The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Dish Soap, Garlic and Lemon
Posted by Sherry (Wilmington, DE) on 08/04/2008
★★★★★
I had used Frontline on my two dogs in the past and they would both run and hide as soon as they saw that tube come out. Both of them had lowered red blood cell counts and the vet said that he didn't know why. After having read somewhere else that the prescription flea treatments were causing lowered red cell counts, I discontinued it. when the fleas started up again, I read some of the remedies on this website and decided to try the Dawn detergent first to get rid of them. GONE!! Worked like a charm. Since then, I've put a little garlic in their food and have been applying lemon juice to their coats (they don't run from the lemon juice!). I have had not flea one and their red blood cell counts are back up where they should be. I wonder how many more years have been added to my dog's lives by using natural methods? Thank you so much!
Side Effects From Frontline
Posted by Debbie (Northville, MI) on 07/20/2008
PLEASE REPORT THE FRONTLINE PROBLEM TO THE EPA. Last week I had the vet put Frontline on both my Yorkie and Silkie.They were perfectly healthy five year old dogs. They both almost died. Started with them being lethargic and edema developed at the application site, this went to seizures, shock, hair loss you name it. Keep in mind that the head person from Frontline contradicted herself by saying "this is impossible and in the next sentence when I told her she would be paying my bills she replied by saying "we handle all such cases on a case by case review" huh? sounds like this is a problem-check out some links by doing frontline poisoning online. you will find hundreds of such reports. Also the UK puts this right on the label--can cause lethargy, seizures, shock, hairloss, sores and death. Gee, too bad our country doesn't do this--it is the EPA that controls this-have your vet report it too. I am desperately trying to decide what chemical free options to try.
Dish Soap
Posted by Leslie (Martin, TN) on 07/16/2008
★☆☆☆☆WARNING!
re: Flea remedies -- You can't put dawn dish soap in your steam cleaner, it will ruin it. It also will take forever to come out of the carpet.
Essential Oils
Posted by Nancy (Long Beach, CA) on 07/08/2008
★☆☆☆☆WARNING!
I was referred to your site by someone in the discussion of flea treatment, specifically cats.
The information you provide re: garlic and lavendar, rosemary, etc., is in direct contradiction with my knowledge and what was posted on other websites. My understanding is garlic and essential oils such as lavendar and rosemary are toxic to cats. I've included an excerpt from one site for your info.
"http://eartheasy.com/article_natural_flea_control.htm
Cats should not be given any essential oils, period.
The use of essential oils with cats is a potentially volatile combination. Cats do not efficiently metabolize essential oils and their use can lead to symptoms of toxicity. In addition to essential oils, cats have known metabolic sensitivities to certain herbal preparations and allopathic
medications. Because the cat's body does not efficiently excrete essential oils, they can build up to toxic levels. Symptoms of toxicity include vomiting, dizziness, clumsiness, lack of appetite, lack of energy and shock. In addition, cats have very thin, delicate skin. Essential oils are absorbed rapidly into their skin and enter the bloodstream, overwhelming their systems. Cats dislike strong odors and generally keep away from strong scents -- even highly diluted essential oils.
Many people find that they can use essential oils on their cats with no obvious adverse effects. Although one or more applications of an essential oil product or blend may not cause immediate harm, the effects of essential oils can be cumulative and manifest themselves at a later date in the form of toxicity for which owners and vets often can find no attributable cause. (source: www.aromaleigh.com)"
What's your response?
Thanks,
Nancy
Dish Soap
Posted by Kathleen (West Columbia, South Carolina) on 07/05/2008
I am also going to try the D.E. and, thanks to your post, I will buy it from a garden store. I just wanted to thank you so very much for your very important and vital information about the D.E. from the pool stores.
Also, I am going to try bathing my dogs in the ___ Dishwashing Soap along with baby oil and white vinegar and use the baby shampoo for their heads. I really pray that this will give them some relief. It hurts to see them suffer and we are suffering also. The fleas are in our house too and I am always scratching. It is horrible.
Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful upcoming week.
