Natural Flea Control

You can add me to the YEA list on the amethyst. My homeopathic vet told me under no circumstances to use the flea and tick poison. Having two cats and a dog I was really afraid I was going to get infested with fleas. I had read about the amethyst for fleas a while back on Earth Clinic and decided to try it. All I had was an old amethyst ring (yes, it was polished) and I threw the whole thing in a big bowl that the animals all share. I probably threw it in there around March. It seemed to be working very well and then a friend who has a gem shop gave me some rough amethyst and I threw that in the bowl also. I left the ring in because it was working and I wasn't going to take any chances. They didn't seem to have any problem with it being in there and they drink from it every day. This was a very bad year for fleas and I am thrilled that it worked. I did have to do a lot of explaining about why my ring was in the animal's water dish.

WORKED TEMPORARILY

UPDATE: I'm into my second year and flea season using the amethyst. One thing that has definitely changed - it no longer works for my dog. I've had to treat him twice with Frontline this year (other natural remedies have failed for him); however, I have not treated my cats since last spring - they don't need it. I DO see a flea on a cat from time to time but they do not scratch and chew on themselves as a cat does when it's being bitten. I have five cats and they absolutely have no flea problem - despite being indoor/outdoor and living with my dog who does need flea treatment.

The rock I use is a tumbled amethyst I bought from ebay. The cats drink from a ceramic bowl. I remove the rock only to clean and refill the bowl. If you try this, give it time to work. Good luck!

Before trying this, I did a bit of research. Although not a lot of people had commented on their results online, I found that nearly everyone who had cats found this to work and maybe half the people who had dogs did. I thought maybe some other circumstances, such as the size of the amethyst, made a difference. I wanted to get a large amethyst, just in the off-chance it was ingested in the water. I bid on two large (3 inch) amethysts on ebay, expecting to only win one. I ended up winning both. I put them both in my dog's water for some time and saw little, if any difference. So, I'm pretty sure it's not a matter of the amount of the amethyst. Possible there are different types or qualities of amethyst? Or maybe my flea problem was too extreme to it to help? I'm keeping the amethysts in the water and if I do think it makes a difference, I'll post here.

WARNING!

I've long been a fan of DE. I know it can do wonders, but it has been less than helpful with my recent problems. In trying to discourage fleas and roaches when I was on vacation, I spread it on my carpet. Not only did it not seem to discourage the bugs, but my vacuum cleaner started smoking when I vacuumed it up. There was still dust floating around for days (which really isn't healthful to breathe). I will definitely never try that one again!

I wanted to add to this a little as well. Some dogs do have a high yeast count in their body's and giving them supplemental yeast could result in a yeast infection of the skin or ears. But as a general rule, brewers yeast is effective on flea prevention and is very safe for your dogs. If you are concerned that your dog might develop a yeast infection talk with your vet about assessing yeast levels on their skin before you begin.

I had put an amethyst stone in my cat's drinking bowl as soon as I came across the posts on amethysts for fleas. I waited almost a week, but did not see a difference, then I started adding apple vinegar to his bowl with the stone still there. Do you think that I should have waited more and that the amethyst still works with vinegar? By the way, it's been weeks since I had started the vinegar but there are still fleas:-( Thank you...

Natural Flea, Tick, and Lice remedy

So we have had so many different animals in our family over the years that fleas have been a problem. We have tried so many different products with as many results. All have eventually failed except one. Soap nuts!

A friend introduced us to them for allergies to laundry soap. I found recipies online to make liquid soap out of them. We all now use it as our only household soap (bodywash, shampoo, house keeping,ect..) I bathe the animals monthly with it and stopped having any problems with fleas. We also do not get bitten by mosquitos. I buy my soap nut online, and they last a very long time.They are 100% natural with no side effects and are compostable.

Homemade Flea Repellent

You can make an effective flea repellent from lemon by cutting it into quarters and immersing it in boiling water. This is then steeped overnight to get you the repellent. By spraying this all over your pet, especially behind the ears and generally around the head, and also at the base of the tail and the 'armpits', you can rid it of fleas.

I am wondering if Grapefruit boiled in pieces in water and then steeped overnight would do the same thing...probably would.

Also as a note...dawn baths, baby shampoo and peroxide mixed together baths, and dove baths afterward are great for killing fleas, and the dove washing makes the skin feel better if it is dry.

Robyn

You really ought to try cedar oil... Especially- there is a company that uses a special blend that is deadly to ALL exoskeleton type insects (and their eggs and larvae). I had a terrible 2-year infestation. Tried every home-grown remedy and commercial remedy on my dogs and in my home... Spent $100'S of dollars but the darn things were indestructible! After another day on the net, I decided to try a cedar oil based product (so safe I apply it to the SKIN of my 2 yr-old granddaughter as a repellant for fleas and mosquitos) One treatment of my home and dog the hopping, biting critters were magically gone. The stuff is fabulous I think when comes to fleas and bedbugs - IT IS INFALLIBLE! - Dr. John

Brewer's Yeast works! I started using it early last spring, throughout the summer and into early winter. I never saw a flea on my Bassett Hound. I had my doubts living in a humid, hot climate where fleas thrive, but I never saw even 1 flea. I put about a teaspoon on her food at night (she's a small bassett, about 40 lbs). She loves the taste! Brewer's Yeast is natural and filled with other nutritional stuff your dog needs. Give it a try!

