FLEAS

Ugh I hate fleas, where we live they are rampant, the temps dont get low enough to kill them over the winter, the humidity makes the numbers worse, they are outside and inside..we have one dog who has none and the other dog is infested..no matter what we try it doesnt work, essential oils, homeopathy, even frontline (yes we had no choice :( ) anyhow does anyone have some magical natural remedy for fleas..

Happy Healing,

Heather

Comments

  • greenleaf
    greenleaf Posts: 19 ✭✭

    Boy, I wish! We get some relief in the winter, but by June we can always look forward to a fresh crop of fleas. I think I've tried about everything. I have cats, and you have to be super careful about what you put on cats. the over the counter stuff doesn't have the same ingredients as the remedies you get at the vet's office, even though it sometimes has the same name on it.

    Here are some things that help:

    Vacuum with a vacuum cleaner that has a bag. Even if you have hardwood floors, the flea eggs like to get into crevices where a broom or mop won't touch them. Throw the bag away after you use it. I know it's not ecological or economical, really, but you want to get rid of those the flea eggs and pet dander right away.

    Get some of those light and sticky pad bug traps and put them under your desk or behind the couch -- the places where fleas like to congregate.

    Plant Tansy around the foundations of your house. Caution: fence those beds to keep kids and pets out of them. Tansy is a good insecticide, which means it is a fairly stout poison. similar plants are dog fennel, flea bane and rue. Again, protect family and pets from these plants, especially Rue which can cause contact dermatitis similar to poison ivy. My favorite use of these herbs is to make a stout tea of them and add it to my mop water.

    Non poisonous remedies -- I think Peppermint is about the best. Again, to be used as an environmental scrub.

    Mop your floors daily with strong soap such as fels naptha or lye. Wash all pet bedding and linens frequently. Bleach helps kill the eggs, and so does tumble drying in a dryer.

    Bathe dogs. You can bathe cats, but they don't like it very much. They do enjoy being combed. A fine tooth comb will dislodge the nasty little insects. Deposit the combings, shed fur and all, into zip lock bag with something stout like a cotton ball soaked in alcohol or a moth ball.

    At the end of all that, you might still have fleas. Fleas are survivors. Plus, no one is bathing or medicating the o'possums, raccoons and bunny rabbits that run wild.

    If anyone knows something that really works, I'm all ears. I just got through bathing two small dogs who were scratching as if they might have fleas.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    I had left a comment...but it is gone. I will try again.

    First...Do NOT plant tansy. It is an invasive and spreads by any means possible. Its seeds stay viable in the ground for 15 years. It poisonous to livestock, etc. It is very bad. The poison will build up over time then kill. I read that it does not leave the body.

    Any grains in the food will make a dog more susceptible to fleas. We found this out when one of ours was sneeking chop & we found it in our dog food. After that, it was meat first & grain free. Surprisingly enough, it was a cheaper food and a better digested one (less waste going through). Go figure.

    I think some dogs are more susceptible to fleas too, just as we might be to ticks or mosquitoes.

  • H_D
    H_D Posts: 384 ✭✭✭

    we already are grain free with both dogs..they get a raw organic diet

    I will try some of the other things, I think its one of those just have to deal..ironically, my DDR, who is an outside dog doesn't even have any, its the inside little short haired hound that is infested.

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin

    Heather, believe it or not, we had success getting them out of our house in Houston with plain old table salt. Apparently, it’s supposed to damage their exoskeletons. Anyway, we shook table salt into the carpets very liberally and let it sit overnight. We then vacuumed the heck out of them the next day. It worked for us, but of course this would have to be part of a multi-pronged approach in which you are also treating your animals, etc. In the house, though, this worked really well. Might want to do it a few times some days apart until the problem is under control....

  • Jimerson
    Jimerson Posts: 291 admin

    When I was 15 I worked in a sub shop up in northern Pennsylvania. One of my duties was to vacuum at the end of the night. The salt tracked in from the sidewalks that had been used to melt ice would ruin the vacuum cleaners, and they were constantly having to be replaced. At least, that's what I was told was the reason. Take that with a grain of... salt!