Salt
Posted by Kim (Gadsden, AL) on 07/04/2008
★★★★★
The best all natural way to rid fleas in the home is salt! It works like magic! Just use your blender to grind regular table salt into a powder. Then sprinkle the powder onto carpet, beds, etc.... use a broom to "sweep" it down deep into the fibers. I let it settle in over night on my carpets before vacuuming it up. The powdered salt dries up the fleas and the eggs. You'll notice a huge difference the first time you try it. Also, if you are giving your dog a heart worm medication make sure to use Sentinel. Sentinel acts as birth control on fleas. They can lay the eggs but the eggs are dead so that helps clear up the flea infestations in your home.
Garlic
Posted by Jess (Polkton, NC) on 07/01/2008
★★★★★
garlic pills cured my dogs fleas just give it 2 daily
Diatomaceous Earth
Posted by Rebecca (Portland, Oregon) on 06/18/2008
Be careful! Tea tree oil is toxic to cats!
Garlic
Posted by Kathy (Cypress, TX) on 06/13/2008
★★★★★
To keep fleas off my 70 lb. dog, I juice fresh raw garlic and add 1/8 teaspoon of it to a raw egg yolk. He eats it joyfully. NO MORE FLEAS. Fleas hate the smell of garlic. I may carefully increase the amount of garlic juice some in the future because he is 70 lbs. He eats his food joyfully. He also loves greens such as Alfalfa powder, Wheatgrass powder, Barley powder, etc. Dogs need greens too!
EC: Read much more about Garlic for Dogs here, including the reported controversy.
Garlic
Posted by Kathy (Cypress, TX) on 06/13/2008
★★★★★
NO MORE FLEAS. To keep fleas off my 70 lb. dog, I juice fresh raw garlic and add 1/8 teaspoon of it to a raw egg yolk. He eats it joyfully. NO MORE FLEAS. Fleas hate the smell of garlic. I may carefully increase the amount of garlic juice some in the future because he is 70 lbs. He eats his food joyfully. He also loves greens such as Alfalfa powder, Wheatgrass powder, Barley powder, etc. Dogs need greens too!
Side Effects From Frontline
Posted by Kelly (Rogers, Ar) on 06/11/2008
I used the squeeze on my 7 yr old lab I thought he was going to die 30 min later. He was foaming at the mouth wouldn't eat or drink, he just lay there. I called the poison control number on package and they told me it coats their mouth if they lick it. So to give him tuna packed in water and give a bath in dish soap such as Dawn then watch and make sure he didn't have any other problems.It and other products of this kind can cause diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration. The tuna worked for that but he had an allergic reaction and now has hot spots he did not start getting until after sentry was used. I have tried so many things I hope the acv and peppermint works just tried tonight.
Dish Soap
Posted by Melissa (Belpre, OH) on 06/08/2008
★★★★★
___Dish soap truly kills fleas! I took in a stray cat and tried using the flea shampoos from Walmart several time and the fleas kept coming back... So my mom told me about it. So we gave the poor cat one last bath and it killed every flea on his body within minutes!! Make sure to avoid the eyes and mouth. A little soap goes a long way. His fur was also soft afterwards!
Dish Soap
Posted by Joyce (Joelton, Tn) on 06/05/2008 490 posts
Hi Marjie, I've never checked it out but I read in some hint column or book that if you have fleas in the house and didn't want to use chemicals (who does) that you should place a bright table lamp on the on the floor, place a container filled with water and a few drops of dishwashing detergent in it about a foot to the side of the lamp. I think the idea was that the light attracted the fleas, which came jumping in the light, landed in the water, which dispatched them to the happy hunting grounds.
Dish Soap
Posted by Kay (USA) on 06/05/2008
★☆☆☆☆WARNING!
For those of you who are bathing your pets in ___ Dish Soap. I thought you might be interested in a bit of info.
Toxin Detergents.
Detergents are divided into several categories.
Soaps: Bar soaps, laundry soaps, and homemade soaps.
