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.
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Jamie (London) on 01/26/2017
★★★★★
Garlic to control fleas and ticks in dogs.
Vets are misinformed. A dog or cat would have to eat vast amounts of garlic to lower their red blood cell count. If you are still unsure I would suggest rubbing garlic puree between the shoulder blades of your cat or dog - this will deter fleas as well as feeding garlic to your pets.
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Cynthia (Alabama) on 09/08/2016
★★★★★
You know, garlic powder works just the same with killing fleas. I've been doing this with my oldest dog and now my little pup and the fleas start die down
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Pj (Columbus, Texas) on 02/19/2012
★★★★★
We give our dogs the Brewers Yeast and Garlic pills found at pet stores. They help with dandruff and give them wonderful coats and keep the fleas away. At first I crushed them and mixed them with food, but now I just drop the tablets in the food and they eat them right up. It has worked very well for our dogs and I'm not concerned at all about the garlic. I haven't found much that says it's bad, other than that link futher up in this thread, and it's science seemed way off.
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Jennifer (Burton, Michigan) on 10/18/2011
★★★★★
I have to agree. I chop up 1 to 2 cloves for in each of my dogs food dishes, once a day. They are about 85 lbs each. My one dog has tumors, and before I started adding the garlic, was showing signs of arthritis. Now, at 15 years old, my baby is bouncing like a puppy. I have been feeding both my dogs garlic for about 5 years, and it has shown nothing but positive results!
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Ben (Southern Pines, Nc) on 10/14/2009
★★★★★
Garlic Oil: I give my 130lb shepherd/dane 3 tablets 2 times a day and when I ran out the fleas where horrible, he had sores and all. started back on the regimene and within 3 days a drastic improvement
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by BRAD F. (WESTPORT, CT.) on 04/10/2009
★★★★★
folks- i have BRed and raised collies and shelties.as you may know heart gard is deathly dangerous to all collie type dogs.a few years ago i finally became a pure natural person and hence my dog cash is also.
if you wish to use garlic - i do - you can substitute garlic spray which you can get in stores and the internet.what you do is spray his food an his water bowl.3 squirts.my dog loves it - theres no gas. of course all dogs like people are different.i will try the other above recipes as well.
the garlic spray can also be used to spray outside areas to kill fleas . its alot safer that pesticides.
also for fleas instead of using all these shampoos- mix in lemon juice. fleas hate citrus.its a curative and preventative item.
so many vets have showed me they care very little for your pets health. they go right for the meds and their own special dog companies from food - etc to make their profits.they know nothing of organic and natural remedies. they cant make the money on that.
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Nena (Johnson City, TN) on 11/25/2008
★★★★★
i have use garlic on my dog for years and they have no fleas and very heathly.and havent had to treat my home for fleas in years and i bath them in tea tree shampoo that adds to help flealess in tenn....just a speakle of garlic powder on their food each day
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Suzanne (Bangor, ME USA) on 10/28/2008
★★★★★
We make the garlic for the dogs part of the stuffing that we use for their tire biters and kongs. It's a mix of pumpkin, squash, plain yogurt, and sometimes peanutbutter (sounds appetizing, doesn't it?). My little guy caught on, so we mixed it with some wet food cat food and he's none the wiser. You could probably do that for your cats too. If you need to get rid of worms again, try using diatamcious earth.
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Tanya (Apopka, Florida) on 10/17/2008
★★★★★
I had been having trouble with ticks on my cocker spaniel. We started giving her one garlic pill everyday and we have not had any more tick issues. The only way she will take it is if I hide the pill in a small piece of banana. If the banana is too firm, she will break it and spit out the pill. So be sure it is a ripened banana.
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Larry (Okla City, Okla ) on 10/12/2008
★★★★★
I have been feeding my dogs garlic for years. I just put it on top of the food in the diced form or cook it with meat. I always cook meat for them even though raw is supposedly better. I have also always used tumeric too to prevent inflammation, adding herbs last to the cooking process. I am still really fighting parasites. I think I have more of a problem than my dog. I bathe my dog pretty frequently but plan to bathe him more. I will also try cloves and cayenne. My chiropractor told me to drink cider vinegar water daily. I also was curious about the chewing tobacco deal. Thanks for this site. It is very informative.