  • Grammyprepper
    Grammyprepper Posts: 168 ✭✭✭

    Fleas are really bad here too. When we first moved here 15 yrs ago, we were told that the fleas were immune to several name brand collars/treatments. I tried all the naturals, and we finally broke down and got the Soresto collar for our beagle. Our passed dog only had an issue with fleas one year, but the beagle got hit hard and it didn't stop. The thing a lot of ppl skip is treating their yards. Our property stays wet, so DE is not a big help. I am not a big proponent of using chemicals. And the fleas will likely mutate to the point Soresto won't work anymore either (dude has no fleas but the ear mites are kicing in so the fleas won't be far behind).

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin

    Interesting! Maybe because it was ice melt and not table salt and the granules with ice melt are considerably larger? We didn't have any trouble with our vacuum cleaner after this, but it was also a bag vac and maybe you were using something else? Anyway, I had a good experience with the table salt and would use that method again, but everyone has to make their own choices based on what they're comfortable with, what equipment they have available, etc. My experience with fleas is that once you get to the point of being "motivated" to get rid of them, you are willing to try just about anything.... :D

  • hmsadmin
    hmsadmin Posts: 123 admin

    I saw this just the other day and have it in my "saved for later" cart at Mountain Rose - https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/products/dry-flea-and-tick-shampoo/profile.

    I haven't used this one specifically yet, but when I was a technician for a holistic vet several years ago, we carried something very similar and I had great results with it. I believe the diatomaceous earth is the "active" ingredient. It works like the salt Merin recommended by getting into the bug's exoskeleton, making hundreds of little cuts, and ultimately they die of dehydration. That + herbs added as a repellent worked quite well.

    Just like salt, diatomaceous earth can also be sprinkled into carpet then vacuumed up after 12- 24 hours. Over the course of 2 weeks or so, I treated the cats twice with the herb+earth powder, and the carpet every other day and I was able to 99% clear a flea infestation.

    For my dog though.. nothing seems to phase the ticks.. I've tried just about all I can find in the natural world for those, and not seen any real results. I hate it, but I've resorted to the rx type of flea and tick stuff you get from the vet but use them as sparingling as possible.

  • greenleaf
    greenleaf Posts: 19 ✭✭
    edited June 2019

    A little clarification on Tansy. Point of fact, I've never grown the stuff. It is one of those old folk remedies, so no surprise that the stuff can take off and grow like wildfire.

    I have grown fleabane and Rue. Fleabane is a mint, so spreads like crazy, so you would want to keep it in a container. Rue was interesting. It smelled nice when dried, but the fresh plant will raise instant blisters if you touch it. When I was experimenting with these, I lived in a remote area where it was sometimes difficult to get anything to grow. Both plants have died out by now (about 15 years later).

    When I was a child there was a plant my grandmother called "dog flannel". I thought she might have meant "fennel". After all, she somehow mangled althea into alfa, but no -- definitely not the same plant. It was a low-growing plant with small daisy-like blooms. when crushed, the stuff smelled like menthol. During flea season, the dogs would roll in it and it seemed to help. Now, if I could just ID that plant....

    I'll have to try the coconut oil. I just happen to have some that is a little past prime for cooking.

  • greenleaf
    greenleaf Posts: 19 ✭✭

    Annnd....I found my mystery plant. How my grandmother got "dog flannel" out of it, I'll never know. Perhaps it was a local, colloquial name for the plan. Here is the Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erigeron_pulchellus. It is a type of "fleabane", which is as previously noted, a mint plant. Grandma considered it a weed. Now I'm wondering if I can persuade it to grow in my yard. :)

    Its favorite place to grow back home was in a low place near the cow lot. Our beautiful gold and white border shepherd (looked a lot like a collie, but with a shorter nose and more of a dish profile) loved to roll in the stuff. As she grew older, we often had to clip her during the summer.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    DON'T PLANT TANSY! It is a nasty invasive that will kill livestock. I spreads by every means possible, it's seeds can stay viable in the ground for 15 years. It is really hard to dig up. It is my worst enemy. I planted it for similar reasons years ago, just a little...and now it's everywhere.

    On the subject of fleas, does your dog get any form of grains from their food or elsewhere? One dog we had got fleas because he continuously ate our cow's chop, sneaking it when we weren't looking. At some point, we realized that a dog for also had grains. We switched to a cheap brand after that that contained meat first and no grains whatsoever. We also had to get him a flea collar. Once our dog was grain free, he stayed flea free.

