Fleas - natural remedies

Fleas, ticks and lice are surface dwelling parasites. Fleas are small dark insects that run through the fur rapidly. Lice are tiny grey insects that move slowly and tend to form clusters around the earflaps. Ticks look like grey warts, they are immobile as the fix their mouthparts into the skin.

Pets will show signs of infestation by grooming and scratching excessively, some pets will show signs of hypersensitivity to flee bites (the saliva) with raised red bumps on the skin.

Adult fleas live 3-4 months laying tiny white eggs constantly. These hatch into larvae, which live in cracks and crevices, carpets, upholstery, blankets and even earth and sand, living on the dried blood from the droppings of the adult fleas. 1-2 weeks later they turn into pupa and 2 weeks later hatch and hop onto the nearest warm body to feed and multiply.

This cycle can take anything from 2 to 20 weeks to complete depending on the temperature of the environment; it only takes approximately 2 weeks in the summer months.

POOR HEALTH ATTRACTS FLEAS

There are a few natural remedies for the avoidance of fleas and also for flea control, BUT a healthy lifestyle, including a good natural diet and exercise can help to prevent fleas. Parasites are attracted to animals with ‘tasty’ blood, therefore feeding a lesser quantity of a high quality food may avoid the build up of toxic waste in the system which attract the parasites.

Cleanliness in the pet and home is paramount to keeping fleas at bay. Vacuum around the house at least weekly, paying attention to cracks and crevices. Empty the vacuum straight away as the fleas could breed quite rapidly amongst the dust and debris in the bag. Launder your pets’ bed weekly in hot soapy water. Heat will kill fleas, larvae and eggs, so if possible dry the bedding using as high a heat as possible.

If your pet is infested, bathing may help using a gentle natural shampoo, containing flea and insect repellent. You could make your own adding Pennyroyal or Eucalyptus to a bottle of natural shampoo. Wet and lather around the neck first to avoid the fleas escaping up to the head and then do the same over the whole body, rinse lightly and shampoo again, keeping the shampoo on your pet for 5 minutes if that is possible. Rinse with a homemade rosemary infusion (1tsp dried or 1 tblsp fresh rosemary to 1 pint of boiling water, steep for 10 minutes) pour over the pet and towel dry.

Herbal flea powders can be used or again make one up using one part each of as many of the following powdered herbs as possible: Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Fennel, Yellow Dock, Wormwood and Rue. Apply sparingly to the base of the hairs paying attention to the neck, back and belly.

Regularly grooming your pet using a flea comb will also eliminate a lot of fleas, dip the comb in hot soapy water as this will kill the fleas.

A natural skin tonic for your pet can be made by thinly slicing 1 lemon and adding to 1 pint of boiling water, let it steep overnight. Sponge onto the animal and let it dry. Lemons contain a natural flea killing substance called d-limonene.


Garlic can be offered as a flea repellent either daily or every other day in small quantities (large amounts can cause anaemia). Brewers yeast either taken internally or again on the skin can also help.

Fleas can build up a resistance to any remedy and also to the chemicals we use to control them, so it may be wise to use different methods if possible.

References:
Natural Healthcare for Pets by Richard Allport -Publisher: Element Books Ltd (March 2002)
Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats ( Rodale Press )

Sourched from: burns pet nutrition website

well after reading that im itching, i hate the little buggers, luckely suki and titch havent had them but i can imagin the pain of having to get rid of them

Its a bloody nightmare I can tell ya , and touch wood I haven't had any problems with them this year yet all but lola had a few when I first got her so she was fleaed before I got her in the house , she went straight to the vets for a health check wormed and fleaed

where i used to live there was a girl living down the road and her cat got fleas but didnt bother doing anything untill it got that bad the house was infested, you could literally see them everywhere on the funiture in the carpet, it got that bad you had to wear knee boots in her house so your legs didnt get bitten.

OMG , bet it cost her plenty to get rid of them all , just for the sake of a few pounds to get rid of the things in the first place its like kids with nits , if they get rid before they get to bad then we wouldn't have such a problem on are hands or should I say heads lol

oh i know dont remind me, my husbands little sister came to stay last week and she had nits, i could have killed someone, i had to spend 3 hours a night on her hair for a week to get rid of them, she was totaly riddled with them.

Another job that only needs to be done every other day to keep on top of them , some people get me mad when they don't even care. My daughter had them none stop when in primary school and every time I got rid she would get them back again , shes going comp this year so fingers crossed nomore

Ours get garlic every day in their food and I have never had problems with fleas or ticks or worms. I never worm my lot, dont need to, only when we have a litter do then the pups are wormed along with the Dam, but thats the only time.

Flea ae funny little parasites and some people just dont crae whether their animal gets them or not. Whenever an animal gets fleas they should be treated straight away, because if they are left then your dog can become anaemic, bald and get sores from all the itching which is very unpleasant and cruelty to animals. It doesnt take long to look through the dogs hair and treat them and there is very little cost involved if you trest them at the beginning rather than in months time.

I use oatmeal soap for the coat of my rottie and I tell you its a great soap. It keeps the coat shiny.