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Kate (London, ON) on 07/28/2008
★★★★★
I read the topic about garlic and dogs. Needless to say, I had to try it just because I don't believe in all the chemicals that the vets recommend and personally I think they cause alot more harm then good. Leaning towards the natural approach, both my dogs had fleas. I mixed olive oil and garlic powder. I have my lab (the one with the worse case of fleas) a small clove of garlic. The 8 month old pup I didn't give him any. So far my lab has not SCRATCHED ONCE, in the last hour. He was constantly scratching every 3-5 mins. This would go on all day. Finally I bathed them with the oil/garlic powder and then washed them with dish soap. All is well and they are both very happy dogs.
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Miles (Oceanside, California) on 06/16/2008
★★★★★
I use to have a German Shepard, and every year around summer time he would become infested with fleas. Flea/tick shampoo was pretty much useless, as I would have to bathe him with it 4-5 times before all the fleas were gone. However, the eggs would still live on, so a week later he would be infested all over again. I had enough so I took him to the Vet, who strangely gave me garlic pills to give him. He told me most Vets don't recommend it, but he has been giving his dogs garlic for years and they've lived healthy lives. My dog hated it, and it was very difficult to get him to swallow it(even if I put it in the back of his throat, or wrap it in a treat). So I started chopping cloves daily and mixing it with plain white rice(the chopped garlic sticks to the rice so he has to eat it). About a week later, I started to notice something...no more fleas! The only side effect I saw(or smelled) was a bitter smelling flatulence. Every year, around mid-May, I would chop cloves and mix it with rice daily. My neighbor said I was "killing" my dog slowly, but his dog always was sick or had some kind of problem, and he would feed her as much RX pills as your average American family takes(needless to say that's a lot). Of course, his dog died, and it was very sad because he thought synthetic man-made pills wasn't the reason. His exact words were something like "she was an unlucky dog". She never even got to see 10, she died at 9 years old from complications, and they had to put her down. However, my dog lived to see 17, and every time I would take him to the vet they would tell me how healthy my dog was, how healthy his coat looked, and they could never find worms. I only gave my dog garlic daily between May-August, so maybe excessively giving them garlic might lead to anemia. However, I don't believe that since some of my friends give their dogs garlic daily year-round and they're healthy. I now have a year old Boxer, who like many Boxers, has minor digestive problems. When he was a pup he would vomit alot and get diarrhea. He also started getting fleas(not nearly as bad as my Shepard) around 6 months, so I started the garlic treatment with him too. To my surprise not only did it get rid of the fleas, but it cured his digestive problems! I thought the garlic might give him diarrhea, but I wanted his fleas gone so I took a chance. I couldn't believe it, he no longer vomited or had diarrhea after feeding him cloves daily with a cup of white rice. I can honestly say garlic is NOT fatal or even harmful to dogs. Whoever published that statement that it is, was probably just trying to market a new pill for dogs, or doesn't want you to know that $2 a month will cure/treat symptoms that most vets charge $200+ for. Last time I checked, I never heard of anyone getting negative side-effects from natural medicine, but how many negative side-effects are there in your prescription and OTC medicines? Exactly! So to all you "experts" who wanna tell me that some world-renown vet said it's harmful, save your breath. I really don't care. I've seen the results, and it continues to work for me and my dog, and that's all that really matters.
Fleas and Ticks
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!
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by Rod (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) on 05/20/2008
★★★★★
My two dogs, a five year old and an eleven year old always have had Garlic for repelling fleas and thicks, digestion and overall good health. The big pharmaceutical companies don't want people to know this, but do your research on the net. Garlic is great and cheap, but also uncommon sense tell us to be cautious with anything, allergies to just about anything can occur.
Fleas and Ticks
Posted by bruce (Hunstville, Al, USA) on 07/02/2007
★★★★★
I feed my dog Garlic for tick defence. I have been feeding my dog ( 3 yrs old) Garlic shavings for about a year to defend against ticks. He is a neutered collie type. I have not encountered any adverse effects and he is sharp and lively. The ticks he picks up seem to fall off more easily after this diet - I presume they don't like the taste it leaves in the blood. Not sure why it works but I think it makes him more healthy as well.