Anionic detergents: Laundry detergents, shampoos, dish soaps, and electric dishwashing detergents
Cationic detergents: Fabric softeners, sanitizers, disinfectants, and rust inhibitors in petroleum products. This category includes quaternary ammoniums.
Non-ionic detergents: Dishwashing detergents, shampoos, and some laundry detergents.
General Information
Detergents come in a variety of forms with each having a different level of toxicity. Every home has these common products in some form, and all family members need to be aware of the dangers.
Soaps: True soaps are usually not toxic.
Anionic: Slightly to moderately toxic; may result in illness but generally not fatalities.
Cationic: Highly to extremely toxic; 1% solutions are damaging to mucous membranes .
Non-ionic: Less toxic than the anionic and cationic detergents
Signs
Soaps: Vomiting and diarrhea.
Homemade soap may cause corrosive GI lesions (burns).
Anionic: Irritated mucous membranes, vomiting, lack of appetite, diarrhea, and GI distention. May have corrosive injuries in the mouth and GI tract. Eye exposure may result in edema around the cornea reddening and swelling of the conjunctiva and corneal erosions or ulcers.
Cationic: Vomiting, lack of appetite, drooling, muscle weakness, depression, seizures, collapse coma, and burns to the mouth and GI tract. Eye exposure may cause redness and severe corneal erosions and ulcers. Skin exposure may result in hair loss and skin irritation. Non-ionic: Vomiting and diarrhea. Immediate Action
DO NOT induce vomiting if ingested. It may cause more harm. Seek veterinary attention. In the case of dermal contact, flush the skin for at least 30 minutes with running water. In the case of eye contact, flush the eye with sterile saline or water for 20 minutes. Seek veterinary attention while you are performing the decontamination. General treatment: Administration of milk or water in the case of soap, anionic, or non-ionic detergent ingestion, or administration of milk, water, or egg whites in the case of cationic detergent ingestion. If dermal (skin) or ocular exposure occurred, the affected areas will continue to be flushed with sterile saline.
Prognosis
Fair to good, depending on detergent ingested. Keep this and all other medications out of the reach of children and pets. If you think your pet has been poisoned...Contact your veterinarian or one of the Animal Poison Hotlines (listed below) if you think your pet may have accidentally received or been given an overdose of the medication.
**ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center 1-900-443-0000 ($55.00 per case. The charge is billed directly to caller's phone.) 1-888-4ANI-HELP (1-888-426-4435. $55.00 per case, billed to caller's credit card only.) Follow-up calls can be made for no additional charge by dialing 888-299-2973. There is no charge when the call involves a product covered by the Animal Product Safety Service. **Animal Poison Hotline - a joint service provided by North Shore Animal League America (NSAL) and PROSAR International Animal Poison Center (IAPC). 1-888-232-8870 ($35.00 per incident. The charge is billed to caller's credit card only.) Staffed 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.
Dish Soap
Posted by Marjie (Texarkana, Texas) on 06/05/2008
I am considering using a steam vacuum with dawn soap instead of the usual steam cleaner. I am moving into a home that has a horrible flea infestation (thank you, previous owners!) I hope it works.
Borax
Posted by Diane Hacker (Emerald Isle, North Carolina) on 05/29/2008
★★★★★
re: fleas in the house: sprinkle 20 mule team borax around the house. it dehydrates all insects.
Salt
Posted by Chu (Edmond, Oklahoma) on 05/13/2008
★★★★★
FLEAS: hi, i've been using salt in my carpet for flea infestations, i have a cat that goes in and out of the house like 7-11, so i will get reinfestation every once in a while, the first thing i tried was salt, i sprinkle it all over the carpets and leave it there from 3-7 days, and then vacuum it up, and no more fleas.
i had also tried diatomaceous earth but it didn't really work for me i used permaguard food grade fossil flour, and i was uncomfortable using it cause it is bad for your lungs, so from now on i will only use salt cause if its safe enough to eat i won't have to worry. i use the cheapest one i could find at 33 cents a can. i bought idolized and unidolized i don't know if it matters though.
