Natural flea control remedies for pets include apple cider vinegar, borax, dish soap and salt.These remedies can safely be used on pets or around the home.
If you have pets, likely you have dealt with fleas at one time or another. Not only are fleas a nuisance, they can transmit disease, cause a pet constant misery and even cause anemia in a severely infested pet. A dog or cat that is constantly scratching is not only uncomfortable, if the skin is broken during scratching, infection can result. Fortunately, our readers have submitted dozens of options for effective natural treatments for fleas!
Traditional over the counter and prescription flea treatments commonly come with side effects ranging from mild to severe reactions, not to mention the expense of such treatments. “Flea Bombs” can also cause side effects for pets and their owners. Chemicals used by professional pest control companies have been linked to severe side effects in some people. The top home remedies for fleas that you will find here at Earth Clinic are much safer and much less expensive for you, your dogs, and your cats. It is likely that you have one or more of these treatment options in your home right now.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Our most popular natural remedy for fleas is apple cider vinegar. Please see this page for four ways to use apple cider vinegar for fleas, plus dozens of our reader testimonials about its effectiveness.
Learn the Gentle and Effective Way to Apply Apple Cider Vinegar for Fleas
Watch Earth Clinic’s video demonstrating two effective methods to apply apple cider vinegar topically. Your pet will love you for it! We will also show you how to make an apple cider vinegar solution to use for fleas.
Dish Soap for Flea Control
Our readers have had great success with dish soap to get rid of fleas. Dawn has been the preferred brand.
Topical Use of Dish Soap
Many readers just give their dogs or cats a bath, using the dish soap instead of shampoo. Using a flea comb when grooming after the bath will help to remove dead fleas after this treatment.
How to Make Dish Soap Flea Traps
Fill several shallow pans (a pie dish or cake pan will work well) with warm water and a squirt of dish soap. Ideally, you will put these traps near pet sleeping areas with a light above the water. The light will attract the fleas. The soap breaks the surface tension of the water so that the fleas cannot get out.
How to Get Fleas out of the Carpet – Naturally!
One of several safe natural products can be sprinkled in to your carpet to get rid of fleas. Choose (one or more) of the following and sprinkle it into your carpet. Work it in to the carpet with a broom. Reapply after each time you vacuum for at least 2 weeks. Hold your sprinkling container low to the ground and wear a dust mask to avoid getting the powders into your own lungs. (And do the sprinkling when pets are outside or in another room to avoid irritating their lungs!)
Borax – Borax is found in the laundry aisle of your grocery store. It is safe for pets. Borax is part of Ted’s famous Mange Cure and can also be used topically for external parasites. You can use borax instead of soap in a flea bath for your pet.
Baking Soda – Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is found in the baking section of your grocery store. Large warehouse stores have large containers of it, which is useful for large applications, and then you will have plenty on hand for all manner of non-toxic cleaning around your house. An extra advantage to baking soda is its carpet freshening abilities!
Salt – The least expensive salt you can find is fine for applying to carpets to get rid of fleas.
Diatomaceous Earth – Diatomaceous Earth, also known as fossil shell flour, kills bugs by dehydrating them. This can be found in most farm stores.
Are Essential Oils Safe for Flea Control?
A number of essential oils have been used to get rid of fleas. Tea tree, lavender, peppermint and cedar essential oils have been helpful to get rid of fleas. But essential oils are a more expensive option for flea control. They are also more likely to be irritating to pets. There is growing concern about the toxicity of essential for the use of cats. If your cats have fleas, avoid the use of essential oils to solve this problem. There are many other natural remedies that can be used instead.
Have you used a natural remedy for fleas? Read on to find dozens of creative natural remedies for flea control that are safe for pets and their owners!
I found that diatomaceous earth and tea tree oil were not effective for a flea infestation. Luckily, I tried lemon juice spray and was amazed by how effective it was.
I took a few small whole lemons, skin, seeds and all, and blended them with some water (not too much) and strained the mixture. I spray some on my hands and rub it into my kitty from head to tail. I also spray it outside and indoors. Smells great. She licks it off and is perfectly healthy and much happier now that the fleas are gone.
Plz read my post under tea tree oil for more info.
* apply 2x per day morning and evening, comb or brush through fur. If I miss a 2nd application, the fleas do begin to accumulate.
I've noticed that when I spray the lemon juice around the perimeter of my place that spiders run too.
i do find the occasional flea on her but nothing like when I was just using tea tree oil and/or diatomaceous earth (picked off about 50 fleas during bath time). I will continue to experiment until I find the best recipe/method for flea elimination and will check back.
I have used Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) in my pets' food for about 4 years for internal parasites. I also use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon 'organic' apple cider vinegar (ACV) per quart of drinking water all year. NO fleas or tics, the ACV causes sour blood… fleas/ticks don't like sour blood!! I like this better than putting DE on their fur. My one cat had severe fur loss on her hind end and weird pumps all over her skin, I 'think' the fleas caused this. Since using ACV in my pets water, her fur is thick. I also give Krill Oil in their food.