    I think some are just more susceptible to them too. It is like some people get mosquito bit more or get more ticks.

    Is this particular dog into or visiting with anything (even rodent spaces or the like) that the other isn't doing? How might it's habits be different.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    DON'T PLANT TANSY! It is a nasty invasive that will kill livestock. I spreads by every means possible, it's seeds can stay viable in the ground for 15 years. It is really hard to dig up. It is my worst enemy. I planted it for similar reasons years ago, just a little...and now it's everywhere.

    On the subject of fleas, does your dog get any form of grains from their food or elsewhere? One dog we had got fleas because he continuously ate our cow's chop, sneaking it when we weren't looking. At some point, we realized that a dog for also had grains. We switched to a cheap brand after that that contained meat first and no grains whatsoever. We also had to get him a flea collar. Once our dog was grain free, he stayed flea free.

    I think some are just more susceptible to them too. It is like some people get mosquito bit more or get more ticks.

    Is this particular dog into or visiting with anything (even rodent spaces or the like) that the other isn't doing? How might it's habits be different.

  • Brodo
    Brodo Posts: 4 ✭✭✭

    Here's a great web-page that goes into some detail about the actions and benefits of Diatomaceous Earth:


  • jgfoleylawarapahoe
    jgfoleylawarapahoe Posts: 1 ✭✭✭

    Diatomaceous Earth (food grade) is the best short of chemical sprays. I brought a rescued feedlot kitten home and ended up with an infestation in the house and basement. I was bitten up and found fleas everywhere. I sprinkled DE everywhere using a 4" paint brush. Then I constantly vacuumed. The DE also kills the fleas that are vacuumed up otherwise they will survive. This is the same product used by pest control companies on stored grains that will be used for human consumption. I also use this as a natural pest control in my garden. It won't hurt pets and as stated above, you could eat it; and some health gurus claim it is good for you to consume DE. Trust me, I feel for you.

  • bmaverick
    bmaverick Posts: 175 ✭✭✭

    DE works well, long as you are using the RIGHT type of DE. DE granules are alright for flies and crawling insects like ants. DE ground to nearly a powder works great on fleas and chiggers and ants! DE becomes ineffective if it becomes wet or in high humid areas. DE works excellent in dry areas.

    Baking Soda is very effective against fleas and chiggers and ants.

    Borax is highly effective against fleas and chiggers and ants.

    Make an even ratio of DE, Baking Soda and Borax in a dry covered bucket. Shake well to mix evenly. Spread in heavily infested areas. Works good in carpets too. But, vacuum first! Works good on the dogs when combed in. This is called the 1+2+3 punch!

    Tea Tree and Neem oils have effects on fleas, but not ideal for dogs or other pets nor live stock. These two oils have neurological proprieties on animals and some people. Animals tend to lick themselves, thus these oils are a no-no to use on them.

    We have 2 boarder collie dogs. One always gets the fleas and the other very rarely. When we started with ACV in their drinking water, 1/2 of the dog flea infestation went away in less than 2-days. We then took a spray bottle and a wide comb to work in the misted ACV to our dogs. Use it to spray on your pet’s fur but don’t soak it. By this, I mean to comb back some fur, mist spray and repeat the whole main body. Then come back and regular come the dog. Can't do the face though. White vinegar is so-so vs. 100% ACV.

    Garlic is a natural flea repellent aroma in the air and for animals and humans to consume. Fleas tend to like either of us after we had eaten sugary things. Garlic works on many animals and us, including pets, goats, cows and chickens. Helps keeps the mites of chickens too.

    Outside the home, mow the lawn a little shorter than the rest of the yard. These insects don't like the hot dry sun beating down on them. Mowing shorter makes the ground dry and hot. Less moisture. BUT, don't mow to short causing the grass to die off.

    Around the home foundation, use cedar wood chips or eucalyptus leaves over areas infested with fleas as fleas really hate them. Plant in pots, peppermint and spearmint. Mint works great, but only in pots since it's very invasive. Geranium works too, with or without pots.

