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Natural route for flea/tick control? what have you tried?

GraciesMom

GraciesMom

Well-known member
Gracie has had a bad reaction to Frontline Plus two times and I am just not going to use chemical applications again. She is not a yard dog so seems like too much anyway and is only outside maybe a total of 45 minutes a day during walks and often is on sidewalk.

Even decreasing the dosage to half, she threw up dinner later that day. Same reaction as before. I am looking at several options for the future that are healthier ways to do this, but wanted ideas from others on what you may have tried that worked or did not work for you. I am considering these options as a group:

Sentry's Nature's Guardian application (all natural repellents)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002I3ANSG
Neem spray
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EQ1UEK
Tablets with brewer's yeast and garlic
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00025K10W
 
Not natural, but I use sentinel (heartworm + flea treatment), there is also comfortis, and trifexis (comfortis + heartworm). These are all given as a once a month pill.
I've had problems with advantage in the past, and never seen frontline do much, but I know several people who use all of these treatments and are very happy with them.
 
Holly said:
Diatomaceous Earth is a natural way to fight fleas and ticks:

http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/health/diatearth.htm
Click to expand...


I must agree with Holly here. I have been using it since November and I do not have a flea problem. This is as oppose to previous years, where our summer climate is very condusive to these little pests, and friend living in the same area still struggling with them this year. It really seems to have made a huge difference.
 
I have heard a lot about Diatomaceous Earth...can you guys tell me how you use it?

Fleas are awful in Australia where I live and I would love to use something less toxic to really help!
 
I've been giving my dogs garlic oil tablets during summer months to keep fleas at bay and have never had a problem. My lot run wild through woods & fields all the time too so would have thought they'd have picked up something over the years.
 
We use diatomaceous earth on the chickens for parasite control it is very effective - I've never tried it for the dogs though.

NEVER use pool filter grade or any diatomaceous earth other than those labelled "Food Grade" around animals. It can poison or kill them.


I might give this a try, we are having problems already this year with fleas and ticks - they are not biting the dogs as they have Brewers Yeast and Garlic every day but they are bringing them home!! We have a lot of wild rabbits in the garden and in the area, also lots of sheep and wild deer in the areas where the dogs are walked - so parasites are a big issue up here.


We use Ruggle-it as a shampoo and the semi-solid salve once a day.

I know a lot of people are having success with Neem Pet Guard Spray http://www.mekuti.co.uk/neem.htm#Guard the NEEM chews are good too [not to be fed to pregnant and/or breeding animals]

I have in the past made up a spray with a sliced lemon, handful of fresh rosemary sprigs seeped in 500ml hot water overnight, strained and then kept in spray bottle in the fridge, lasts about a week. It does smell nice too :)


We have found an Amethyst crystal in the water bowl to be quite effective too ;) one of those things that even I didn't believe could work but it has greatly reduced the amount of problems we have - some years we have hardly seen a flea.
 
Thanks all.... Lots of good ideas here

Looks like I am partly on the right track anyway but need to be careful about the fleas/ticks coming in the house, even if they are not biting Gracie. I am getting several products with ingredients some have listed but never heard of diatomaceous earth.
Can anyone tell me how much or how often to apply the diatomaceous earth if I go that route? And thanks for clarifying that I need to buy food grade.....
 
My Cavies get about 3/4 teaspoon of the diatamacous earth mixed in with each evening meal.

When I got it I was told that it is important not to stop suddenly with in the first 3 weeks.

It also works out very very cheap.

Brooklyns Mom .... I believe our South African climate is very similar to Australia so I can imagine that your flea situation must be very similar to ours here .... and t's hectic, particularly during summer.
 
Thanks for the dosing information for diatamacous earth

North Carolina has one of the highest tick populations in the USA, so gonna try it after the Frontline has some time to get out of her system. Hugs to all for sharing ideas!:rah:
 
Can't give you any suggestions for ticks.....thankful I've not found more than a couple in 8 years in San Diego. But, I don't use any topicals for fleas and, knock wood, between 3 dogs I found maybe 3 fleas last summer. I use Flea Busters (or something similar) (fleabusters.com) in the house, I give Flea Treats (fleatreats.com) and Flea Free (if you google it you can find distributors). I also bathe once week to every ten days and stay on top of grooming. Hoping our summer this year as is "flea free" as last year. Jake has terrible flea allergy dermatitis so I have to really stay on top of it.
 
I recently heard that Cedar wood Oil also will repel fleas and ticks, though I've never used it. Has anyone else? You can order it from quite a few places, like Puritans Pride (USA). I am thinking about trying it. They say it also helps with quality of hair/fur.

I have my older diabetic dog (non Cav) who I'm not sure what I want to use on him this year. He's 13, and his immune system seems to be somewhat compromised, and I always worry about what I want to do with him (besides heartworm and lepto).

We have a terrible times with ticks because of our deer and raccoon population, and they come quite close to our house.......urghhhh. I mean, I love them, but, dang ticks!
 
I give my pups garlic & fenugreek tablets & use pennyroyal shampoo - all from dorwest herbs - www.dorwest.com
 
Goodness, my post sounded like I liked ticks. I meant, love the deer, but geez, hate those ticks.

What did you decide?
 
I had a friend who was having a terrible problem with fleas last summer and no matter what she did, couldn't get rid of them. She finally treated her yard with DE and it worked like magic. I believe you can just put it in a parmesan cheese shaker and shake it around your yard (if it's not too big). I think garden stores also sell spreaders if your yard is big.

Yes, it is the Food Grade. I have also heard of people taking it, too.
 
Thanks everyone for such a great array of ideas

I am now using a holistic vet and he said that DE does work well with fleas but not as well with ticks. That is a tougher one to control with natural products. I will use DE for fleas and probably restrict Gracie to well mowed areas only in late spring & summer and check for ticks after each walk.
 
i just ordered the diast. food grade from amazon after my frontline fiasco.
Just in time for going to the beach in July where we picked up fleas last year. Yikes.
Hope it works. Could not find neem chews in america.... All UK websites...
 
My experience with the DE powder

It worked well applied to Gracie's coat once a week or after baths. Also lightly dusted her beds too. However, we still found a tick or two once a week. So also using a Neem oil spray that we got from Amazon....spray on my hands first and then rub into her. Working good so far!
 
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