A Natural Remedy for Fleas

The crux of the problem is dog health. When a dog is not as healthy as he or she should be, they become a magnet for fleas.

All parasites prefer a weak host to dine on and a poor dog diet not only makes a weak host, the results of an infestation can be brutal. So, dog health is a natural remedy for fleas!

If you read what happened to my dogs, you’ll see I have learned this through not only books, but personal experience as well. And I never want a repeat performance. Never ever. I hate fleas with a passion!

The healthier your dog is, the better outcome you will have with natural flea remedies.

Okay, let’s get started. Here’s my list. For details about their benefits and exactly how to use them, click on the link for each one.

• Diatomaceous earth internally or externally (food grade only). You can pay a company like Flea Busters to come in and put DE in your carpets. It's guaranteed for a year. You can also buy it online at Amazon and do it yourself.

  Diatomaceous earth may even be taken internally by humans and dogs. This is used more to kill worms and other internal parasites.

• Nematodes are a natural remedy for fleas. They live in your yard, will eat fleas and are totally harmless.

• Borax in the carpet (never ON dogs). While it’s mined from the earth and is a natural product you don’t want your pup to eat the stuff. I use it because it’s cheaper than diatomaceous earth and I can get it at the grocery store. (It's also great to use in the laundry to add cleaning power and get the doggy smell out of blankets etc.)

• Garlic in food or supplement. Never underestimate the power of garlic even though it does not directly kill fleas. It's a fabulous herb.

• The right type of Brewers Yeast internally or externally will make fleas run (okay, hop away).

• Vinegar internally or externally. Vinegar won’t kill a flea unless he drowns in the stuff but the right kind (use ONLY organic raw apple cider vinegar) is good for both us and our dogs to take internally. I also share a spray recipe with you.

• Improved diet; preferably a raw meat diet, but a very high grade dog food may be acceptable.(For a non-biased report of dog foods, I suggest Petsumer Reports

Now I’ll explain how well they work. Nematodes work very well. And as long as they have a cozy place to live in your yard, they will last forever. You don’t use pesticides out there do you? (I know you don't want to buy them and then accidentally kill them.)

Garlic, vinegar and brewers yeast will all deter fleas but not kill them and they will make your dog healthier at the same time. Deterrents are especially good when you take your dog away from the house where he might pick up fleas and bring them home.

Now if all this seems like too much work for you, let’s look at the alternative.

What’s Wrong With Commercial Flea Treatments

Here’s a scenario. Poor Killer (Max, Spot or Fido) gets really itchy dog skin. You notice fleas about the time you notice the hair loss and red sores and this is where allergies in dogs begin.

At the vet’s office he gets a steroid injection of cortisone. The side effects of cortisone begin inside your dog while your vet offers a systemic flea killer (poison that gets inside your dog). Please read about Commercial Dog Flea Treatment.

Both these things make your dog even less healthy. Now you have stuff going on in the liver and kidneys as they try and filter this stuff out and can’t. To stop the internal damage, you have to stop the drugs and poisons. Your dog is worse off than when you started!

When our dogs eat nutritious foods, a natural remedy for fleas, do they stop getting bites from these nasty little critters completely? Whether the answer is yes or no, they are healthier, so the affects of the bites are lessened and sometimes, not even noticeable.

Let’s go to the immune system. Think of the immune system like the engine of a car. For the car to run, the engine needs gasoline. It won’t run on just oil and it won’t run on water, but if you give it gasoline, it runs just fine humming on down the road. And if you’ve ever put really cheap gas in your car and experienced, a knocking noise, a sputtering noise or had the engine just stop, you’ll understand exactly what I mean.

Think of our dog’s immune system like the engine in a car. It’s control central. If you put nutritious food in the dog’s body, a natural remedy for fleas, the immune system keeps the body happily humming along and taking care of business.

If you give it food (fuel) that’s full of cheap stuff it doesn’t need, it’s going to have problems. It may seem to be running okay, but there’s a buildup of sludge.

You notice, things like runny eyes, dry itchy skin, hot spots, an abundance of those little black/brown critters effortlessly swimming through your dog's fur... and often a flea allergy. You may not even think this has anything to do with the food you are feeding your dog, but it does.

There are problems that are genetic (handed down through the genes of the parents, grandparents, etc.) but even those can be lessened with nutrition.

Please look around this site for ways to improve your dog's diet, especially changing to raw dog food. Why? Two years after my Helen nearly died from a topical flea treatment, she is happier and healthier at age 10 than she was at five.

And guess what? This year we have NO FLEAS! Borax in the carpets and nutritious dog food as a natural remedy for fleas is all I've used.

For more information on fleas, go to my fleas on dogs page.

Here are some good products that might interest you.

You could start with a Flea Free Food Supplement (pictured above) and use non toxic alternatives, such as Organic Dog Flea Shampoo and Organic Flea and Tick Spray

Non toxic products may add years to your dog's life. Healthy happy years - and both of you can stop scratching!

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