    Make a night time flea trap. 1-pie tin, 1-led button light, a squirt of dish soap. It is well known and scientifically prove that fleas are drawn to light. They hate the darkness. On a black haired dog, the longer the hair, the better to keep the fleas on the outside of the hair vs. on their skin. So, fill the pie tin with water and a squirt of dish soap. Shine the little LED light source about 6-inches or closer to the water surface. In the morning, you'll have 20 to 100s of fleas dead or swimming around in the water. Do not use scented dish soap, nor the above ACV or anything else mentioned above because that REPELS them. A trap is just that, to catch them. :) A dog water dish will work too, but has to be chrome or stainless to reflect the light. This way, the dumb fleas will fly into the water becoming trapped.

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thank you for all these suggestions, which I passed on to 1 of my clients. His diet is 99% SAD/abysmal, almost no nutrients & a sugar addict to boot. - So he's willing to try everything against his animal's fleas, except for the sugar he drowns himself in every waking minute. - Four times/week I share lunch with him, where I eat my normal huge! Salad of like 10 veggies, hopefully one day he will move in this healthy direction. Thanks again !

  • strowd
    strowd Posts: 1 ✭✭✭

    Diatomaceous earth will work directly on the animal as well. Don’t overuse because it can dry out their skin. Also for the yard try beneficial nematodes which will also control ticks and fire ants. I haven’t had fleas or fire ants in my San Antonio yard for years.

    Don

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Another question from the newbie here:

    I just spent quite a bit of time adding some info regarding flea problems.

    I hit the 'post comment' tab below the comment space and I do not see it.

    Does it take awhile to show up?

    Dianne

  • Sandy Forest
    Sandy Forest Posts: 28 ✭✭✭

    Sandy Forest here. This is a great treasure trove of recommendations! When I was renting I would look for places with hardwood floors because I had tangled with fleas in most of the carpeted rentals I lived in . And before I understood what effects dysbiosis could have, I tended to attract cat fleas. I could walk past upholstered furniture (and one time, a cat!) and feel the fleas leap at my legs with the zeal that has greeted some of our rock stars. Though I like them, I made a practice of staying away from cats and upholstered furnishings on which they might have rested. Mosquitoes also found me way too appealing. A co-worker who spent a lot of time outdoors once suggested that I eat a medium sized clove of activated (crushed, allowed to sit at least fifteen seconds, then if desired, chopped and added to cooked food) raw garlic once a day starting one month before bitng bug season starts and daily thereafter until bug season is over. Activated garlic delivers Vitamin B-1, something that is thought to repel biting insects. This works well for an occasional urban mosquito, but not for a Northern gardener in a wetlands forest. Garlic does seem to have made me less attractive to cat and dog fleas as well as ticks. And I can say that garlic beath is very effecitve in repelling mosquitoes!

  • CynthiaGraves
    CynthiaGraves Posts: 15 ✭✭✭

    I use cederwood essential oil in a 5% solution on the tail area and around the collar of my dogs. This actually helps to keep them from bringing in ticks but a side note of it is that we have not had fleas either since I started to do this.

    The dogs don't like to lick this blend like they do my herbal ones so it stays on them longer than other healing EOs do.

  • MarianneWest
    MarianneWest Posts: 12 ✭✭✭

    Fleas are a huge problem here as well. I just spread eucalyptus mulch all over the yard. I got rid of carpets and have wood floors and sprinkle DE in all the areas fleas love.

    I am going to try the ACV in the drinking water. That sounds like something I haven't tried yet.

    I used to have a rainbow vacuum - it has a water dust catchment instead of a bag or just a canister. That was the best! But it broke and they are so expensive.

  • For years my go to outdoor flea control routine was to buy plain old Ivory dish soap, pick a day when either heavy dew or light showers were expected, fill a hose end garden sprayer with the Ivory and go make soapsuds in the yard. The heavy dew or light rain help the Ivory sink into the gound and coat eggs, larva and adult fleas.

    If there was a heavy infestation of fleas, fill the sprayer half full with Ivory dish soap, fill the rest of the way with original Downy fabric softener. The Downy killed fleas immediately, while the Ivory was longer acting. I would repeat the Ivory spray in 2 weeks. From the second session I could usually go 4 - 6 weeks before re applying.

    Living in NW Florida, fleas are a year long battle. By the 4th or 5th application of the Ivory, i could extend the flea free time to as much as 6 months. I also used Borax & food grade DE indoors on the carpets, vacuuming frequently.