I tried the candle in a pan of soapy water to kill fleas and It really works!!! Every night I catch about 20 of the little devils. I am going to attempt to bath my cats with ACV. This should be interesting!! Thanks for the suggestions.

Garlic Oil: I give my 130lb shepherd/dane 3 tablets 2 times a day and when I ran out the fleas where horrible, he had sores and all. started back on the regimene and within 3 days a drastic improvement

Borax is a miracle cure for getting rid of fleas and from keeping flea eggs from hatching. You buy it in the grocery store in the laundry aisle. Just sprinkle it on your carpeting and then vacuum it up. The residue will stay in the carpet and will kill fleas and keep flea eggs from hatching. It is more effective than any bug spray or expensive flea spray from the vet. And it's cheap! One box will last a long time. It's non-toxic to pets and it will leave your house smelling fresh. I used it when I lived in Florida, where fleas are plentiful and they are so hardy, they seem to be bionic. I swear by Borax, and everyone I've ever recommended it to has had the same marvelous results I had.

___ ___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.

WARNING!

diatomaceous earth - is a poisonous vapor producing substance.

Having problems with fleas on our dog. The vet said the dog was alergic to fleas. The liquid my daughter puts on his neck makes the dog sleepy. I am going to try apple cider vinegar and brewer`s yeast but what is ACV you talk about. Fran Lord

That's not true that essential oils are bad for cats, it's a scare tactic. I was advised by my holistic vet that lavender oil, peppermint oil and cederwood oil were all good for repelling fleas on dogs and cat, I used these oils on my dogs and cats and they worked well. For cats I mix 1 drop of oil to 3 cups of water before applying to cats fur. With dogs I use a much stronger mixture. 10 drops of essential oil to 2 cups of water. I also recommend using coconut oil {food grade} to kill and repel fleas off cats and dogs. The fleas hate coconut oil but the cats and dogs find it very soothing and healing.

Try diatomaceous earth, which can be found at the big name home improvement stores in the lawn and garden section.

Also, when you vacuum, if using a bag be sure to seal and dispose of it EVERY time you vacuum. Bagless vacs can have the canisters thoroughly washed in hot soapy water - wash the filters too, every time. Fleas/eggs stuck in there will perpetuate the problem if you don't.

This summer has been the worst for fleas. Have been fighting the critters for a few months on our lab and cocker. spot-on chemicals did nothing. I'm done spending money on monthly treatments and have read some of the research that is a bit scarey. I called the company of the one I recently used and was told, "the product works, your dog must be picking up new fleas daily. " So what good is it if they stay covered in fleas??? I am currently using the cedarwood oil I bought on line from a company in texas. It came with a 1oz. Spritzer you can refill from the jug. easy to use. It works as well as advertised, will kill a flea in seconds. We have used it frequently on the dogs with no harmful side affects. The only draw back is that it doesn't continue to work for any length of time. If the problem is bad, like ours has been this summer, the fleas return. But a heck of a lot cheaper and safer than spot on treatment. The 32 oz bottle should last quite a while. We've started a more aggressive approach with some of the ideas we found here, I. E. Brewers yeast, ACV, etc.. The cedarwood oil spray has worked well, but as you probably know.... the little critters tend to stay out of sight most of the time.

For the past two years I have been using a wonderful natural insect repellent for my dogs. It is a completely natural product using Lavender, Cedarwood, Rosewood, and Patchouli essential oils in an organic base of olive oil, shea butter, and beeswax. The product is excellent and smells great.

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

My furbabie and I had so much fun playing fetch in my back yard then we came inside and began to itch and saw dozens of flea. Neighborhood cats like to congregate there and I just got this pretty little goldendoodle now we are fighting off fleas. I'm going to try several of these remedies and report back later. Thank you for all the great tips.

Before vacuuming, pour a half-cup of moth crystals onto an area of flea infestation and then leave the crystals in the vacuum bag until it is full. It will kill fleas and any insect vacuumed.

I buy a bag of the lavender moth tablets at any discount store. They have two tablets in individual packets. I put a packet in my vaccum everytime I change bags to kill any critters I vacuum up. The lavender oil smells good too.

You can make a terrific flea repellant if you steep a quartered whole lemon in a pint of boiling water overnight then spray lightly on dogs back, hind quaters and on belly between front legs. You could probably also make it with two tablespoons lemon concentrate and one quarter tsp. citric acid to a pint of water.

I am having the worst time with fleas this year. I have bathed my dogs in the lavendar dog shampoos, used advantage 11& armor spot treatments and cant seem to keep them away. My poor choc. Lab has it worst to where she is starting to lose hair. She dosent like the vet every vet I try is patient with her but I do not want to stress her out on top of what she is going through. What can I do. Somebody please help me.

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.