I have had a massive flea problem with cats and dogs in the house and I used diatomaceous Earth. It's messy but it works. There is lots of information on the internet about it and it is available to buy on Amazon.
I was hesitant to try tea tree oil on my kitten after having read some warnings here.
I must stress that tea tree oil must be used in low-potency!! Even one drop might be too much, and so should be added to carrier oil.
in taking any product, one should always start small and monitor the effects, and increase as needed.
My neighbor tried it first. He was the one who actually insisted. Our kittens were both three months at the time. He has a kitten from the same litter as mine, so they are the same age, but his is male and larger. He said the fleas vanished, so I tried it on my kitten. I clumsily poured a few drops from the bottle onto her and was worried to death, grabbing a rag to clean her. Then I saw her licking the tea tree from her fur and I freaked (i love my cat! ). But no sickness whatsoever. And fleas truly did disappear.
So, don't make the mistake I did! And potentially have it not turn out so well.
First try one 1 drop of tea tree to 1/4 tsp carrier oil. I used olive oil. Monitor results. If it works, then no need to increase. If it doesn't work and health is good, increase dose slowly and never pour over your animal! Unless you are sure your dropper is safe
Good luck and best wishes!
July 27, 2108 Update:
With further experimentation, I found tea tree oil does not work. plz read my other posts for more info , including success with lemon juice.
Flea season exploded two months ago and I found that tea tree oil did NOT help in the least, so I would like to amend this rating to either 1 or 0 (that would take more experimentation). Possibly back when I posted this initial review, colder weather was setting in and I mistook the seasonal decline in flea populations as a sign of tea tree oil's effectiveness for flea control.
I was treating my cat (10 months old) daily with a drop's worth (placed on my finger and then applied) of tea tree on the back of her head and another at the base of her tail, along with food grade diatomaceous earth rubbed in all over. It really didn't seem to show much improvement. She had bald spots where the fleas were eating her and for awhile, the only remedy was bathing her 2x a week, where I would remove dozens of fleas at a time.
Luckily, I did find what worked to my amazement! Homemade lemon spray. Throw a few lemons (skins seeds and all) into a blender with some water and strain into a bottle. Apply the spray to your hands and rub into your animal's fur all over, from her furry cheeks to tail. She licks it off and is perfectly healthy. Occasionally, I'll find one lethargic flea that is easy to pick off, but it works exceptionally well. Also, spray the lemon everywhere you want, outside and in the corners of the room. As always with any new protocol, start off with small quantities on your pet to make sure there are no adverse reactions.
I am working on this Lemon Spray recipe (possibly adding other beneficial flea repelling ingredients) and will re-post when I am satisfied with the results.
I have a French Bulldog and I fight yeast infection and hair loss every year. I decided to take him off flea chemicals but having a tough time finding a cure for it. I have been bathing him with baking soda then tree oil shampoo and finally a organic apple cider vinegar rinse. So far it has been been working. I also give him a teaspoon of Diatomaceous Earth every evening in his food. Anyone have any better cures?
Hey Mstee,
Dealing with seasonal or inhalant allergies can be tricky. You might keep a diary to see what allergens are in your area that are blooming to see if you can pin point a trigger; if you find, say, a correlation between the fir trees blooming and a break out you might consider herbal thuja or stinging nettle. You do not say what you feed, but the diet you feed has a direct affect on your dog's immune system. A food allergy can be harder to pin point as many diets contain many different proteins. You might consider alkalizing your dog's drinking water with baking soda, and also rotating it every few weeks with Ted/s Borax protocol for dogs. The treated water will help balance the PH which in turn makes your dog's GI track unattractive to systemic yeast – this in turn helps restore healthy gut flora which aides the immune system. Borax water also helps knock down yeast and staph. You might also consider a single protein source for the food and see if you can rotate from beef protein to chicken protein and so on, to see if you can pin point a food allergy. You might also consider colostrum to help boost the immune system, and turmeric and quercetin and herbal Yucca Intensive [must be taken with food] to combat inflammation. Please let us know how it goes!
I've had incredible good luck ridding my cats of fleas with lemon juice. You can dunk a flea comb into a small dish of juice until the tines are submerged and comb daily until no more fleas are seen. Or you can just pour it on your pet and massage down to the skin 'tho when I tried this on one of my cats, I did dilute the lemon juice by 1/4 with water.
Before spraying on furniture and carpets, check a small area to make sure it won't stain. I can't tell you how many thousands of dollars I've spent on topical treatments, pills, shampoos, sprays etc. and nothing worked. Then a friend suggested lemon juice, which did make sense, since it's a key ingredient in citronella candles, horse fly wipes etc. to keep bugs away.
I had used diatomaceous earth before, but it seems when using it this time, it hasn't been very good at controlling the fleas on my dogs? I put it in an old baby powder container. I applied it while stroking the hair up in the opposite way and applied heavily! Still it did not control the fleas, so I continued with the application daily. I also brushed them daily before each new application. Still, I was not satisfied with this product.