  • MaxFax
    MaxFax Posts: 10 ✭✭✭

    We found for cats it helps to mix warm water with some Dawn dish soap and dip the flea comb in the water and comb it through the fur. At first we would get 50 or more fleas. We did this once or twice a day when they first showed up. Now we occasionally use the comb and get only one or two. We also used a natural spray for the carpet, The one we like best is Vets+Best Flea + Tick Home Spray for cats. It is a plant based formula made with peppermint oil and Eugenol.

  • VickiP
    VickiP Posts: 586 ✭✭✭✭

    One of our pups really suffers from fleas he gets hot spots from scratching and the other has an allergic reaction to ticks so we use an RX from the vet during tick and flea season. The rest of the year we treat our yard and dog areas with sulfur pellets. I will warn you that dogs don't like the smell either so they may avoid treated areas for a few days, but we have found it is reasonably effective at repelling ticks and fleas.

  • Tammy
    Tammy Posts: 11 ✭✭✭

    Fleas have been bad here this year also. I take care of a lot of stray and feral cats. I brought in one of them litter and got covered with fleas. I have tried everything and this is what works best so far. I have 3 throughout the house and it has gotten much better.


    https://amzn.to/2YshfRu

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have been fighting fleas for the last 4ish years.

    Initially I started looking for potential applications that were natural and that would be safe for my cats while also keeping me out of the establishment. I soon realized that it was not going to be easy safely treating my cat without a lot of research.

    While looking at the traditional vet offerings I realized for the first time that 'flea product's were actually pesticides. I was appalled that with our techno and scientific advancements that this was all the industry had to offer...poisons. My cat was suffering so I had to try one offered by a vet I trusted. It's active ingredient was imicloprid. I later learned that this compound had been linked to the bee decline. In the mean time it took care of the fleas in no time and I stopped using it after 3 applications/one each month. She never needed any flea treatment again. That lead me to wonder just how toxic it really was. It acts as a nerve impediment and the fleas literally can't bite and they starve. However, I found some research that also showed imicloprid to be a hormone disrupter. Within about a year or so later, I lost my cat, my dearest feline companion to uterine issues which I firmly believe would not have happened without the advent of the flea pesticide.

    Forward 2 years and my inside cat got fleas. I garden and was probably carring them in every time I came in from the yard. Here is what I did:

    Salt on the carpet, vacuum religiously at least every 3rd day. repeat as needed, ie for the rest of the summer. This cat I had rescued and she had been on an all kibble diet. That summer was a living torment for her and me. She would not tolerate bathing and since I had not raised her from a kitten I wasn't going to push that. The things that did help were: (and this was my routine): comb with plastic flea comb, changed to better metal one, I started by dipping the comb in an old snuff glass filled with water and a few drops of dawn dish washing soap, then dousing the comb into the glass with clean water. I did this until I stopped seeing fleas and then from here I would alternate wiping her down with a wet but squeezed out wash rag that was wet with apple cider vinegar. Then I would fluff her with a nice soft dry towel. She ignored me for awhile after but clearly felt better and refreshed. The next combing safari finished up with coconut oil combed into her fur (instead of acv). She hated that but it suffocates the fleas and sometimes you could see them fall off of her. Shortly after I would fluff her from that. Keep in mind that the coconut oil that must be used to be effective is unrefined, ie it must smell like coconut. IT is reported to be healthy for cats and dogs, and us so her licking it off I believe helped by improving her over all health and her coat never looked better.

    By the end of the summer her fur had taken a hit in places so I treated that with fresh or frozen straight from the plant aloe vera. That was one of the best things that helped. Her fur always grew back in faster than without the aloe. It helped her depression and she tolerated that much better than the combing because it clearly soothed and cooled her 'hot spots'.

    The biggest thing I did though was this: I stopped 99 percent of the kibble diet. I started feeding her good clean fish, chicken that I boiled with the broth and included the wet catfood. Her overall health improved so much she lost all the weight she needed to and was much more robust in all her activities.

    The only thing I have done for her this season is: I now brush her about 3 or 4 times a day with a...wait for it...a mans 'beard brush'. It is soft and I can use enough pressure to improve her circulation while my hope is to keep any potential flea stages, esp any poss dried flea dirt aka blood from the bites, cleaned/removed from her coat. By doing this it starves any new hatching fleas as they have no 'baby food'. Yes she scratches some this season but it is so minimal that there is no other sign of fleas. I can't find flea dirt and don't see the tiny white eggs at all.