Brewer's Yeast
Posted by Jennifer (Doonan, QLD, Australia)
★★★★★
My 3 poodles have 2 tbsp in jug of water each day to prevent fleas. I also use it in their rinse water after a bath each week.
Brewer's Yeast
Posted by Katie (Emporia, KS)
★★★★★
If ACV doesn't seem to work on fleas, try Brewer's Yeast vitamin tablets and cedar chips for bedding. Most dog beds have cedar chips inside them, but you can also buy them straight for dog houses and such.
Diatomaceous Earth
Posted by Valeria (Athens, GA) on 04/17/2007
★☆☆☆☆WARNING!
I have been reading all of the suggestions and am planning to try some. I don't have a question or remedy to offer, but felt I must let you know about a dangerous option.
I've used Diatomacious Earth for years, I even used it to get rid of a horrific flea infestation in my asthmatic boyfriends house with no bad effects. It works against all insects and parasites. The IMPORTANT thing to note is that POOL GRADE D.E. IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND CAN CAUSE SILICOSIS (scarring of the lungs similar to asbestos poisoning) The only safe D.E. to use is natural pulvarized or ground D.E. that can be found in plant nurseries and food storage shops. This D.E. has NOT been superheated, a process which creates fine threads of silocone glass which makes it a better filtering product, but makes it dangerous to handle or breath. Flour grade D.E. is meant to be used in graineries as a bug and egg deterrant is fine enough to mix with flour. The Regular D.E. can be spread on carpets, or the cracks between wooden floors. Plan on not vacuuming for a while(like a week) in order to allow the D.E. to cut up and dry up the little buggers, and be prepared for a little dust to be produced for a short while as you walk on it. I've even heard of it being used a a coat powder and mixed in feed (for horses, cats,and dogs) but I've never tried that personally. I sprinked it in the carpets and brushed it in with the broom and let it sit for couple of weeks, them vacuumed and reapplied. This with Advantage treatment took care of all the fleas and there were none for the rest of the year.
Well I'm off to try an ear mite treatment on my new cat. Thanks for all the suggestions!
Diatomaceous Earth
Posted by Lyn (Jeannette, PA)
★★★★★
I just wanted to comment on the fleas section. It is true that any shampoo will kill fleas, but it needs to be left on for 30 min. Also, if you have a flea infestation in your house, just spraying your animal wont help. You must treat where the fleas live. See, they only feed on your animal. I have tremendous luck using table salt and food-grade diatomaceous earth all over the house to kill fleas and prevent. The salt (I prefer organic unprocessed sea salt) cuts into the body of the flea and then allows the DE to dehydrate the animal. Salt by itself does seem to work also, I just like a faster approach. Keep in mind though that this means of defense does take up to 2 months to work as some fleas are still hatching. In really bad infestation, it could take longer. I think flea eggs can survive up to 280 days. I would also like to recommend quadruped pet products. I work at a holistic pet care center and this is what we use to bathe the animals. They do not contain(unlike most pet shampoos) any harsh chemicals. Also, all their products are concentrates so it is much cheaper than buying the harmful stuff from pet shops or grocery stores.
Diatomaceous Earth
Posted by Deb (Oregon) on 11/09/2006
★★★★★
i tried everything, permetherin, ivamex, tea tree oil, lavander oil, washing bedding,cloths, even tried animal remedies. have battled it for 5 months only with temporary relief. Diatomeceous earth is the one that worked. Its' a natural remedy that you can buy at a grange coop or garden store. i use it 3 times a day putting it on with a powder puff or big cosmetic makeup brush. careful not to get in eyes and don't use on face or breath in dust. i used it for one day and noticed a big improvement but i am going to use it for a few weeks to be darn certain they are gone. I washed bedding and vacumed floors, washed rugs all in hot water with soap and borax. I sprinkled mattresses, couches, car seats in vehicles carpets and bedding daily with this diatomecieous earth. Every day I washed used towels, bedding in hot water. the items you cant wash daily (like comforters, pillows) put in dryer for 20 minutes every day.
