. Using a pair of tweezers, tweeze off all of the fleas that you can. THIS IS TIME CONSUMING! But it is worth it! When done tweezing, redip and then rinse off with lukewarm (not too warm) water, and towel dry.

This is when the heating pad will come in handy. What I did was set it on LOW, and put a towel/small blanket over it and then set the kitten down on top if it (first checking to make sure that it wasn't too hot) this is when I went flea hunting once again. This was about an hour process, with two kittens. Once I was finished, I towel dried them very well, and the kittens went right to sleep. I haven't had any reinfestations and I only did this the one time. I have 10 (all rescued) cats and it would be very hard for me if they became reinfested, but so far so good! THANKS!

Robin (Mansfield, OH) on 07/19/2006:
5 out of 5 stars

We have two dogs and four cats. Needless to say, fleas are a major problem in the summer. Upon searching for a flea killing product, we were told by a local store employee to try ___ Dishwashing liquid. She had used it on her animals and claimed that it worked. We were desperate and would try anything reasonable. Sure enough it worked!!. While bathing the animals, we saw the fleas literally running from the soaped areas. We scrubbed the animals throughly with a brush while bathing them, making sure that the soap was completely throughout the fur. We reallly found dead fleas in the water and on the floor after the bathing was done. Wash your animals once a week with this product and the fleas will not be a problem.

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