    I forgot to mention that about every other day last summer in addition to the other treatments, I applied my homemade flea powder that was simply: living bentonite clay and ground sage leaves which helped but sometimes I had to put it on twice a day.

    Mostly though I think it is the change in her diet that resulted in a huge inprovement in her health. Just like us, the healthier we are the easier it is for us to fight off dis - ease...

    I appologize for such a long post, but the whole process is necessary because of the 4 stages of the flea life cycle.

    Dianne

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have been fighting fleas for the last 4ish years.

    Initially I started looking for potential applications that were natural and that would be safe for my cats while also keeping me out of the establishment. I soon realized that it was not going to be easy safely treating my cat without a lot of research.

    While looking at the traditional vet offerings I realized for the first time that 'flea product's were actually pesticides. I was appalled that with our techno and scientific advancements that this was all the industry had to offer...poisons. My cat was suffering so I had to try one offered by a vet I trusted. It's active ingredient was imicloprid. I later learned that this compound had been linked to the bee decline. In the mean time it took care of the fleas in no time and I stopped using it after 3 applications/one each month. She never needed any flea treatment again. That lead me to wonder just how toxic it really was. It acts as a nerve impediment and the fleas literally can't bite and they starve. However, I found some research that also showed imicloprid to be a hormone disrupter. Within about a year or so later, I lost my cat, my dearest feline companion to uterine issues which I firmly believe would not have happened without the advent of the flea pesticide.

    Forward 2 years and my inside cat got fleas. I garden and was probably carring them in every time I came in from the yard. Here is what I did:

    Salt on the carpet, vacuum religiously at least every 3rd day. repeat as needed, ie for the rest of the summer. This cat I had rescued and she had been on an all kibble diet. That summer was a living torment for her and me. She would not tolerate bathing and since I had not raised her from a kitten I wasn't going to push that. The things that did help were: (and this was my routine): comb with plastic flea comb, changed to better metal one, I started by dipping the comb in an old snuff glass filled with water and a few drops of dawn dish washing soap, then dousing the comb into the glass with clean water. I did this until I stopped seeing fleas and then from here I would alternate wiping her down with a wet but squeezed out wash rag that was wet with apple cider vinegar. Then I would fluff her with a nice soft dry towel. She ignored me for awhile after but clearly felt better and refreshed. The next combing safari finished up with coconut oil combed into her fur (instead of acv). She hated that but it suffocates the fleas and sometimes you could see them fall off of her. Shortly after I would fluff her from that. Keep in mind that the coconut oil that must be used to be effective is unrefined, ie it must smell like coconut. IT is reported to be healthy for cats and dogs, and us so her licking it off I believe helped by improving her over all health and her coat never looked better.

    By the end of the summer her fur had taken a hit in places so I treated that with fresh or frozen straight from the plant aloe vera. That was one of the best things that helped. Her fur always grew back in faster than without the aloe. It helped her depression and she tolerated that much better than the combing because it clearly soothed and cooled her 'hot spots'.

    The biggest thing I did though was this: I stopped 99 percent of the kibble diet. I started feeding her good clean fish, chicken that I boiled with the broth and included the wet catfood. Her overall health improved so much she lost all the weight she needed to and was much more robust in all her activities.

    The only thing I have done for her this season is: I now brush her about 3 or 4 times a day with a...wait for it...a mans 'beard brush'. It is soft and I can use enough pressure to improve her circulation while my hope is to keep any potential flea stages, esp any poss dried flea dirt aka blood from the bites, cleaned/removed from her coat. By doing this it starves any new hatching fleas as they have no 'baby food'. Yes she scratches some this season but it is so minimal that there is no other sign of fleas. I can't find flea dirt and don't see the tiny white eggs at all.

    I forgot to mention that about every other day last summer in addition to the other treatments, I applied my homemade flea powder that was simply: living bentonite clay and ground sage leaves which helped but sometimes I had to put it on twice a day.

    Mostly though I think it is the change in her diet that resulted in a huge inprovement in her health. Just like us, the healthier we are the easier it is for us to fight off dis - ease...

    I appologize for such a long post, but the whole process is necessary because of the 4 stages of the flea life cycle.

    Dianne